In this week’s Newsletter we have:
• Weekly Diary
• Club 10k Challenge Route
• Club Coaching Tuesday
• We Are Growing
• Race Reports – Wonderful Wilson Smashes Marathon PB
• You’ve Got Sole
• London Virtual Marathon
• Coming up next week ….
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1. Weekly Diary
Tuesday Lunchtime session with Ros Rowland.
• 12.00 from Leisure Centre Car park. Usually about 5k. Contac Ros on 07743 257838
Tuesday Coaching Night:
• 7:00 TLC – to join the WhatsApp group contact Kevin Wood 0796 6634237.
• 7:30 Aztec – to join the WhatsApp group contact Nick Williams 07745 133524
Thursday Lunchtime session with Ros Rowland.
• 12.00 from Leisure Centre Car park. Usually about 5k. Contac Ros on 07743 257838
Thursday Club Night
With the light nights and recent good weather most routes will include an amount of off road for the next few months. If you have a question about the route, please contact the Leader below:
• 7 min Paul Harrod
• 8 min Kevin Cundy
• 9 min Hugh McPherson
• 10 min Mike Bennewitz
• 12 (5k/11) Rachel Murphy
• Walking Val James
Sunday Morning Runs:
• 8:30 Scout hut car park near Manorbrook School. Mainly off-road, 2 hours plus. To join the WhatsApp group contact Mike Bennewitz 07790 491304
2. Club 10k Challenge Route – Kevin W
Last week I announced the Club 10k, the first event in the 2021-22 Pete Mainstone Challenge, being held on Thursday 27th May. Now, thanks to the great work of Steve Dimond, here is the route: https://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=7581782 (Next week I will publish Steve’s route instructions for those who prefer written instructions)
As there are no marshals, we have made the route easy to follow. The route has been fully tested by the new 10 min group. Please meet in the car park, where there is more space, before moving to the top of Coopers Road for your start time. It is on the Routes page now too:
Staggered start time in pace groups to avoid overcrowding (just start in groups, not run in groups) was published last week and will be republished closer to the event.
If you cannot run on Thursday 27th May you can complete the same course anytime during the 2 week period 24 May – 6th June and submitting your results (time & distance) to captain@thornburyrunningclub.co.uk
We suggest each participant makes a minimum £5 payment voluntary contribution. We have set up a Virgin Money Giving page to make this easy: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Team/ThornburyRunningClub
PS Please could we have a volunteer to help Pete at the finish capture everyone’s time and distance (participants are self-timing)? Please contact captain@thornburyrunningclub.co.uk
Thank you.
3. Coaching Tuesday – Kevin W & Nick W
For those who want to try this week’s coached efforts at home:
* TLC – 6 x 800m / R 3 min. Efforts run to an individual target time based on 5k time.
* Aztec – 3 x 1 mile at just under 5k pace, with 3 minute recovery (or the time it takes to get back to holding an easy conversation)
Rather than reporting details in the weekly newsletter and posting on Facebook each week in future all coaching updates will only appear in the relevant coaching WhatsApp group. To join a coaching WhatsApp group please contact: Aztec / Nick Williams 07745 133524 or TLC / Kevin Wood 0796 6634237.
4. We Are Growing – Emma & Chris Pritchard
Since we restarted the club a few week ago we already have 7 new members and 8 people trying the club out before deciding if they would like to join. If you know somebody who would like to come along and try the club out, please ask them to e-mail membership@thornburyrunningclub.co.uk before they attend. It really helps us if they get in contact first, so we can get the paperwork out of the way.
5. Race Reports – Wonderful Wilson Smashes Marathon PB – Paul Harrod
Lockdown has been easier on runners than for participants in other sports. The daily permitted exercise allowance had a novelty value in the spring of 2020. Yet a year on, many of us are itching to get back to the challenge and camaraderie of an actual race. There is only so much joy to derive from a Strava crown, or becoming the “Local Legend of the bin store to A38 traffic lights”.
