We had a near record turn out from the New Life Training Warsash Running Club for this years Great South Run. With 23 runners, 19 set their fastest ever GSR result to show we must be doing something right at the running club!! It was a great day and everyone was amazing!! There were a lot of nerves before, but once the race started everyone stuck to their game plan and performed to their best.
There were some amazing stories from everyone who entered. Firstly, we had 12 runners who had never completed a GSR before. At the beginning of the year Brooke couldn’t run 100m without suffering severe knee pain. Through a Personal Training plan aimed at correcting his gait and flexibility he was able to run, and run fast, pain free. He beat his GSR personal target by 1 second! to show his game plan worked too! Well done Brooke.
Lisa joined the running club at the end of August, not long before the GSR. She started at just 3miles and a slow pace of 11m30s per mile. Through running with the Warsash Running Club along with some stretching homework, she over-came all her nerves to fly round the 10 mile course with an average of just 10m 23s per mile. Well done Lisa!!
Charlie has had a great 12months!! Losing nearly 12stone (Yes!! 12 stone) and getting herself in the peak of physical fitness to run 10miles for the first time!! And she loved it!! Slightly addicted to running now, she was already plotting a half-marathon in the pub after the run! She has hoped to get in under 2hours, but with Sandy by her side acting as pace setter, she smashed her target and finished under 1h 45mins, what an achievement!! Amazing!!
We had a couple of late entries in to the race, Sarah has been attending the classes at Enjoy Fitness for a while now but hadn’t even contemplated the GSR until 2 weeks ago. She signed up, then came to 2 running club sessions. Her level of fitness was superb and she managed the 10 miles in style, finishing in just 87 minutes!!! Also entering at the last minute was Maddie, she joined the running club just a few weeks ago having just moved to the area. She quickly upped the miles with the club and took the leap to sign up and run the 10miles. She did fantastic, finishing in just 97 minutes, well done Maddie!! Chris was our final last minute entrant. He has completed the GSR once before several years ago and admitted he couldn’t walk for weeks after. This year he did manage 1 run in preparation, just 5.5miles last Monday!! It seemed to do the trick though as he blew the circuit away with a very quick 91 minutes!! I hope the legs are OK this time Chris!
We had a number of runners with us from JDI, a company New Life Training work very closely with currently. The boys have recently finished training for the Tough Mudder, and having sailed through that they decided to test their fitness levels at the Great South. For both Gareth and Steve this was their first GSR and they loved it. Soaking up the atmosphere on the day and flying round the route with no problems. Gareth’s 86mins and Steve’s 96mins were fantastic times too, well done Gents! Also from JDI was Nick B, he has been training well for this event, even running daily out in Spain while on holiday. All that work paid off today as he sailed round in just 88miuntes, well done Nick!!
Leyon had an eventful run. In recent weeks he has changed his running style, worked hard at increasing his speed, and most of all, battled to love running half as much as his beloved cycling! He was good to go today in his first GSR and targeted a really good time, unfortunately a spectator managed to step out in front of him en route causing him to trip and hurt his ankle. He soldiered on though to a very respectable 90minutes, It just means you will have to do it again next year Leyon. His wife, Rose had a great run. She has trained so hard for this and managed to get within 3 seconds of her target. Well done Rose a great run!!
Bina started running just a couple of months ago, and has really got the bug for it now. An injury to her ankle has held her back slightly and she now awaits an operation on it. But that didn’t stop her running the route today. Her 2h 18mins was also ahead of her prediction, and she finished with a big smile on her face. Well done Bina!!
Joanne ran the GSR last year in over 2hours, Since then she has joined the Warsash Running Club and has come on leaps and bounds! That was evident today as she smashed her PB and won the prize (in my eyes) for the biggest smile at the end of the race!! She was ecstatic with her 1h 45m and rightly so, Well done Joanne!! Awesome.
