Bramley Newspaper Articles

Bringing the Running Year to an End

Southwell Running Club members recently gathered in Norwell to compete in the final Grand Prix race of the season. The undulating, two lap route around the village countryside is always a club favourite and nicely rounds off the running year. Members are waiting with bated breath to see who will win the club Grand Prix trophies this year.

Prizes will be awarded at the club Christmas meal and presentation evening following the annual Halam Hat Chase where the slowest runner sets off first wearing a Christmas hat pursued by ever faster runners attempting to catch them up and claim the hat before crossing the finish line victorious.

Further afield, club member Adam Carney finished 3rd in the 45-49 age category in the Hyrox World Series of Fitness Racing. 5,000 participants competed at the London Excel Centre completing eight x 1 km runs, each followed by a different physical challenge. These included dragging a weighted sled 50 metres, completing 100 metres weighted walking lunges, a 1 km ski and a 1 km row. Adam finished in the overall top 100, which qualifies him for the Hyrox World Championships next May.

Finally, Carol Hayward recently completed the Florence Marathon, which follows a winding route around the city centre past many famous landmarks such as the Basilica di Santa Croce, Il Doumo and Fortezza de Basso and also crosses a number of bridges along the Arno River.

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and welcome you all to join us in the New Year at our club sessions on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.

Ruby Runner

www.southwellrunningclub.org

London – Cornwall - Chicago

Members of Southwell Running Club definitely like to explore their options when it comes to choices for races. The London Marathon is a popular choice for many runners but entry via the main ballot is almost impossible so having gained a very good time on Milton Keynes marathon last year, Ben Parker entered the London Good for Age ballot and secured a place.

Following months of training, Ben arrived at the start line on good form. With perfect running conditions and the cheering crowds Ben had a great time running the marathon finishing in 3:23:10. Club members Andy Thorne and Richard Whitehead also completed the marathon. Paralympian Richard is a double amputee who runs with prosthetic legs and frequently sets world records for double amputee athletes. He completed this year’s London marathon in a time of 3:48:20 while Andy finished in 3:58:53.

Taking a trip further southwest, Kat Hall took on the Atlantic Coast Challenge with friend Karen Nix, to raise funds for the John Eastwood Hospice. Participants run, walk or crawl a total of 78.6 miles over 3 days along some of the wildest coastlines in Britain beginning in Padstow and finishing at Land’s End.

Finally, Carol Hayward decided to travel overseas for her marathon adventure. Gaining a Good for Age place for the Chicago marathon led to months of gruelling training but Carol arrived at the start line feeling strong and ready for the challenge. The windy city can have unpredictable weather but the day dawned bright, clear and cool with perfect race conditions. The flat course combined with amazing crowd support allowed Carol to achieve a 13-minute marathon PB in a time of 4:28:01.

If you are planning on running a marathon and need support for your training, join us on Tuesday/Thursday evenings or Saturday mornings.

www.southwellrunningclub.org.

Ruby Runner

Members of Southwell Running Club were very sad to hear of the death of long-term club member George Pass. George joined the club many years ago when he moved to Southwell and was an active participant in many club events achieving impressive personal times. He was particularly fond of running with the Saturday group often leading the runs from Caunton around the surrounding countryside. He took on the role of club treasurer for many years and, following this, diligently and professionally checked the annual accounts for the club. In more recent years, George set up and organised the Southwell Swine race, which took place for several years. His greatest contribution however was arranging the Notts AAA Summer league at Hexgreave Hall - one of the most popular and well organised races in the series, gaining glowing tributes from many running clubs across the county.

George was a friendly, approachable guy who was extremely reliable and would always take the time to chat to anyone, especially new members. He was an incredibly well respected club member who will be sadly missed by us all.

We send our thoughts and prayers to George’s wife Sharon and their family.

Ruby Runner

Robin Hood Half

With the Autumn marathon and half marathon season now underway it was inevitable that several members of Southwell Running Club would take part in Nottingham’s infamous Robin Hood Half one of the longest established and most popular city centre road events in the country.

The race which begins at Victoria Embankment includes a new loop inside the Nottingham University Jubilee Campus, and takes in some of the city’s favourite landmarks including Nottingham Castle, The Park Estate, Trent Bridge and Wollaton Deer Park. Club members achieved the following times in the event: Steven Rice 1:26:45 Adam Smith 1:31:30 Lourens Du Toit 1:46:09 Sune du Toit 1:46:10 Jane Matthews 1:48:49 Katie Botham 1:51:25 James Haslam 1:52:20 Bill Lee 1:55:13 Anne Stefaniak 2:05:19 Jules Eames 2:18:15.

Bill Lee came second in his V70 age category and Katie and Adam both achieved personal best times at the event. In other news congratulations go to Pam Dutton who took part in the Darley Moor Duathlon in Derbyshire winning her age group category of VF65 and achieving a European Age Group qualifying time.

Southwell Running Club continues to go from strength to strength following the difficulties of the last few years and as always we welcome new members at our weekly meetings on Tuesdays Thursdays and Saturday morning. For more details or with any queries please contact us via the website.

Ruby Runner

www.southwellrunningclub.org

Southwell Running Club Summer Successes

Over the summer a number of members have successfully competed in a variety of events.

Following the fifth and final Notts. AAA Summer League race at Teversal, SRC's Veteran Men's Team were 7th out of 17 and the SRC Women's Team were 7th out of 10.

Steven Rice, Guy Parker, Ben Parker, Lourens Du Toit, Sune Du Toit, Bill Lee and Simon Willington all participated in the very warm Newark Half Marathon with Ben coming 1st in the MV60 age category and Bill coming 2nd in the MV70.

On the same weekend, Penny Durance, Jane Matthews and Loraine Fozzard all took part in the scenic but challenging Belper Rover Fell Race where Penny and Loraine placed 1st and 2nd respectively in FV65 and Jane finished 4th in FV60. Katherine Hall recently competed in the Nottingham Castle Rock 10k coming 3rd in her FV35 age category. Earlier in July, Carol Hayward finished as second FV60 in the 100k Race to the Stones ultra-marathon along the Ridgeway.

This September the club will once again be hosting The Bramley Challenge event where several local running clubs will compete to win the Bramley Apple Trophy. The event takes place in Caythorpe but has not been run for the last few years due to the Covid pandemic. A number of club members are currently training for autumn marathons and we wish them all success in their endeavours. Prospective members are more than welcome to join us for any of our training sessions and general runs on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings.

Ruby Runner

www.southwellrunningclub.org