Club Member of the Month
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March 2025
A massive congratulations to our winner of Club Member of the Month for March 2025: Simon Parsons. He was nominated for his epic 27 miles run around Chelmsford in memory of his mum whilst raising vital funds for a great cause, Dementia UK. Well done Simon, I’m sure your WRC family will agree that you did your Mum proud and sure she was smiling down on you all the way round.
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February 2025
Our CMOTM for February 2025 has been awarded to Steven Wherrett! He was nominated for hard work and achieving a PB and Gold Standard, plus finishing 2nd in his age category (MV35) at Victoria Park 10k – well run, Steven!
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January 2025
And the first winner for our Club Member of the Month for 2025 is Tyler Hodges. This was awarded for his consistent improvement, plus his performances in the 5k and then completing notoriously hard Benfleet 15 in 1:50. Well done, Tyler!
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December 2024
Congratulations to our final CMOTM for 2024 – Leanne Andrews! She was awarded this for being the RD for another successful Boxing Day 5. She was on the case, not only in December but for many months before. Thanks for your efforts for the club!
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November 2024
Congratulations are in order to Adam Regan for winning Club Member of the Month for November 2024 – well done! This was awarded for his sub-4-hour marathon on the Brightlingsea H&T trail for Remembrance Sunday.
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October 2024
Congratulations to our Club Member of the Month for October 2024 which has been awarded to Ian Cuthbert – great stuff! Over 3 consecutive weekends in October, Ian smashed PBs at the Abingdon Marathon, where he took 22 minutes off his PB, the Tiptree 10M and the Southend 10k – after only just in the previous 7 weeks having also smashed PBs at 5k, 5M and half marathon – what a 10 weeks! And finally, to close out the month he represented WRC at the first NESS XC race and finished in one of the men’s scoring positions. Absolutely amazing!
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September 2024
Congratulations to our Club Member of the Month for September 2024 – Graham Eyre! This has been awared for his efforts in Ipswich at the Half Marathon, achieving 2nd place in his age group and setting a club record as well! A huge well done!
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August 2024
A hearty congratulations to our Club Member of the Month for August 2024 – Terry Alabaster! He was nominated for completing the Huffer Puffer, Toppesfield 10 and Clacton 10k all in August. Terry continues to achieve great results winning his age category all over the place, including at the Clacton 10k. He is also out there most weekends running various trail races and is a great Club Ambassador.
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July 2024
Our Club Member of the Month for July 2024 has been awarded to Angela Read. She has received this nomination and been awarded the CMOTM for winning the John Roberts 5k Handicap race at The Angel in Kelvedon, on the back of a fantastic training block for her half marathon. Well done, Angela!
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June 2024
Our Club Member of the Month for June 2024 has been awarded to Ross Silverton. Ross always attends Tuesday nights sessions, when we can always count on him to know the routes, and any race going in Essex every week, unless he is away on holidays. He recently received the V70 award at Springfield Friday Night 5. Well done, Ross!
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May 2024
The Club Member of the Month for May 2024 has been awared to Chrissy Israel-Jones – many congratulations! This has been awared for her unwavering dedication and commitment to her training for the Edinburgh Marathon and for her consistency of improvement, balancing and training with other responsibilities. On top of this she was raising money for charity along the way. Unfortunately at the end she did not receive the promised medal, T-shirt and and goody bag. As a first-time marathon runner, her accomplishment inspires fellow members.
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April 2024
Congratulations to our Club Member of the Month for April 2024 – Harry Solomon! Harry completed an 80k ultra (in Shropshire) in under 11 hours, and then represented WRC in the Essex Road relays the next day. He also completed the 28 mile “Camuplodunum” trail circuit around Colchester in the same month. Despite focusing on his own ultra-running goals, Harry has also actively participated in WRC events. His altruistic dedication to the club is commendable.
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March 2024
Our winner for Club Member of the Month for March 2024 is the outstanding Claudia Baba. She managed to break two V40 club records in the month: a half marathon and a 20 mile event. She came first in her age category at the Chelmsford Half. Keep up the great effort, Claudia!
