Bank holiday weekend kicked off with our club AGM, Quingo and raffle. Great fun was had by all as we reminisced over the last 20 years of the club and started looking forward to our 20th Anniversary celebrations. Club president, Helen Phillips was honoured with the George Hudson award for contribution to the upcoming celebration activities and Scott Weetch was posthumously awarded the Mike Nicholls trophy for his inspiration to others. Our club charity for 23/24 was St Margaret’s Hospice and it was decided to roll this over for another year with £185 raised in the raffle to kickstart the fundraising.
A couple of great weeks of running for our club members!! A regular race on our club calendar, The North Dorset Villages Marathon, does exactly what it says on the tin and follows a beautiful route around North Dorset villages!! Some good results all round with new member, Emma Rathbone, achieving a 1st in her age group and Georgina Brice adding to her 160 marathons!
Members travelled over to Yeovilton on Wednesday night for the second race of six in the Yeovilton 5k Series where Sarah Capstick came 1st in her age group. Excellent running on a sticky evening as the weather started to heat up.
This Saturday, most of the competition stayed local with the West Country Ultra Hilly 50 and Flat 50. Starting from Taunton, an unexpectedly hot day didn’t stop our members from completing the 50-mile, flat route along the canal, River Parrett and coastal path to Minehead. Dee Finch was surprised to receive a third lady place, but we all knew she was more than capable and look forward to seeing great things from her. Emma Grieg completed her 50th marathon, walking the whole distance in just 14 hours!! 2 members took on the Hilly 50 from Minehead up to Dunkery Beacon and back – a beautiful but tough route along the coast path and up onto Exmoor National Park. All the runners were encouraged along by friendly and supportive RFRC members marshalling at aid stations throughout the route.
Further afield, Rob Harris took on the gruelling Apocalypse Ultra in Shropshire which involves 4 tough loops totalling nearly 10000ft of ascent!! He survived to tell the tale and was one of only 24 people out of 130 to finish this year!!
Sunday saw club members travelling to the Ottery 10k and Portcullis 10k in Langport.
A great weekend of racing and supporting others. This is part of the ethos of our wonderful club. If you want to be part of the next 20 years, why not check out our website and sign up? https://runningforever.club/