PRESS Reports #jog

Denise Poole completed her first ultramarathon over the weekend. Run to the Sea race 50km (30miles) was held in Dorset and started in Ringwood. A point to point event that would end in Bournemouth. A covid registered event meant runners started in pens of 6 to allow social distancing. Denise was of and running at 7am on a bitterly cold morning. Two fast 10km sections along the Castleman Trail were done. The route then headed into Poole before following the coast path to Hengistbury Head. These 10 miles proved to be quite tough. Pancake flat and long straights are not a runners best friend. Some elevation allows other muscles to work. However at 26.2 Denise got a personal best over the marathon distance. Onto 30 miles and the finish....well that what was expected but the race had other ideas. 2 bonus miles finished over sand dunes and finally the finish line at 7hrs 17mins. Huge well done to Denise and all the other computers on the inaugural event.

Following the low R rate in Wellington and Somerset we decided the time was right to start meeting again. Also following https://www.uka.org.uk/ guidelines on meeting and running safely.  First meet was 6th July 2020 at 6.30 pm with 29 members in attendance. 

Main guide lines given to the group. . 

1. Do no attend if you or any members of your contact group have any symptoms of covid-19

2. We MUST have you listed if you are going to attend so we can create a safe meeting place and control group numbers.

3. Be prepared to maintain social distancing at our meeting location and whist on a run. Priority MUST me given to other members of the public. STOP when required to give space to others. 

4. Run in groups or bubbles of 6 people or less and try to remain in the bubbles each club run.

In addition to these points we have created a "track and trace" photo album update each time groups meet in case of track and trace being required. Members were spilt into the bubbles and thoroughly enjoyed their first club run in many months.  

Runners play Bingo
Wellington running club took part in a whole month of daily actives that were dreamed up by club admins. Some serious and many more on the lighter side of life but all with the aim of keeping members running during the lockdown.
Thirty challenges to be completed in any order to fill up their bingo card. Ranging from running half marathons, 10k's and 5k's. Silly runs like running in disguise, singing whist running and a backwards mile. Also some community feel good runs such as running to collect rubbish, random acts of kindness and encourage a non-runner out on a run.
So many people achieved personal bests such as their furthest run, most miles ran in a month and thirty days of consecutive running. More importantly people remained motivated to just go out and enjoy the huge benefits running brings both in terms of fitness and mental well being.
So many members to list but these folks were regularly putting a cross on their bingo cards.
Claire Rodger, Dean & Helen Perry, Denise & Chris Poole, Jan Olive, Julie Strange, Louise Lowry, Jeremy & Sam Walters, Sara Hart Higby, Sophie Ellen, Maggie Mac Kinnon, Lucy Little, Alan Shormey, Tracey Marie Elliott, Louise Froud, Sarah Tydings, Ayshea & Matt Carpenter, Paul Booker Luke Merchant, Graham Bowpitt, Chalire Booker, Hazel Sims, Kath Millington, Lucy Johnson, Mel Ellis, Elizabeth Kirkpatrick, Vince & Karen Reed, Lucy Ford, Katie Holmes, Jim Beatty,

Some members took on a virtual Mount Everest climb. Twenty-four participants took part and achieved the matching elevation gain in just fourteen days.
Amazing achievement for some from the club who were not to keen on running up hills! This being the first time they have attempted for many club runners, some only recently having graduated our couch to five program. Favorite place to run up to was Wellington Monument obviously. 
 
Just another way we are trying to keep our club motivated whist we continue solo self distancing rules.

Participants and height gained individually.

Alisha Carpenter 175
Chris Poole 6056
Claire Roger 414
Dean Perry 1767
Denise Poole 2377
Elizabeth Kirkpatrict 450
Graham Bowpitt 2002
Helen Perry 1527
Jan Olive 334
James Fuller 896
Jeremy Walter 2094
Jim Beatty 687
Julie Strange 419
Louise Froud 576
Louise Lowry 2596
Lucy Little 1656
Luke Merchant 436
Maggie MacKinnon on 1776
Matt Carpenter 175
Mel Ellis 555
Paul Booker 1312
Sara Hart Higby 667
Sarah Tydings 130
Sohie Acout-Wills 229

Wellington Running Club members took park in a Sports Relief challenge on the 14th of March. 26 runners donated money to run a marked 2 mile loop around Wellington. Starting and stopping on the high street the club proved water and snacks along with some cakes to fuel the fundraising legs. Some did it once and others as many times as possible in the four hour time limit. Many recorded personal best distances during the mixed bag of weather conditions. Further club members and family also donated swelling our just giving page to £700.00. An amazing some raised by such a small number of runners. Runners and the numbers of loops completed;

Alan Shorney 5, Angie Clarke 1, Charlie Booker 4, Chris Higby 5, Chris Poole 2, 

Claire Roger 4, Emilie Louise Janaway 3, Dean Perry 8.PB. Denise Poole 4

Donna Butterflies 4.PB, Hazel Sims 3, Jan Olive 3, Jeremy Walters 8.PB, Jo McLellan 3

