Hi All,

I hope you managed to enjoy the sunshine the last few days. Marathon season is in full swing and today was the turn of Manchester, an event that has yielded some amazing times in recent years from our members and this year was no exception.

Katie King and Chris Poulding were representing the country in the Masters division and finished in 2.49 and 2.33 respectively. Katie won the v35 division and Chris posted a 3mins PB, absolutely superb running from you both, doing the club proud. Well done!

There were PBs for Andrew Southwood (2.42) and Natasha Michael (3.08), with Blake Hall completed his first marathon in 3.27. Ben Jeffery has been plagued by injury and did an amazing job to finish in 3.19, with Anthony Pooley finishing strongly in 3.14. Congratulations to you all! Well done to any Pacers who ran and I have missed, I do try to keep up via Whatsapp and Strava so do share your results and celebrate success 🙂

Good luck to Howard and Mark, as well as any other members we have, running the Boston Marathon tomorrow.

Next week we move onto London, hopefully for those running the temperatures remain on the lower side. I know many members will be going to support, including myself, with a big gang at Cutty Sark. Hopefully a Pacer or two makes it onto the tv coverage and all have a great race. If you are looking for a place on the Pacers London Coach, three spots have become available so do let me know if you would like to join. Anyone can become a guide runner, find out more here.

Other weekend highlights include:

– Christine Anthony was second female overall and won her age category in the Murcia 5k.
– Alex de Moore was ninth overall in the Northstowe 5k and is edging closer to the sub 19 mins 5k.
– Katie Margarson volunteered as guide runner at West Stow parkrun, volunteering and support local runners and events allows us to all do what we do so please do consider volunteering and supporting your fellow runners and club where you can.

Sunday Social Runs
Now we are getting into the summer season, we would like to host some social runs out on the trails across the local countryside. If you are able to route plan a run, ideally with a coffee shop or cake stop at the end, then do let me know so we can organise a bit of a schedule. Please note due to the Stephen Williams 10k there will not be a social run on Sunday 10th May.

Local Races
A number of events have opened for entries, including a couple that sell out quickly so do enter when you can to prevent disappointment:

Kesgrave 10k – Junior option too
Wibbly Wobbly Log Jog – 72% full!
Fox Trail Run – walk option too

The Newmarket Trail Half, part of the Pacers Grand Prix, will be on Sunday 30th August and entries will open soon.

Masters Athletics – 6th May
A message from Christine Anthony about this event below, please email her, ccd into this email, if you can help on the night.
Our first EMAC track and field is now just under 3 weeks away win the 6th May and preparations are well under way to make this a success.

I have had quite a few Pacers members interested in competing which is great.

The guides have kindly agreed to make cakes and provide hot drinks on the night in return for donations .

Would it be possible to have some help from a couple of Pacers members to set this up on the night? It would be to set up from 6pm. The first event is at 6.45pm but athletes and officials usually get there quite a bit earlier.

Have a great week.

Lara