After a summer break for the the monthly roundup, we are back and have plenty of results to talk about. Here are just a few highlights from September.
The first race of the month was the Maidenhead Half on 1 September. As usual, we had plenty of Dashers in this, fairly local, event and we had some great performances. Congratulations go to Toby Bayes, Ronald Davies and Steve Hartigan for their PBs.
Jill Collett set a new club record running 1:19:16 in the FV35 age group.
Maidenhead was at the start of the month and we were at home in Windsor Great Park at the end of the month for the Windsor Women’s 10k on 28 September and the Windsor Half Marathon the following day. Both events seems to get bigger each year and Dashers were out in force for both.
Laura Baylis was first Dasher home in the 10k in 8th place in a time of 41:39 heralding great performances from all the Lady Dashers.
Over 60 Dashers ran in the half marathon keeping the Dashers supporters busy all along the route - but especially the noisy group at mile 12. Next year, there may be red and white pom poms!
There were great performances from all the Dashers but special congratulations go to the following:
Mark Ferguson (1:20:29 in M45), Jill Collett (1:22:42 in F35), Ronald Davies (1:29:25 in M55), Robin Smith (1:30:10 in M60), Ian Spencer (1:43:31 in M70) & Helen Bolt (1:44:51 in F55) all won their age categories
Both Paul Woolley (1: 21:11 in M45) and Christopher Hunt (1:26:49 in MSEN) were second in their categories and James Samson (1:15:13 in M40) & Stuart Armstrong (1:37:06 in M60) were both third in theirs.
Both men and ladies won the team event with Emma Twomey and James Sansom receiving the prizes on behalf of the club.
Some other highlights include, Mary Curran running with her family in the Belfast Half Marathon and between they representations three clubs, Datchet Dashers, Ormeau Runners (Belfast) and BOLT Running Club (Derry).
Jean Dodwell was First Lady in the Tough Woodland 10 miler in Crowthorne putting in a great time of 1:14 meaning she finished just before the rain started.
Further afield, our Chairman, Bryony Trafford-Smith ran her first local race in her new home area - the Stanwick Lakes 10K which was flat!
And even further afield, Katy Hughes represented Dashers in her new home Abu Dhabi. A brilliantly well organised 10k run in the air-conditioned Yas shopping mall. Is this a first for Dashers?
Finally, we all have our running heroes and Chris Hunt met his. He met the the Olympian and coach Jeff Galloway at his running school in Cardiff. Jeff is famous for his run/walk method, a technique which allows one to run injury free, run even when injured and greatly reduces fatigue and aids recovery after a long run. Jeff has taught 500,000 individuals over 40 years and receives feedback in the form of 100 emails a day, and yes he answers everyone!