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February 2024
February’s Club Member of the month has been awarded to Nicola Digby! This is for getting a 5k and 10k PB at the London Winter 10k. An amazing effort. It has also been awarded for her club contributions of cake baking and baby sitting at so many XC races. Congratulations, Nicola!
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January 2024
Our first Club Member of the Month for 2024 has been awarded to Maggie Mason. Maggie has run all 4 XC races so far this season and been our 4th scorer at the last 2 races. Her finishing position has been improving with each race from 60th in the first race to 37th in the 4th race. Congratulations to Maggie!
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December 2023
The final Club Member of the Month for 2023 has been awarded to Shane Ketteridge. This has been awarded for his dedication to training and racing and for the awesome photo in the mud. For taking part in three trail races during December, including the Flitch Way Half Marathon. Shane seems to be running at least one race a week and regularly appearing in the results reports. He is a great run club member and always has a smile on his face, cheering on others and joining in the Tuesday and Thursday runs in all weathers.
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November 2023
Our CMOTM for November 2023 is Dean Whittaker. This is for his PB and silver standard at Wix 5. This was off the back of running the Stort 30 ultra the week before. Dean is a regular at Tuesday and Thursday club sessions, and at NESS fixtures.
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October 2023
A huge congratulations to Will Radley who is our CMOTM for October 2023. Will managed to take 22 minutes off his marathon PB in 2:52:38 and did well with the training leading up to it. He also had great support from his family. He also came first at the Writtle XC and used his taper week to be a pacer at Tiptree 10. Will is also friendly and encouraging to everyone.
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September 2023
A huge well done to our Club Member of the Month for September 2023 – Clarice Sanderson. Clarice completed the Dragons Back Race; our very own Dragon Back conqueror, with temperatures regularly hitting 36 degrees (in Wales!). 6 Days, 108 Miles, 24,500 ft elevation, and several WRC Vests. In the preceding 9 months she spent countless hours running around Danbury, embraced yoga and strength training, and spent more time on the stair stepped than anyone should in a lifetime. Most CMOTMs are earned for races, well nobody could ever achieve what Clarice has this past month! Not only is she extremely supportive of everyone around her, but she lifted all our spirits taking on this challenge, this little dragon tamer lives the dream! Three cheers, Clarice!
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August 2023
Our Club Member of the Month for August 2023 is Lysia Jiggins. Lysia was nominated for running 55 Miles at Outrun 24. This was after having an injury and not managing the training she had planned for it. Lysia is also one of the friendliest and most supportive members of the club.
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July 2023
Our Club Member of the Month for July 2023 is Colin Short. A stalwart of the club and has been an active member for many years. In the last few months Colin has undergone 2 serious operations, which for many would have finished their running ambition. Not Colin however. His determination to restart his running has resulted in him being a member of the clubs MV60team at the Ekiden Relays and him taking part is his first parkrun as one the club’s pacers at Maldon. He attends most Tuesday club sessions as well as many race events as a supporter. A real inspiration!
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June 2023
Our Club Member of the Month for June 2023 is Jonathan Moore. Despite his assertions that he doesn’t like runs greater than 5km and insistence he had no interest in running a marathon he signed himself up to the challenging Race to the King and committed to the training plan developed by Jodee to run some significant distances more than 5km every weekend, including a trail marathon as a training run in East Hanningfield. He also got injured in late April and had to stop the runs all together for a few weeks. Despite all this he set out on a very warm day, in June, with some proper hills and proceeded to finish his first 50KM ultra marathon in 86th place out of 348 runners. This was his first ultra race. He got to the start line in good shape, listened to advice (finally wearing a wet cap!!) and made great progress along the course. -
May 2023
The Club Member of the Month for May 2023 is awarded to Dan Griffiths for his amazing Edinburgh Marathon run whereby he got under the 3 hours in a new PB (by 36 minutes!) after the dedication he gave to his training, and looking at his splits they were pretty consistent with his last mile the quickest! It was also a much hotter day than he would have expected. He also ran several PBs in the lead-up to the race
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April 2023
Our Club Member of the Month for April 2023 is Sarah Naughton for signing up last minute to do the Essex Road Relay (about 12 hours before) despite the fact she was already doing the Little Bromley 10K. Sarah started her leg in the Road Relay about 1 hour after finishing Little Bromley.
