The opening month of the year is traditionally something of a quieter month for racing but a return to the GP calendar for the Oundle 10k saw an influx of member putting on their race shoes for an early chance of starting the new year with a pb.
January saw GRC represented by 37 members in 5 races with 3 of them being road races and the other 2 being cross country fixtures.
Nominees
We start with the two Cross Country fixtures, where we find 3 nominees for Jan.
We start with the experienced Rob Howbrook who showed his class finishing first in his age category for the North Midlands Cross Country league and followed that up with a 2nd place finish in the Lincolnshire Cross Country Championships.
Our next nominee is Rachel Hamilton, who perhaps had the story of the day in that race, after recovering from a bout of covid the week before, she was nevertheless running strongly before the last river crossing saw her fall in… well… spectacular fashion. It emerged after that this fractured her toe in the process. Still finishing in a credible time of 30:59.
Our last nominee from here is the ever impressive Peter Bonner, who raced in both cross country fixtures, Peter lead the team home at the North Midlands Cross Country in a time of 43.43, he then followed that up with a 31st place finishing at the Lincolnshire Cross Country Championships. As part of his spring marathon training, Peter ran the Folksworth 15 mile race, his time of 1:45:25 was just outside of his pb time, but still good enough for a regional class age grade.
Runner Up
Now onto our runner up for January. Rick Dobbs was the sole representative at the Cleethorpes New Year’s Day 10K. Rick was running this race for the 3rd time with it also being his hometown event. Rick came home in a time of 45:52, this was a 32 second 10k PB and a 7 min and 36 course PB.
Winner
Now to our member of the month. This person has been improving at a rapid rate over the past few months with the goal to get a sub 45min 10k. Carlene Elizabeth came to the Oundle 10k hoping to finally break the 45min barrier and did so superbly, crossing the line in 44:33 giving Carlene a 28 second pb. What’s even more remarkable is that if the course wasn’t marked down as being long, it would have been an even better time.
Congratulation to our January Member of the month Carlene Elizabeth 
