Captains Corner

Graham & Wendy here! To give you our monthly run-down of all things EGRC.

 

So it’s official - summer is here! .... and June has certainly been a scorcher on the EGRC running front .....

 

Firstly to Blaise Castle. What better way to spend a summers evening than a cheeky 4 miler? A dozen black and green kings and queens raced to the castle on the hill and back down again - scooping up 4th place in the club category! Fantastic work all.

From storming of castles to invasions of north Bristol! Namely Bradley Stoke, where a 30 strong black and green army marched - or rather ran - the 10k, laying down some cracking times and even scooping up 1st places in several categories! Check out the Bradley Stoke 10k race report to find out how EGRC looked pretty in pink - and whether or not it’s a PB course.

Further afield down in the Mendips, a dozen hardy EGRC’ers took on the brutal, yet scenic, Cheddar Gorge Half marathon. The two laps of the 10k route essentially involved running up and down the Gorge - twice - staggering up ridiculous hills and leaping down rocky trails like mountain goats. Fabulous training and some great times to boot. Thoroughly recommended if you fancy something a bit tougher than a half marathon. Think Doynton - only with steeper hills and less mud!  Check out Patrick Connolly's Race Report on the event for a full account of the pain and glory!

From the Mendips to Wiltshire, on what turned out to be a very long day. The longest in fact! Chippenham Longest Day 10k. Around 20 EGRC made the journey to run and support. The town’s residents turned out on the streets and cheered on from their doorsteps as the church bells tolled in the background. Nice! Everyone did really well on what was a warm summers evening. What better way to finish it off than a celebratory drink in the local Loungers café as well! 

Then to a warm Tuesday night, 30 EGRC members took part in the Pomphrey Sports 5k Mob match. Doesn’t sound too exciting until you realised there is a club trophy up for winning! Hmmmm… that seemed to motivate quite a few to give it their absolute best! The race was organised by Bristol & West so their show of 45 super-fast runners nailed on their 1st place spot and a mighty trophy to boot - so it was a fight for 2nd or 3rd place against Bitton Road Runners. There were some fantastic times run by the EGRC team. So, did we pip Bitton Road Runners to that 2nd place position? .... We did! It was very close and the organisers had to have a number of recounts, but the 2nd place silverware was ours! Great job EGRC! So proud of everyone who took part. 

And here's a picture of Wendy in action at the Mob Match ... happily well ahead of a Bitton Road Runner. (who still has to go out and back ..hee..hee)  Go Wendy!

Last but by no means least on the running front, at the end of June we had the running event that has been a long time coming.  The Cotswold Way Relay! For all the details and photo gallery go to the Cotswold Way Relay Race Summary 

But it's not just running we do EGRC! We also do lots of good work to help out the Club and this month was no exception. Our Club own a big blue box (a storage container) located at Pomphrey (affectionately known as Pete's man-shed) where we store our various bits of running related stuff. Such as signage for our 10k's and the like. To say it needed a bit of a tidy is the understatement of the century. Pete's apt description of 'post-apocalyptic' was nearer the mark! So a big thank you to all who pitched-up to pitch-in on the day to help tidy it up. Pete is now one very happy man-shed dweller.

And there's lots more to come  .. see the Noticeboard section of the newsletter for all the upcoming races.

 

Happy running all!

 

Graham & Wendy