Hi All,

A really busy weekend for Pacers with one of the biggest local races at Cambridge Half as well as a group trip for the yellow group to Wales. At the latter Chris Mower ran a huge PB over the marathon distance with time of 2.47 – another brilliant run for himover this distance with last year’s Manchester Marathon also providing a PB. Paul Dockerill also ran an amazing race with a PB of 3.06, great run Paul. Katie King finished second in the ladies division over the half marathon distance in 1.23, well done Katie, and Mark Stratton got a PB in the half in 1.26 with Mike McKinstry having a good race after a long time off to finish in 1.27.

Back over to Cambridge at the half, which had the cooler conditions compared to last year meaning there were many members who had great races. First Pacer home was James O’Brien who ran a brilliant race to finish in 1.09 with Chris Poulding just behind in 1.10 – both receiving a PB. Cath Jeffery then finished third in her age category with an amazing time of 1.29 and was first Pacer lady. There were new PBs for many members but I spotted George Allen (1.42), Matt Bishop (1.29), Liam Guest-Hawkins (1.43), Alicia Ray (1.48) Blake Hall (1.31), Mark Davies (1.38), Sam Bishop (1.40), Alex de Moore (1.30) and Izzy Holland (1.37). Congratulations to you all. And just a little mention to Nicole Thompson who raced for the first time since welcoming her daughter at the end of the last year, well done Nicole!

A few other celebrations over the last couple of days:

– Well done to Jamie Fittock over at Colchester Half and a new shiny course PB with a time of 1.29. Lukasz Supernak also ran this event, well done!
– I know we had at least one Pacer out in Lisbon for the first of this year’s Super Half Series, well done to Kate who I hope donned her Pacers vest with pride.
– On Saturday it was the Inter Counties event and Cath has kindly written the report below – another day of amazing running!

This Saturday, the National Inter-counties were held at Wollaton Park in Nottingham. Teams of 8 were selected to represent Suffolk and junior Pacers represented a large percentage of these teams with some outstanding individual and team performances. 4 out of 8 of the U13 girls’ team were Pacers. Well done to Chloe Berry, who was an outstanding 5th overall and Millie McNeill who was in the top 100. Great runs also from Elissia Bell and Abbie Dockerill. Well done to James Beswick and Sidney Astle, representing the county in the U13 boys. U15 boys were 5th overall and Dexter Marshall and Hamish Dover were in the top 50. Well done also to Digby Pearson. 5 out of the 6 U15 girls’ team were all Pacers with 4 in the top 100. Well done to Sophie Bolton, Ella Knight, India Johnson, Alex McVittie and India Bostock. Again, we had 5 runners in the U17 ladies team (Romilly Adams, Ella Stewart, Tilly Wooldridge, Isla Whiting and Molly Murphy). U17 men’s team performed brilliantly to take 3rd team overall with 3 out of the 4 all from Pacers (Sam Blackwell, 10th, Max Uttley, 22nd) and Alfie Jeffery, 31st) it was a particularly strong performance from Sam. Well done also to Max Jeffery who also ran in that age group. In the U20 men’s’ team, Seb Melero came a fantastic 7th overall, with teammates Angus Blackburn in the top 100 and Thomas Southwood. Alice Winstanley, Erin Stewart and Ethan Ashwood were also selected but had to pull out due to illness or injury so well done to them too.

Earlier in the weekend it was the awards evening for the Suffolk Winter League Cross Country, where we finished runner-up in both the boys and girls league, as well as winning all of the senior divisions once again. Many Pacers also collected trophies for finishing in the first three of their age categories and Cath Jeffery, Jenny Morgan, Stephen Mead, Chris Mower and Alfie Jeffery winning theirs. Well done to everyone who ran for the club in the league this season and to everyone who volunteered to make it happen. A special well done to Ian for ensuring everything runs smoothly at all fixtures as well as running our home race, he also nudges many of us to run in a race, which of course we are ever thankful for, even when we run at Haverhill in the snow!

Next weekend is the next round of our Pacers Grand Prix at Stowmarket Half so no doubt many Pacers will be running, good luck all! The next leg at the Breckland 10k has sold out now but entries have opened for the Friday 5 series, with the Sudbury leg part of the Grand Prix. Friday 5s are a great series of six events across Suffolk in the summer months and will worth entering, with lots of members present at each one.

Friday 5 information and entries

Have a great week all.

Lara