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March 2023
Our CMOTM for March 2023 is Owen Dare for taking 5 minutes off a 30-year old club record at the Essex 20 which was originally held by John Roberts. This was also a PB for Owen. He was also only a minute away from the club Half Marathon record at the Victoria Park Half Marathon where he finished first in his category and gained a Diamond Standard.
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February 2023
Our CMOTM for February is Heydon Mizon, for his incredible PB and Club Record at Great Bentley Half, and for winning first place in the NESS XC league for 22/23, having attended all five events and finishing in the top 10 for each. Heydon is a great supporter of the series and the club’s place in it, and represents the club really well. Along with posting to Facebook to encourage members and getting involved in the intra-club competition. All this while working his other training “obligations” around the events.
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January 2023
Our CMOTM for January is Pete Riley, for his commitment to x-country running and representing WRC throughout the season, particularly in January where he raced x-countries in the Essex Open X-Country Championships, NESS League at Writtle, Southern Championships at Beckingham and then the next day at the NESS League at Wix.
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December 2022
Club Member of the Month for December is James Attenborough, for taking on the role of BD5 Race Director with enthusiasm and hard work. This was James’ first time as a Race Director, but stepped forward when needed and put a lot of time and effort (along with the rest of the race committee) in making sure the race was successful and profitable for the club and the Helen Rollason charity. This was on top of James’ other committee role of membership secretary.
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November 2022
November’s Club Member of the Month is Jodee Mayer, for fantastic improvements in both her half marathon and 10 mile times. Jodee also regularly assists the club with a wide variety of matters even though she isn’t on the committee.
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October 2022
October’s CMOTM is Simon Cresswell for his 3:10 PB and Gold Standard at the Chelmsford Marathon knocking 10 minutes off his previous best time – set over 20 years ago. He completes his haul of Gold Standard times achieved at all the distances in 2022 plus a recent Essex Grand Prix silver.
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September 2022
September’s CMOTM is Celine Elson, for her excellent recent progress, and for her commitment to the club. Celine had recently volunteered to pace at the Maldon Parkrun when she heard that the Cross Country relay team were missing a team member. Not wanting to let anybody down, Celine raced from one event to the other and stepped in to run the relay at short notice.
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August 2022
CMOTM for August is Mark Austin, for his club record at the Friday night 5k Run in Colchester and also for his enthusiasm and encouragement to runners at the Sunday Long Runs.
Mark endeavours to increase the Sunday Long Run Attendance, encouraging runners of all abilities to join and organising different runs over varying terrain. He is always very encouraging and makes sure the pace is kept comfortable for all runners, to make sure everyone gets round safely.
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July 2022
Steven is our Club Member of the Month for July. He volunteered for course set up at all 4 of the summer 5k series before running each of them, and then proceeded to win the handicap race! He may even rival DJ for course set-up knowledge. He regularly attends Tuesday evenings and is a real team player, recently choosing a different pace group so that another member didn’t have to run alone. Steven has made a huge improvement in speed since joining and has become an extremely valued member of the club.
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June 2022
For June, the Committee have allowed an exception to the usual rules and have chosen Danny Connor and Jonathan Moore as joint Club Members of the Month.
Danny and Jonathan gave up their weekend to crew and support the WRC team in the Race to the King ultramarathon. Both provided invaluable support to Maxine, Jenny, Jodee and Sarah throughout the event, tracking two sets of runners across the 100km route, making sure they were all fed and hydrated. Danny ended up helping several other runners on the course and Jonathan ended up running almost a marathon himself (without training!) in helping the others get round.
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May 2022
Club Member of the Month for May is Peter Coates, for breaking his own club marathon record at Halstead by over 2 minutes. He came 4th, narrowly missing an individual medal, but earned a team bronze. In training for this event Pete also broke the 20 mile and the 10k record club records which would be worthy nominations in their own right. Pete recently returned to running after being pestered by a club member. He works tirelessly to improve, has 3 young children and works an hour away from home and has shown true commitment to reaching the best possible performance.