Thankfully, even with social distancing restrictions in place, the likes of Rogue Runs and DB Max have organised time-trial races where runners go off in groups of six, and chip-timed results ensure that there is a full roster of finishers at the end.
Garry Slater ran the recent Severn Bridge 5 mile race, and as anyone who has ever run the parkrun there knows, you are pretty much guaranteed a headwind in one direction or another. Despite this, Garry stormed to an 11th place finish in a time of 32 mins and 29 secs. Not only that, he was second MV50.
On Sunday 25th April, a few intrepid TRC members set off for the banks of the Severn, for the Shepperdine half and full marathon races. The sun shone, there was not a cloud in the sky, and a rare east wind provided both a cooling breeze and a stiff headwind to contend with on large sections of the course.
The half-marathon race attracted some of the best club runners from across the region. Therefore, recent TRC recruit, Sean Leadbetter, should be very proud of his 44th place finish, in a shade over 1 hour and 20 minutes. To put that in perspective that is an average per-mile pace of about 6 mins and 9 seconds. A very impressive performance indeed.
146 runners also lined up for the full marathon. Thornbury’s Ashleigh Ferris ran a clear PB to cross the line in 3 hours, 50 minutes and 6 seconds. That placed her as the sixth senior woman. Ashleigh has recently been honing her speed at Phil Lucker and Nick William’s Tuesday night training sessions, so look out for her when she goes PB-hunting in the shorter races! Jonathan Hall was 41st senior man in a very creditable 4 hrs and 13 mins.
If a road marathon is a daunting prospect, how about 50 miles on the vertiginous trails of the South Down Way? On the 17th April, 400 of the UK’s leading ultra-runners competed in the arduous race from Worthing to Eastbourne, featuring 5700 feet of elevation along the way. It took over half of the field more than 10 hours to complete the race; some taking over twelve. However, TRC’s Nick Williams clinched a 10th place finish in a total time of 7 hours and 16 minutes. That is an average speed, over the entire, undulating, 50 miles, including fuel-station stops, of 8 mins, 44 secs per mile. An astonishing performance from Thornbury’s premier male runner.
However even Nick will agree that the stand-out performance of recent weeks has to go to new TRC member Lucie Wilson. Lucie was due to run in the Richmond marathon, but when it got postponed, decided to make it a timed run around the roads of Rockhampton and Hill. Lucie’s time is therefore not an official record, but, as Strava will attest, she finished the 26.2 miles in a time of 3 hours, 7mins and 50 seconds.
Had Lucie run that in 2019 (pre-pandemic, and with a full programme of marathon races) it would have easily put her inside the top 50 women across the whole of the UK, including professional athletes. Let’s hope Lucie will be spearheading TRC’s women’s team in the upcoming road and cross-country races, as they have the potential to achieve something special.
If you have run results you would like to see reported please contact Paul via reports@thornburyrunningclub.co.uk
6. You’ve Got Sole – Kevin Wood
I noticed an article in this week’s EA ‘Athletics and Running for everyone’ and thought I would bring it to your attention.
Over 300 million pairs of shoes and insoles end up in landfill every year. In the first initiative of its kind, Enertor® has started a scheme to recycle insoles. Your old insoles will be used for making anything from athletics tracks to playgrounds, recycled into recovery slippers or donated to Forgotten Feet, a charity providing foot care services to the homeless. Get involved today, reduce your carbon footprint, and help support our planet. Insole recycling.
7. London Virtual Marathon
The Brightwell, a charity based in Bradley Stoke that supports people living with neurological conditions, have 3 places available to take part in the London Virtual Marathon. Do you know anyone who may be interested? The fundraising target is £150/person. We would love to fill these places and if you could share this with members of the Thornbury Running Club that would be fab. If interested e-mail: Claire Wingate. claire.wingate@thebrightwell.org.uk
Coming up next week ….
• Mental Health Awareness Week
• Club 10k Challenge Route – Route Instructions
2/05/21