Although one of the quieter months for racing, December still saw many club members taking part in a variety of events up and down the country with some fine achievements worthy of nomination for the twelfth and final Grantham Running Club Member of the Month for 2018.
Caroline Davis was nominated for being the first GRC woman home in the third North Midlands XC League race at Heanor and for a fine run at the Wheatley 10 mile multi terrain race a week later. Stuart Reader had a great run at the Keyworth Turkey Trot Half Marathon, bettering his old PB by two and a half minutes. Tracy Webb also set a new PB at the popular pre-Christmas race. She also saw the year out in style, first GRC woman home and inside the hour at the multi-terrain Peterborough 10K on New Year’s Eve.
Andrew Pask was another club member celebrating the end of 2018 with a race – his participation in the legendary Nos Galen 5K was rewarded with a five second PB 19:47. Another runner to break a significant time barrier was Matt Kidd, who joined the ‘Sub-40 Club’ with his 39:53 at the Waterside 10K.
Ian Williams established his 5K PB at the Leicester 5K Winter Series with an eye opening 17:38, a time that saw him ranked #2 GRC runner for 2018 over that distance. It was unfortunate for Ian that farcical scenes at the post Christmas Gloucester 10 Mile Race will mean his effort that very nearly merited him with a sub-1 hour 10 mile performance will officially go unrewarded. This notwithstanding, his time of 1:03:33 for 10.57 miles was arguably the best GRC performance of December. At a slightly slower pace but
similarly impressive, Adam Wasiolka was nominated for clocking up marathons 99 and 100 in the month of December.
Runner up for December MOM was Kate Marshall. Firmly gripped by the running bug, Kate enjoyed a great end to the year, clocking a new half marathon PB at the Keyworth Turkey Trot by nearly six minutes and finishing just outside the hour at the aforementioned Peterborough 10K on New Year’s Eve.
In a closely fought affair, Kate was narrowly pipped to the December MotM post by Sylv Hull. A week after representing the club at the North Midlands Cross Country League race at Shipley Park, Sylv displayed considerable determination (and similar amounts of kinesio tape holding a dodgy knee together) at the Keyworth Turkey trot to better her previous best half marathon time, set at October’s Great Eastern Run, by 33 seconds.