July 2023 CMOTM

21 August 2023 - By Steven Alder

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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We had some great nominations this month, here they are for July:

• Celine Elson – for signing-up, and showing dedication to complete the Writtle Round, her first ever ultra. Celine spent most of last year breaking PBs and ended the season as the female club champs winner. This spring, following a month off with injury, she started training for distance instead of speed, which took a lot of discipline as she kept her long training runs sensibly slow. Celine completed the 50k ultra in 7:27 mins, a great result.
• Rachel O’Leary – even with a newborn baby Rachel volunteers on the John Robert’s 5km series and attends club team events. Her 25 minute 5km at Ekiden and general bounce back to running has been inspiring and incredible. Also makes fantastic cookies!
• James Blackshaw– for his amazing effort at Saltmarsh 75 – to run the whole thing continuously through head height grass at some points and come in an overall 5th is truly amazing.
• Jodee Mayer – for joining JB for the last leg of his 75 in the very early hours of the morning, covering herself in a rash to boot from the horrendous long grass and helping make sure JB made it – giving him the final push he needed to see it done. Jodee paced another club member on the last 10 miles of an ultra-marathon, in the dark and through difficult terrain, keeping the runner’s spirits up, and generally making sure they finished the race. Incredible effort from Jodee, taking time out of her own Saturday night and affecting her own training schedule.
• Tom Warman – for his performance in the Saltmarsh ultra 2 day event where he finished in a very creditable 2^nd Tom did the 39 miles for day 1 in 8 hrs and 8 minutes. He then did the 37 miles for day 2 in 7 hrs 58 minutes giving him a total time of 16 hrs 6 minutes. This event was just a week after Tom had taken part in the Essex Way Ultra 50k.