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April 2022
CMOTM for April is Daniel Griffiths, for his incredible PB of 3:35:54 at the Manchester marathon which was a PB by 40 minutes and less than 6 months after his previous marathon. He has trained consistently and is always committed to Club nights on a Tuesday and Thursday.
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March 2022
March’s Club Member of the Month is Sharon Read, for her fantastic performances in the Essex 20 and Wilmslow Half Marathon where she broke under 1 hours 45 minutes. Both races were during the final weeks of a fantastic training block for the Manchester marathon.
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February 2022
February’s CMOTM is Andrew Read for a superb month of running, achieving a PB at Great Bentley Half, completing his first Ultra Marathon at St Peters Way, and great performances in the 5K time trial and the final NESS XC fixture. Andrew shows great dedication to his training and is supportive and friendly to all.
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January 2022
CMOTM for January is Rachel Dingley, who ran an excellent time at a 20k canicross trail race followed by cross country at Harwich the next day! She has really thrown herself into cross country and is consistently among our top scoring women.
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December 2021
Fiona Collins is our Club Member of the Month for December. She has only recently joined the club but has fully embraced our club sessions and improved so much in her running. She had never ran XC before but has completely thrown herself into it and put in some fantastic performances.
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November 2021
December’s CMOTM is Lysia Jiggins. Lysia trained consistently through the summer and into the autumn to prepare for her first ultra-marathon, the remembrance Hare and Tortoise event in Brightlingsea. Her hard work paid off with her completing 33miles and finishing as 2nd lady. A truly awesome and inspirational feat.
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October 2021
Tom Ashley is our CMOTM for October for setting 4 new pb’s during the month. Tom knocked 4 minutes off his PB’s at both the Chelmsford Half Marathon and the Tiptree 10. Not content with that, he knocked another 4 minutes off his pb at the second Chelmsford Half Marathon and finished with a 5k PB at the Chelmsford Park Run!
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September 2021
Liz Prior is our Club Member of the Month for September. After great dedication to a tough training plan, Liz had great performances in the Brighton Marathon and St Peter’s Way ultra, just 2 weeks apart.
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August 2021
CMOTM for August goes to Andy Notley, for his fantastic performance in the London Triathlon Weekend Warrior. The idea is to complete as many triathlons as possible during the weekend with the winner being the person who completes the furthest distance. Andy completed 5 Triathlons – 3 Olympic Distance, 1 Sprint and 1 Super Sprint which was a total of 193.15km in a total time of 9 hours and 47 minutes. Andy came third overall and was first in his age category!
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July 2021
Matt Jordan is CMOTM for July after a fantastic month of running. He ran the Wendover Woods 100 mile ultra, and although he was forced to retire, he managed to cover 70 miles in 16 hours, climbing 14,000 feet in the process. A couple of weeks later he was back in action and knocked out a 3:10 marathon running on his own on a track just because he felt like it. A few days later he ran a fantastic 5k at the Angel, finishing in 18:24.
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June 2021
Club Member of the Month for June is Gavin Laws, for his performance at the South Downs Way 100 Mile Ultra. He finished in a fantastic 22 hours and 59 minutes. The course is extremely challenging, with over 12,000 ft of elevation.
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May 2021
May’s Club Member of the Month is Heydon Mizon. Heydon broke two club records in May, running a 17:04 5km at Braintree track on 20th May, and a 2:45:24 (also a pb) Marathon in Boston just a week and a half later!
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April 2021
CMOTM for April goes to Sarah Naughton for an incredible month of running. Sarah ran two trail marathons in two weeks – The Brightlingsea Challenge and The East Hanningfield Trail Marathon – and also ran two 10ks in one day as part of the Matt Ratana memorial run.
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March 2021
Rob Frost is our Club Member of the Month for March. He has had an epic start to the year, running two 100-mile weeks and over 400 miles in March, clocking up an impressive 1100 miles for the year so far.
