May Newsletter
Hello again, I hope you are all well and staying safe! Hopefully not long now until we can all meet up again. This month’s newsletter is mainly focused around the Northants Virtual 5K Road Race Series, so please enjoy...
NRRL Virtual 5K Road Race League
Week 1
Of course DRR would be the best represented club across the county! We had 54 members enter into the league in total with 50 of those getting out in week 1 to register times. Overall, there were 230 athletes from different clubs across the county competing, of which 141 were male & 89 were female. Before mentioning any achievements, I just wanted to say that this is a fantastic effort from the club to get out there in difficult times – well done everybody!
Starting with the fastest male time, not just within DRR, but out of everybody, was Josh Schofield with 15:33. Lewis Knight was 7th with an impressive 16:38. Joseph Shirley, Daniel Clarke & Jack Pearson all featured in the top 20.
In the women’s category, our fastest time was Annette Clarke (11th) with an impressive 22:12! Spare a thought for Annette, who should have been running the first of her 10 marathons in 10 days, for Brathay Trust. Just behind Annette was Kate Bond (12th) with 22:15. Nichola Smith (21st) & Rachel Temple-Fry (23rd) also made it into the top 25.
Onto the handicaps. The extremely popular Claire Day ran over 3 minutes quicker than her handicap, leaving her with 189 points (2nd) after week 1, well done Claire. Noteable mentions to Chris Kemp, Jill Jelly, Jane Mitchell, Debbie Monroe, James Goodwin, Anne Counter, Brad Mullins & Samantha Watkins who all ran over a minute quicker than their handicaps. The following members also posted faster times than their handicaps – Keith Moreman, Julie Smith, Nichola Smith, Mathew Goode, Domonic Tranter, Denise Hackett, Joseph Shirley, Jack Pearson, Cliff Dowle, Mike Crumpton, Stuart Clarke, Lewis Knight, Josh Schofield, Sharon Packer, Dan Chilton, well done to everybody who got a new PB (unofficial).
Week 2
Off the back of a strong first week, DRR performed just as well in week 2. 48 from 54 of us completed a 5k run, meaning both male and female teams sit 2nd overall, with the club as a whole sitting top of the leaderboard at the half way stage. What a superb effort from everyone involved. At the time of writing this I don’t have the results for everyone individually, but do have the handicap league (which is what it was all about in the first place to make it a level playing field for all abilities). Leading the way for DRR, Debbie Monroe in 4th and Steve Brooks in 14th.
A few results now, quickest once again was Josh with a super impressive 15.23, 10 seconds quicker than his time in week 1. Our fastest female was Kate Bond with an excellent 21.14, taking 1 minute of her previous weeks time.
It’s also worth highlighting than more half of DRR members posted faster times than in week 1 – Debbie Monroe, Becky Wheaver, Sam Weaving, Sam Watkins, Dom Tranter, Rachael Temple-Fry, Laura Sullivan, Julie Smith, Josh Schofield, John Sach, Jack Pearson, Michelle Peach, David & Sharon Packer, Ben Oliver, Charlotte Oakley, Brad Mullins, Keith Moreman, Jane Mitchell, Dan Henderson, Denise Hackett, Nadine Gray, James Goodwin, Chris Edge, Cliff Dowle, Angela & Colin Devlin, Mike Crumpton, Dan & Stuart Clarke, Steve Brooks, Kate Bond, Paul Barker, Ant Baker, Damien Baker.
Week 3
Into week 3, more great number with 44 of us turning out on what was an extremely windy weekend to try run a flat out 5k, which makes some of the times I have seen even more impressive. After the update in week 2 regarding the team events, I now have some more information on the individual standings. In the male category, Josh Schofield sits in first place, with the following inside the top 20 – Joseph Shirley (12th) Daniel Clarke (15th) Jack Pearson (16th) Lewis Knight (18th). In the womens, our highest placed runner is Kate Bond in 8th with Annette Clarke in 9th! Rachael Temple-Fry also creeps inside the top 20 (17th).
Results times, yes you guessed it, Josh was once again the quickest DRR male with another impressive 15.51, although slacking a bit on last week. Quickest female was Annette Clarke with a brilliant 20.57, this was a new personal best. A few performances that stood out this weekend, Claire Day 40.39, 4 minutes under her handicap, Matt Goode who stuck in his 3rd sub 19 run in consecutive weeks, Todd Jeffrey with a huge PB running sub 19 for the first time (18.57), Jill Jelley ran a minute under her handicap with a solid 27.08. Recent new member Lewis Knight was back to his usual self, putting in a 16.43, this should see Lewis back into the top 10 going into the last week – I cannot wait to see Lewis in a DRR vest! Jane Mitchell continues to smash in huge runs well inside her handicap, another PB this weekend 25.36! Charlotte Oakley ran a whopping 5 minutes under her handicap with a 25.38! Michelle Peach ran a new PB, 31.56. Another member having an excellent series is Jack Pearson who has PB’d every week, 17.33! Finally, Debbie Monroe who ran 28.04, I’m sure everyone in the club is just as pleased as I am to see Debbie back running so well. There was so many more amazing performances not mentioned, onto week 4!
Week 4
The final week of what has been a great 4 week series. 43 of us completed 5k runs this weekend. Fastest male in week 4 was Lewis Knight with 16.32 and fastest female once again was Annette Clarke beating her week 3 time, running another unofficial PB of 20.51 – a brilliant series for Annette.
