Runners of the Month - 2022-2023

Our first runner of the month for March is Steve Axford. Steve (‘Ax-man’) is a versatile and unassuming runner whose running has been going from strength to strength since he joined the club a few years ago. This year he has already earned a 10k PB in 40:35 at Bourton and a 20 mile PB in 2:38:52 at Berkeley, showing a 5 minute improvement over his time in 2019. In Torremolinos he won a bronze medal in his age category in the inaugural 5k and the following day knocked out a very impressive 1:33:19 on the challenging half marathon course. But it was at the Brighton marathon a few weeks ago where Steve really shone, taking 12 minutes off his 2021 London marathon time to finish in a new PB of 3:15:30. Well done Steve!

Our second runner of the month for March is Patricia Dendy. Patricia is an astonishing runner given how little time she has to race as running very much comes after being an amazing mother to her 2 boys. Her only parkrun this year without her boys was at Chippenham Playing Fields, Monmouth last month in a time of 21:00 in 10th overall and 3rd female. She is also a regular parkrun volunteer, having volunteered 145 times, and a member of the core team at KGV parkrun. Her biggest success this year has come in the Cross Country season where she is our ladies team captain and has been leading by example finishing 1st female Almost in all 4 races and finishing 4th overall in her very competitive age category. Well done Patricia!

Our first runner of the month for February is Julie Averiss. Through sustained and consistent effort Ju has shown considerable improvement in her running this year recording PBs at all distances that she has run so far this year. She took almost 1 minute off her parkrun PB at Cheltenham with 31.32, took 6 minutes off her 5 mile PB at Linda Franks with 39.01, took 8 minutes off her 10k PB at Bourton with 62.12 and took almost 10 minutes off her half marathon PB at the challenging Torremolinos half with 2:30.19. Ju has also been a very supportive member of the club for many years and has recently helped others with motivation to get healthier and improve their running. Well done Ju!

Our second runner of the month for February is Jeanette Gullick. Jeanette has been knocking out some fantastic times at parkrun and in her 2 races so far this year. Her parkrun times have been consistently improving. She always comes 1st in her age category and recently finished 2nd lady at Cheltenham in 21:49, 1st lady at Gloucester City in 21:58 and 1st lady at Cirencester in 22:22. She finished 2nd in age category at the Torremolinos half in 1:40:41 and 3rd in age category at Bourton 10k in 43.00, smashing the previous 10k club record for her age category and earning an age category 2023 UK ranking of 14th! And she is always so friendly and enthusiastic at club runs and an excellent LiRF. Well done Jeanette!

Our first runner of the month for January is Jane Taylor. Jane is relatively new to running but through persistence and dogged determination her confidence is growing alongside a significant improvement in running. She massively improved her Linda Franks 5 mile time last month from last year by almost 6 mins to 58:43. And in the last 2 weeks she has completed her first half marathon in Torremolinos and also taken 2 minutes off her parkrun personal best at Penrhyn. Jane is also very supportive of other runners (especially beginners) and club activities in general, and a generous cake donor! Well done Jane!

Our second runner of the month for January is Craig Jackson. Craig has been making astonishing progress with his running and his times just keep tumbling. He has set new PBs with significant improvements at all distances in the last 12 months. These are 85:35 at Staverton 10, 45:07 at Bugatti 10k, 1:40:54 at Stroud Half, 20:17 at Berkeley Green parkrun, and most recently 31:45 at Linda Franks 5 where he impressively finished 4th Almost. He was also successful in our race series last year, finishing a close 3rd in the very competitive senior male category in the road race series and finishing joint 4th in the closely fought handicap race series. Well done Craig!