Lindsey had a great run too. She has had a tough year, recovering from cancer to start running again only in April this year. It has been an amazing story of dedication and determination and today it all paid off with an absolutely amazing run of just 100mins!! Well done Lindsey, so proud!
Greg has always suffered with injuries in the approach to his last two Great South Runs. Again this year he hurt his knee while on holiday with just 2 weeks to go. In frustration he declared he was just going to go out and try to enjoy it, with no stop watch, sat nav or anything to tell him how he was performing. It worked as he smashed his PB by 14minutes and managed to get under the 2hour mark for the first time. In fact, he smashed the 2hours, finishing in just 98 minutes in an amazing run, well done Greg, really pleased for you!
Carl had arguably the performance of the day, surprising everyone with an amazing performance of just 90mins, fantastic Carl, you should be very pleased with that. His Partner, Nina, also had a great run, beating last years performance to show great year on year improvement!!
Gemma had her fancy leggings on again today. I think they may have blinded a few people as she overtook them. But they certainly helped her fly round the route in just 89minutes, perfect result as she had aimed for a sub 9min per mile average. Good race planning Gemma! Well done!
Alistair hasn’t been able to dedicated as much time to training as in previous years due to work commitments. However he ran the whole route non-stop today and in a brilliant time of just 1h 41s. Not bad with limited training Alistair, well done.
Nick C had a great run too, no problems with the calves this year thankfully and a great time, just 86minutes, fantastic! His son, Henry, hadn’t managed a run in anger since his last GSR in 2014! So he was chuffed to have beaten his previous time by 5minutes, although he didn’t stop for Selfies at every mile this year (shame though).
As for me, well, I was just pleased to be running, having only come out of plaster in April this year and with the threat of not being able to run again. Thank you to all those who supported todays run. And thanks to the Silver Fern for their hospitality afterwards.
Running Club is back on Mondays 6.30pm start and Fridays 9.15am start.
Our next competitive run is the Stubbington 10k on January 15th!! Here is the link to get signed up. Do it now !! As this run does get fully booked very quickly! https://www.fullonsport.com/event/stubbington-10k-2017/profile
| Runners | Time | Distance | Speed | Pos |
| Mark | 01:14:29 | 10 | 00:07:27 | 1268 |
| Greg | 01:48:56 | 10 | 00:10:54 | 11611 |
| Sandy | 01:43:42 | 10 | 00:10:22 | 10209 |
| Brooke | 01:29:59 | 10 | 00:09:00 | 5553 |
| Joanne | 01:45:47 | 10 | 00:10:35 | 10781 |
| Lisa | 01:43:48 | 10 | 00:10:23 | 10238 |
| Lindsey | 01:40:25 | 10 | 00:10:02 | 9170 |
| Carl | 01:30:32 | 10 | 00:09:03 | 5733 |
| Nina | 02:11:02 | 10 | 00:13:06 | 14757 |
| Leyon | 01:30:45 | 10 | 00:09:04 | 5818 |
| Rose | 02:00:02 | 10 | 00:12:00 | 13708 |
| Gemma | 01:29:53 | 10 | 00:08:59 | 5523 |
| Nick B | 01:28:06 | 10 | 00:08:49 | 4885 |
| Nick C | 01:26:31 | 10 | 00:08:39 | 4323 |
| Chris P | 01:31:19 | 10 | 00:09:08 | 5996 |
| Alistair | 01:41:36 | 10 | 00:10:10 | 9582 |
| Charlie | 01:43:41 | 10 | 00:10:22 | 10208 |
| Bina | 02:18:44 | 10 | 00:13:52 | 15102 |
| Sarah | 01:27:01 | 10 | 00:08:42 | 4517 |
| Maddie | 01:37:29 | 10 | 00:09:45 | 8154 |
| Henry C | 01:43:18 | 10 | 00:10:20 | 10092 |
| Gareth | 01:26:05 | 10 | 00:08:37 | 4211 |
| Steve | 01:36:44 | 10 | 00:09:40 | 7902 |
