The summer holidays has seen the announcement of July’s Grantham Running Club Member of the Month delayed somewhat but the passing of additional time has only served to cement what was another incredibly strong month for the club with many nominees worthy of the MOM crown and many runners not nominated owing to tough decisions being made to keep the numbers manageable.
The Lincoln Wellington 5K Series continued to generate a number of PB performances that saw four runners nominated: Joaquim Jeronimo for smashing the 18 minutes barrier (17:41); Joe Diggins for coming as close as you can get to breaking 20 minutes but not (20:00!); and Stefan Latter who lamented not playing his GP Series joker on an evening where he ran 20:16. Adrian Walker was nominated for his half minute 5K PB of 21:34 at Lincoln and also for his impressive 45:17 at the undulating Whissendine 6 mile race.
The irrepressible Rob Howbrook didn’t PB at the Lincoln 5K, but he did win the V60 age category in that race and the supporting one mile race where he did set a PB (5:36). He was the age group winner at the Peterborough 5K Series races at Ferry Meadows and Werrington, plus the age group winner again at the Heckington Show 10 mile race.
Tracy Webb was nominated for her ten mile PB 1:38:24 at Heckington which was held in conditions not conducive to quick performances.
Like the LWAC 5K series, the Peterborough Grand Prix 5K Series has been popular with GRC runners over the summer and yielded many performances worthy of nomination. Vicki Ball improved her month old 5K PB at Ferry Meadows by eighty seconds with 24:26. Jonny Palmer ran a very impressive 16:43 at the Stamford 5K before running a superb 16:21 at Werrington – a time that would have been a 5K club record were he not second claim at the time, but does represent the fastest ever 5K time by a GRC member. His partner Sarah Chynoweth bettered her recently set PB of 19:46 by 16 seconds at the same race
and in so doing set a new club record 19:30.
Elsewhere the Thunder Run 24 Hour Race dominated many club members’ focus in July with Caroline Davis nominated for her very impressive eleven 10K laps as a solo entrant.
Dan Ancliffe was nominated for his excellent 38:47 10K PB on the hilly Thurlby course and Matthew Kingston-Lee was nominated for winning the Whissendine 6 with an eighty second PB 33:33.
Runner up for July 2019 Member of the Month was Naomi Jepson-Rivers. In a busy month for the novice runner Naomi broke her month old5K PB by 34 seconds at Ferry Meadows, ranagain at Stamford before equalling her PB at the Werrington 5K at the end of the month. Moreover she was the first female GRC runner to finish at the Whissendine 6 and successfully completed the Heckington 10 mile race – the furthest distance she had raced at the time.
The winner of July’s Member of the Month is one of the club’s most experienced and best runners, performing consistently to a very high level for many years that has seen her ranked well inside the top 50 in the UK in her age category over a range of distances from one mile up to the marathon.
In some ways July 2019 was just another very good month for Catherine Payne, whose three runs at the Peterborough 5K GP Series in July helped secure her the Age Group title she had won in 2016 and 2017. An indicator of her quality was that she was awarded the Female V40 prize (two groups below her age category) as her finishing positions were better than those competing below her.
Catherine also finished second in the women’s race at the Thurlby 10K, but perhaps the most impressive performance of the month came at the Thunder Run 24 Mile Race. As part of the club’s mixed team of five, six laps from Catherine helped them finish tenth overall. This came a year on from where Catherine suffered a very serious injury at the same race which saw her out of action for many months. It says something for Catherine’s mental fortitude that not only has she returned to race as well, if not better than ever before, but was able to return to the site of what could have been a ‘career ending’ injury to support fellow club mates when others may well have vowed never to return.
Many congratulations to Catherine on being July 2019 Grantham Running Club Member of the Month!