The New Year kicked off in its customary underwhelming manner in terms of racing with just a smattering of events over cross country and on the road to choose from.
The Folksworth 15 is a January stalwart on the racing calendar and, in recent years certainly, can be trusted to produce weather conditions that are borderline unsafe to race on. Matthew Williamson ran well to better his course and fifteen mile PB by two minutes with 1:45:49.
The Oundle 10K is likewise gaining a reputation for being a race that is going to be afflicted by strong winds. Julie Braker was nominated for winning her age category; Joe Diggins was nominated for a fine run that saw him complete the trio that went home for the second year running with the Men’s Team Prize; and Matthew Kingston-Lee was nominated for leading the team home in second position overall with a time of 35:31. Joaquim Jeronimo not only helped secure the Men’s Team Prize at Oundle, he was (belatedly) awarded the Mallory Park 5K Winter Series trophy after clocking 18:43 in the final race at the end of the month.
Runner-up for January Member of the Month was Jonathan Palmer who at Folksworth set a new club record over the rarely raced distance of 15 miles when finishing eleventh in 1:28:14. Jonny’s prowess over cross country was impressive: he finished third senior in the Lincolnshire Cross Country Championships then finished ninth in the final North Midlands Cross Country League Race at Wollaton Park – arguably the best ever performance at a cross country race by a runner in a GRC vest.
The winner of the first MotM for 2020 also raced at Wollaton Park in the North Midlands Cross Country League. Women’s Team Captain Sarah High, who has done sterling work in organising and supporting cross country teams for the club for many years, clinched the overall individual V55 prize for the very competitive four race series with another strong run. She then completed the Folksworth 15 as part of her marathon training plans.
Congratulations to Sarah on being Grantham Running Club Member of the Month!