After 3 weeks, the following are all inside the top 20 females – Annette (6th), Kate Bond (9th), Laura Sullivan (17th), Nichola Smith (19th) and Rachael Temple-Fry (20th), with the following men also in the top 20 – Josh Schofield (1st), Lewis Knight (9th), Jack Pearson (10th), Dan Clarke (11th) and Joseph Shirley (13th).Special mention to Matt Goode too, who sits in 22nd place.
In the handicap league, we have Steve Brooks in 4th (2nd male), Debbie Monroe in 7th (5th female), Samantha Watkins 13th (8th female), Charlotte Oakley 15th (9th female) and to orund off the top 20, Jane Mitchell in 17th (10th female).
In the team standings (after week 3), the men are top (on the same points as R&N) with the women 3rd. In the combined teams we sit just 2 points behind R&N in 2nd place.
Final Standings
Wow, what a brilliant four weeks for the club! This wouldn’t be possible without all 54 members who entered the road league and not forgetting everyone else who gave kudos & encouragement along the way.
I’ll start with the female category – congratulations to Annette Clarke for being our fastest lady and finishing in 7th overall, closely followed by Kate Bond in 11th place, with Laura Sullivan (17th) and Rachel Temple-Fry (19th) also making it into the top 20.
In the men’s, a massive congratulations to Josh Schofield for finishing in 1st place! Well done to Lewis Knight (6th), Joseph Shirley (12th), Jack Pearson (15th) and Daniel Clarke (16th) for all finishing in the top 20.
In the handicap standings, Steve Brooks finished in second place and was the highest placed male, only just ahead of Neil Wills who came in third. Debbie Monroe, finished in 14th (8th female), with Lewis Knight (18th), Chris Kemp (19th), Sam Watkins (20th) and Charlotte Oakley in 21st. Well done all!
In the age gradings, Kate Bond was the fastest female with a score of 85.24% and Josh Schofield was our highest placed male in sixth place with a score of 84.4%. A special mention to Kate, who also finished top of her age category.
Finally, the overall standings. Our male team finished second, only one point behind Rugby & Northampton and our ladies finished in third, which meant as a club we finished top overall. This is a superb achievement for the whole club and like I said at the start, wouldn’t be possible without the support and commitment of everyone. I’m so proud of you all. There were so many fantastic performances and new PB’s throughout the four weeks, too many to name them all, but I will sign off with a little mention for Debbie Monroe, who not long ago was quite poorly, so to just get back out the and run a 5k in itself is a great achievement. Debbie completed all four runs under her handicap time, with a few PB’s along the way – great to see you back Debbie!
Charity update!
In May newsletter you’ll have seen about Maisy Radford’s 2.6 challenge, well done to Maisy raising over £3,000 for the local Reach for Health Centre.
Also out doing some brilliant charity work were Steve & Julie Ball. Julie ran/walked 125 miles in May while Steve & his friend did a whopping 19 laps of Hannah Hill otherwise known as the Buckby triangle in one hit, totalling the best part of 80 miles. Steve & Julie raised over £1,000 for the Veterans charity. Well done to everyone who sponsored & gave kudos.
If you are doing any charity work and would like me to feature it in the monthly newsletter then please direct message through facebook or email me joseph.shirley@yahoo.com
Getting to know... Charles (Bill) Goadsby
From one club legend to another, following on from last month’s interview with Keith, this time we had a quick chat with Bill.
Some of you may already know Bill and many of will have probably seen him at some point running around Daventry, but for anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of meeting him yet, Bill is one of the club’s longest serving members and was part of the club committee last year. Here’s what he had to say about his time with the club and his running memories...
How long have you been a member of DRR?
I joined Daventry Road Runners around 1987, before some of our members were even born, after meeting a couple of club members at my first 10K event at Bourton-on-the-Water and they invited me to run with them. Back then the club was based at the Rugby Club on Stefan Hill, but shortly after moved to the Ford Sports and Social Club on Royal Oak Way.
What made you start running?
I started to run at the club sessions on Tuesday and Thursday nights as a way of improving my fitness and stamina for a martial art that I was practising at the time.
What is one bit of advice you would give to a fellow DRR member?
My advice to DRR members is that despite disappoinments, never stop trying.
Also, never buy any Ford products! (You’ll find out why later in the interview)
Have you ever had any big injuries and to anyone struggling with niggles at the moment what would you say to them?
I have been very fortunate in surviving many common runners injuries and the medics tell me that my fitness has helped me with recovering from a couple of mini-strokes and a heart attack (not running related I must add).
What would you say are your biggest strengths as an athlete?
Whilst I’m not the fastest or strongest athlete, my biggest strength is my indomitable spirit and drive to keep going, demonstrated by a couple of my running heroes Alf Tupper and Eliud Kipchoge.
How many World Marathon Majors have you ran?
With encouragement from club members I began to enter more an more races. My first 10 miler was at Weedon in 1990, with my one and only Great North Run the same year. Since then I have completed numerous races including 10 London Marathons and well over 30 half-marathons. I thought I’d also ran the Silson 10K on 25 occasions, but their role of honour only has me at 23.
What has been your favourite race over the years?
For 19 years Daventry Road Runners staged a 6-mile road race from Ford Sports and Social Club. Three months before our 20th year Fords informed us that we could no longer have the use of their clubhouse anymore, so on raceday we ran the course for one last time and from that point on I vowed never to buy a Ford product again.
I would just like to add that the friendships formed whilst being in the running community are just awesome and in many cases beyond words. I look forward to running with you all again soon.
I like to say a huge thank you to Bill for taking the time to answer these questions, I’m sure you all found it interesting.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this month’s newsletter. Keep your eye’s peeled for the next edition, including an interview with a very special guest!
Joseph Shirley
Club Captain