That was 2007

Now that was 2007, and what a year that was…

The last year has seen the club take great strides forward in terms of on road and off road activities, and all concerned should be congratulated for this. The start of 2007 saw the club taking part at the Ramsey Frostbite with a small committed team, the start of 2008 saw the club take part at the Ramsey Frostbite with a very large committed and changed team which allowed us to not win the wooden spoon. This was in fact the first time since I joined the club that this didn’t happen.

A great deal of credit must go to those involved in all areas of the club from the Chairman, Keith Hall to the new members and to the juniors.

So what were the highlights of the past year - Starting with individual performances, the club has witnessed some excellent effort from all members, Eammon and Reg had a great year challenging each other at the front of the Thorney team, Andy Harding and Geoff also saw some very close runs, although not to be forgotten are Ian Frisby, Ian Ward and Richard Sharpe and of course perhaps the most competitive member of the club Eddie.

For the juniors, we have seen both Sapphire and Chrystal Frisby continuing with their development and performing well. Further mention must be given to Lydia Church , the Hodgkin's and also to Ben Harding on winning a spot prize at the Great Eastern fun run.

In terms of the ladies, the year started with club stalwart Gill representing the club mostly on her own. But as the year progressed the ladies team has also developed with a new captain in place, Joanne Strickland, and has gone from strength to strength with Angela Curtis, Sue Frisby and Laura Greenwood making good progress in their own form and running development.

Off road, the club has moved forward, not only in terms of organising some of the most successful local races, 10K and 5 miles, together with or part of the Peterborough 5k series but also with making those active members more of a team with the introduction of better kit resulting in tracksuits, training tee shirts and now kit for the juniors.

With regard to the races, with the club looking to enhance its reputation, the move to accepting on line entries has seen an increase in the numbers entering the races which has in turn provided additional finances for the club. The knock on effect of this has allowed us to provide better goody bags for all those that finish the races and also help financially with the kit that is avaible to the members. Of course this has also been helped by our association with Advanced Performance.

In terms of the number of members, we have lost some during the year, others have not been seen as much as before, but overall the numbers have increased among those are (not named above) Martin and Angela Curtis, Stuart Woodward. And for those not mentioned above you are not forgotten and are thanked by all of the other members in allowing the club to move forward and thrive.

Other off road activities has seen the club involved in both the Mizuno Mile that came to Peterborough on a very wet summers evening together with the Great Eastern Run half marathon. The Mizuno mile saw some very good runners from around the country come and try and beat the 4 minute mile, although this was not beaten and the club had no runners, it allowed us to help in the promotion of sport in general and got the name of Thorney Running Club out and about.

The Great Eastern Run again saw the club take part both on and off road, this has allowed the club to achieve a great deal of kudos both on and off the road, and as they say its not always what you know, its also who you know. A great deal of thanks must go to Dave Bailey for his involvement in this race in terms of the behind the scenes involvement, well as you must know it is only a matter of turning up on the day!!, and not the many meetings and months worth of planning and physical man hours of getting the route right.

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