Julie Strange 5.PB, Lesley Watkins 3.PB, Lisa Brown 3, Louise Lowry 1, Lucy Ford 4

Mel Ellis 3, Nick Peresdee 1, Richard Edge 3, Rodney Lockyer 6, Paul Booker 10

Sam Walters 1, Sara Hart Higby 6, Sophie Ellen 1, Trevor Sims 1, Vince Reed 10.PB

Three members were out racing this weekend. Jan Olive took on her first trail run at the "brentford 5km" race. A tough course on Dartmoor made even harder by the strong winds that was even blowing away direction signs. Well done to Jan and not getting lost and taking on some steep hill climbs. Vince Reed and Chris Poole joined two and a half thousand other fancy dress runners at the annual Weston Christmas cracker 10k beach race. The lads loved the 40mph winds heading down the beach but the laughs stopped heading back up again into that
headwind..twice. Mince pies all round at the finish and great festive spirit all round.

Wellington running club headed into Wales to join 27,500 other runners to take part in the annual Cardiff half marathon. What was forecast as a damp day turned out to be a lovely sunny day which brought even more crowds to the hugly support event. Fantastic individual efforts by all our club members in striving for personal goals and digging deep. Some personal bests achieved and a great day out. Official finish times are;
Lucy Little. 1:57:04. Vince Reed 2:01:51. Denise and Chris Poole 2:28:07. Natalie Troake 2:39:35. Sara Hart Higby and Claire Roger 2:45:24. On a very sad note a runner passed away in the race despite the best attempts of the medical teams. We would like to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends.

Busy times at Wellington Running club.  Over the last couple of weeks we have had runners taking part in varied distances and types of races. Such is the mixture of abilities we cater for.

On the 22nd Sept,  Killerton trail 10k race took place. Very Hilly, muddy and extremely moist conditions down. Finish times were Jeremy Walters 01:06:38 and Sam Walters 01:23:09 

28th Sept Chris Poole ran the Jurassic coast trail 50km. A new event that some described as brutal. Completed in 6:32:08 into a 40 mph headwind making it a tough day at the office.

29th Sept We had Taunton 10k road race with Eve Ford 1:12:51. Matt Carpenter 1:05:15,  Ayshea Carpenter 1:05:51 and Graham Bowpitt 47:06. Fantastic efforts by all and first race by Matt and Ayshea. 

Exmouth 10k again Jeremy and Sam Walters, they do like a 10k! Finish times were 54:06 and 1:08:04 respectively. Great running.

Whist the medal hunters were out at races we had our regular running groups meeting on Monday, Thursday, and Friday plus our current C25k are nearly half way through their program. 

Wellington Running Club member Chris Poole competed in the UK Trail Running Championships last weekend.

The Ridgeway Challenge 86 Miles (138km) is continuous running event that starts at Ivinghoe Beacon near Tring and ends at Avebury Stone Circle. The route is 86 miles along The Ridgeway National Trail, a 5000-year-old trackway through the Chiltern Hills and North Wessex Downs with over ten thousand foot of elevation.

185 Runners started the event at Mid-day Saturday. The conditions during the day sore temperatures over 30c along the exposed ridgeway, combine that with the difficult terrain and an eight-hour night section over 40% of the competitors had pulled out of the race before the finish.

Chris certainly didn’t have an easy run, races of 63 miles and other 50 mile training runs had taken their toll on his feet and Chris is continuing with a running streak meant it was far from the ideal lead into such a big event.

Final position was 34th out of the 185 starters in a time of 22:25. This year out of all the finishers most were over two behind the standard finish times and the event organises needed to extend finish cut of times to allow for the toughest condition the race has ever seen.

Well done Chris and a fantastic achievement.

Wellington Running Club meet Mondays and Fridays at 6.30pm in the co-op car park. All abilities are welcome to run for free with us.

WELLINGTON Running Club Couch to 5k runners have been awarded medals after completing an eight-week course.

The club says 31 runners, along with a number of others now running as well, have transformed their lives.

Club skipper Denise Poole presented the medals to the tired but happy runners as they crossed the finish line on Friday night.

A post-run meeting in The Iron Duke followed and the runners made a surprise presentation to Denise, which was later shared with the other group leaders.

Club leaders including Chris Poole, Claire Rodger, Jeremy Walters, Natalie Troake,

Sara Hart Higby, Vince Reed planned and organised the three-times-a-week running sessions.

Michael Sharpe of Taunton Running Club, sister group to Wellington, created the carefully planned course and he attended the graduation night. Between the two clubs, 150 runners have now progressed from Couch to 5k and beyond.

A spokesperson for the club said: “To say the club is proud of the new runners would be an understatement. The club’s ethos is ‘we run for fun, we run for free’. Unlike many running clubs Wellington Running Club believes everyone should be able to run free of charge in a group environment.”

For more information visit the club’s Facebook page.