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February 2021
Congratulations to Jason Lilley who is this month’s CMOTM. 17 members of WRC took part in a virtual challenge to run round the M25 (117 miles) in February. Jason is currently injured so decided to walk all his miles and still finished first, before any of the runners.
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December 2020
December’s Club Member of the Month is Giles Sowerby, for his incredible running streak, running every day in 2020, covering over 3000 miles
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November 2020
Congratulations to James Attenborough who is CMOTM for November. James has been the driving force in getting the virtual BD5 to happen by putting in a lot of the leg work in organising. His hard work is paying off with over 100 entries. Well done James.
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October 2020
CMOTM for October is James Blackshaw, for his encouraging attitude towards getting others to give ultra-running a try. The high number of WRC runners at Suffolk Backyard Ultra was solely a result of his persuasion and enthusiasm, to the point we were convinced he was earning commission. At the event, his was amazingly motivating, coming up with mental checkpoints for most laps and encouraging people to ‘just start’ the next lap which resulted in many of us doing several more laps. In addition to this, he and one other member completed the most WRC laps!
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September 2020
Club Member of the Month for September goes to Patrick Hinchliffe. Patrick has enthusiastically taken part in every activity organised by the club over the lockdown period, as well as every effort session, be it in person or virtually. He has also managed to take a huge chunk off his 5k time.
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August 2020
Club Member of the Month for August is Pete Banks, for completing the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee, and then turning around (in a virtual sense) and running it again, for an incredible total of 1270 miles in four months – around ten miles per day!
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July 2020
CMOTM for July is Karen Flowers, for being the first WRC lady to complete the GVRAT Challenge by her target date of 20th July, and easily before the deadline of 31st August, and for continually organising group runs throughout lockdown, including as many members as possible.
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June 2020
CMOTM for June is Adam Regan, for completing 200 miles of running during the month and for his performance in the Phoenix 24 Hour Virtual Race where he ran an impressive 36 miles.
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May 2020
Despite being very new to running, Shannon chose to sign up to the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee. She started off walking many of the 36 miles per week required to finish the challenge and has gradually increased the amount of running she does. Having never run more than a 10k before, she has now managed several long runs, and in May she quadrupled her previous highest monthly mileage.
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April 2020
Congratulations to Gerry Greenwold on being Club Member of the Month for April, for his amazing comeback to running after his diagnosis and treatment for Cancer.
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March 2020
Club Member of the Month for March goes to Scott Darney, for devising and organising the Social Distancing Championship. This goes above and beyond his coaching role and has given everyone a reason to go out running at a time when most other local clubs seem to have capitulated.
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February 2020
February’s Club Member of the Month is Sandy Karl for her fantastic performance at the Dubai Ironman 70.3!
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January 2020
January’s Club Member of the Month is Vicki Riley, for her impressive performance at the Writtle X-Country; finishing in 22nd place and being Witham’s first scoring lady
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December 2019
Goes to Bill Smythe for delivering a very successful BD5 this year, despite trying circumstances.
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November 2019
Goes to Owen Dare for his New York marathon performance in a time of 3 hours 6 minutes.
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October 2019
Goes to Jason Lilley for PBs at Southend 10k, Tiptree 10m and Wix 5m plus being supportive and friendly to all runners and club members
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September 2019
Goes to Jodee Mayer for volunteering to start the Intro to Running Course again, for also completing the Outrun 12 (17.14 miles) and Colne Engaine 5 the following day! Generally, Jodee has become a real asset to the club.
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August 2019
Goes to Lee Blake for putting the disappointment of the weather cancelling the bike leg of his Outlaw Ironman Race behind him to complete the Midnight Man Ironman Overnight Distance Race
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July 2019
Goes to Marc Underdown & Brigid Wallen for winning the mixed pairs at the Spitfire Scramble and for the incredible effort they both put in to achieve it. They both showed amazing spirit and determination to complete a combined total of over 142 miles in the 24 hours.
