Runners of the Month, First Half of 2023

Our first runner of the month for June is Matt Proome. Matt is certainly one of our members who likes to take on the big running challenges! This year Matt’s running has been all about training for one huge race with a few training races along the way. He started the year representing the club at the Cotswold Farm Park Cross Country race in 45:26 and coming 11th at Bryanston parkrun in 22:29 in South Africa. He then completed the Manchester marathon in April in 3:48:43 which he followed up in May with the Marlborough Downs 33 mile multi-terrain challenge conquering 2,862 feet of ascent in 7:08:54. This was his last long training run before the very challenging Comrades ultramarathon in South Africa in June where Matt finished the 55.3 miles and 3,666 feet of ascent in a simply incredible time of 9:52:40. Well done Matt!

Our second runner of the month for June is Ross Greening. Ross is another runner who has been very focussed on this training this year and is regularly in the fast club run group on Wednesday evening with much younger runners. He was a regular at this year’s handicap races and is currently leading his age category in the club road race series and in 6th place overall for all ages! He is regularly 1st in his age category at parkrun too! He has been knocking out some superb race times this year. Over 10k he has delivered 45 minute times on 4 separate occasions with 45:19 at Bourton, 45:28 at Berkeley, 45:57 at Cirencester (which was very warm) and 45:32 at Gloucester (which was also warm). He also completed the Cleeve Cloud Cuckoo in 45:19 and completed the challenging Dymock Half in 1:43:51. Well done Ross!

Our first runner of the month for May is Issy Ravenhill. Since joining the club Issy has been getting stronger every year and this year has shown some spectacular improvement and has been banging out PBs all over the place! Back in January she set a 5 mile PB of 35:38 at the Linda Franks and last week at the Gloucester 10k set a PB of 45:05 in very warm conditions. In between that was a 20 mile PB of 2:40:52 at Berkeley and 8 days later she subsequently bettered that by almost 5 minutes to 2:36:07 at the Ashby 20. She then popped out at 3am one morning whilst on holiday in Vietnam (as you do) to knock out a 4:06 marathon time. All that proved to be great training for the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon of 3:32:21. An absolutely stunning time given how hilly the course was! Well done Issy!

Our second runner of the month for May is Joanne Johnson. Jo is another runner who is having such an amazing year with her running. Earlier in the year she earned top 50 UK rankings for her age category at 5 miles at the Linda Franks with 32:14 and at 20 miles at Berkeley with 2:31:32. She is currently the top female overall in both our road race series and off road race series. She recently finished 1st in her age category at the Cleeve Cloud Cuckoo in 43:34 (despite a rather spectacular fall on the final descent). She was also part of the winning female team at both the Dymock Half and the Gloucester 10k. She also finished 1st female at the very challenging Dick Whittington 5k in 30:25. At Parkrun she regularly finishes in the top 3 females and wins her age category and has been 1st female overall 3 times. Well done Jo!

Our first runner of the month for April is Vicki James. Vicki has shown incredible perseverance, determination and commitment to get running after a very serious injury breaking her knee cap in several places and tearing ligaments and nerves and was told she would never walk again on that knee. After prolonged and intense physiotherapy she built up to walking and eventually tried running and took on her first 5k race in May 2022 and then joined our club to train for her first 10k in June 2022 which she completed despite another injury set back with shin splints. Vicki has recently taken 32 seconds off her 10k time at the Pendock Spring Chicken 10k, a tough hilly multi-terrain race. She has brought her parkrun PB down this year by almost 4 minutes to 30.44 and recently completed her first half marathon in 2:35:35. Vicki is truly an inspiration to all of us to have overcome some adversity to be where she is now with her running. Well done Vicki!

Our second runner of the month for April is Dave Nelson. Dave is a fabulous LiRF and when potential club members try us out and they have Dave I always say to them that he will look after you really well! He is very encouraging and supportive, will always be asking how runners are in his group and will keep them company at the back if required. Dave is also a member of the Cheltenham junior parkrun core team having volunteered at parkrun 105 times in 11 different locations! He is also an extraordinary parkrun tourist having done 228 parkruns in 113 different locations in 12 different countries!! And when he’s not travelling the world to do parkrun or watch the Scotland national football team Dave does find some time for races having this year enjoyed amongst others the Bourton Mile, Dick Whittington 5k, Linda Franks 5 mile, Bourton 10k and Bristol Half. Yes sir, Dave can boogie!! Well done Dave!

March – Steve Axford and Patrica Dendy

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!

February – Julie Averiss and Jeanette Gullick

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!

January – Jane Taylor and Craig Jackson

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!