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June 2019
Goes to Ruth Mizon for her continued improvement at the Summer 5Ks and for another month of completing her challenge of 100 miles a month
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May 2019
Goes to Ross Silverton for being and all-round outstanding member of the club. During the month he raced at the Colchester 10k, Great Baddow 10 Mile, Burnham 10k, HBO 10k and JR 5k Race 2 – bagging some age group silverware in the process and managing to fit in some Tuesday pub runs as well!
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April 2019
Goes to Charlotte Roberts for her double marathons at Manchester and London while going through a tough time, I am sure the ‘appreciation not expectation’ mantra will help us all when the going gets tough.
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March 2019
Goes to Andy Lager for his 2nd place at the Thaxted marathon and representing WRC at various other races
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February 2019
Goes to Tom Ashley for all his hard work and extra work he put into the inter club league and encouraging members of the club to join and run XC!
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January 2019
Goes to Sandy Karl for her debut sub 4:30 Flitch Way marathon then running the Essex Senior XC champs the following weekend for the club and for showing general continuing improvement
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December 2018
Goes to Brigid Wallen for her modernising work as Essex XC secretary and working on WRC’s behalf
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November 2018
Goes to Haydeh Safavi for her performance at the Florence marathon with a time of 4hr 43mins taking over 20 minutes off her previous PB
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October 2018
Goes to Sean Darney for his sub 3 hour performance at the Chelmsford marathon in a time of 2.56 and smashing his previous best time.
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September 2018
Goes to Hayley Ellen for her return to fitness with a brilliant PB at the Pleshey Half and helping the ladies win the team bronze county medal
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August 2018
Goes to Rachel Pearsons for her Ironman Vichy and becoming the first female WRC Ironman
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July 2018
Goes to Jo Smythe for showing true friendship and human spirit whilst taking part in the Spitfire Scramble.
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June 2018
for his PBs at Southend half and Springfield Friday 5 and his very hard training including track sessions
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May 2018
Goes to Marc Underdown for superbly planning, organising and executing a highly successful inaugural May Day 10
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April 2018
Goes to Owen Dare for breaking 2 club records that stood for 26 years in both the 10k and the marathon
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March 2018
Goes to Terry Alabaster or his efforts at the Sussex Coastal Marathon in very cold conditions.
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February 2018
Goes to James Blackshaw for his epic performance at the 42 mile St Peter’s Way Ultra.
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January 2018
Goes to Clare Morrison for all the hard work she put into the Essex Senior Cross Country Champs
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December 2017
Goes to Sasha Rush for continued commitment to training, numerous race PBs and going up through the pace groups in record time.
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November 2017
Goes to Penny Clarke for her Bronze in the Essex Road Running Championship.
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October 2017
Goes to Theresa Montgomery for her continued effort dealing with club kit, often at short notice and despite the fact she no longer runs.
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September 2017
Goes to Rachel Sweatt for her Essex Ladies Half Marathon Champion win at Pleshey and for breaking the club’s ladies 5k track record.
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August 2017
Goes to Becky Grimwood for all the hard work she’s put into the New to Club Running Programme and dedicating her spare time to train others.
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July 2017
Goes to Giles Sowerby for his 4 marathons in 4 days at Great Barrow, increasing his pace at each race and overall quad winner
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June 2017
Goes to Rachel Pearsons for her first middle-distance triathlon and first WRC female middle-distance triathlete.
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May 2017
Goes to Danny Connor for using running to improve his lifestyle and embracing life with WRC.
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April 2017
Goes to Heydon Mizon for his sub 3 hour London marathon time and his commitment to training.
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March 2017
Goes to Paul Thomas for achieving a 5k PB at the Harwich Road Relays, despite experiencing a difficult time pesonally.
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February 2017
Goes to Chris Martin for his performance at Great Bentley half marathon breaking the 80 minute barrier and his turn out for the XC races.
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January 2017
Goes to Mark Finbow for travelling over from Surrey to spearhead our cross country survival in Pool A of 53-12. A first in 30 years!
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December 2016
Goes to Anita Grainger for her informative and detailed articles on the 53-12 races.
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November 2016
Goes to Heydon Mizon for his significant 10k and 10 mile PBs, our 1st finisher – vets XC champs and our 2nd finisher – 53-12 XC (race 1).