WFC Runners: WFC Runners - Goodbye to the Stachowiak's and parkrun PBs Galore

Goodbye Adam and Magda

This week we sadly say goodbye to Adam and Magda, who have decided to move back to Poland. Adam was one of the founder members of the Runners, having been to our very first session back in September. From the off Adam showed his amazing running talent. He was so quick and was consistently the front runner at our Thursday sessions, but it wasn't only the Thursday sessions where he impressed. His Starva feed showed some impressively long runs both on road and off road and fairly often pushing the double buggy!

It wasn't only Adam who impressed. Magda was equally as awesome with her multiple daily runs with the buggy, her buggy workout classes and constant drive to be fitter and stronger.

They would both run at parkrun and post awesome times, both with and without the buggy. Adam's 17:59 back at the start of June will probably never be beaten by a Fit Club runner.

In March Magda and Adam took part in the Windsor and Eton Half marathon and in really cold conditions Adam ran 1:25:23 for the half, that’s 6:28 a mile for 13.1 miles! Magda ran a very respectable 2:05:32 for her half, but that is only part of the story because Magda ran pushing a double running buggy with two toddlers in!

In May Magda and Adam competed at the Wings for Life Poland race. The concept of the race is excellent...you set off running and a while later a car starts chasing you. At first it starts off very slowly and slowly increases it's speed. When it catches you, you are out! The races are run all over the world (over 200 locations in 66 countries) and all start at exactly the same time. Madga made it to 14.4km before getting caught and Adam made it to 33.5km.

In June Adam ran superbly at the Race to the King Ultra Marathon and finished in an amazing 9h21m21s....tha's 10:21 a mile for 53 miles! He also finished in 17th position (out of nearly 700 runners).

It has been an honour to know and run with Adam and Magda over the past 10 months. They will always be part of the Winchester Fit Club family and will always be welcome to join us for a run. I'd like to wish them all the best for the future.

I would say we'd be sad to see the back of them, but then we've been seeing the back of Adam at every session since September! They will be missed.

News

As the fine weather continues so does the form of the runners. It was another fantastic turnout at parkrun and a particularly successful one for Fran (30:15), Charlotte W (23:01) and Tom (21:12), all of whom recorded PBs and for Simon E (26:54) who equalled his best. Mike H (20:39) also posted another seasons best as he edges ever closer to that sub-20 time.

We also had Glenna on tour in Plean in Scotland and myself at Pomphrey Hill near Bristol. Glenna was first in her age category on a tough hilly course. The write up of my travels is below.

Here is the consolidated report for all Fit Club members at parkrun: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=26888&eventdate=2018-07-21

Also on tour, but not running, was Alex H who proudly showed off his new Fit Club kit in Northern Spain. If you are going away this summer then why not take your Fit Club kit, grab a photo and send it over for us to share!

This week’s Thursday session was a tough pyramid session which mixed short sprints with longer efforts for a leg sapping, lung burning effort. Read about it here: http://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2018/07/wfc-runners-thursday-19th-july-cricket.html

As a number of you know we have now launched a WFC Running club Facebook site. This is to compliment the other communication methods that we already have. It has photo albums for all of our previous sessions, events set-up for the races that I know people will be attending, the race calendar and will have any important information posted. It will also enable you to stay connected with your fellow runners, post articles of interest and arrange training runs and socials.

You can request to join the group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/976444695871618/

North Walls Rec Pavilion Appeal
There is currently an appeal in progress to raise funds for a new pavilion in North Walls Rec. This is fantastic news for Winchester parkrun as it will provide:

a store for our kit
a place to gather
toilets
a cafe
a meeting room for volunteer meetings

If you've a few bob to spare and love Winchester parkrun then please consider getting involved in the Pavilion Project crowd funding here: https://www.thepavilionproject.com/support/

WFC parkrun Club

Winchester Fit Club Runners is set-up as a club with parkrun. If you go into your profile (there is a link to it on the parkrun results email and newsletter email) you can select your club. Change yours to Winchester Fit Club Runners and you will appear in the consolidated club report that we get each week.

WFC Runners WhatsApp Group

There is a WFC Runners WhatsApp chat group where we generally just wang on about running, races and cake. If you are not already part of this then please get in contact with Coach James or Coach Mike who will add you.

WFC Runners Strava Club

If you are a Strava user there is a Winchester Fit Club Runners club page. This can be accessed here: https://www.strava.com/clubs/WFC-Runners. Request to join and we will approve!

Booking onto sessions

Booking onto our training sessions enables the coaches to plan the session accordingly. You can book on in the following location: https://winchesterfitclub.simplybook.it/v2/

Pomphrey Hill parkrun - by Coach James

Another weekend, another parkrun. This week I was away in Somerset but as I had done the majority of the ones in the area I decided to head up to Bristol to meet a friend and run Pomphrey Hill parkrun.

Set in the park to the east of the city it is a lovely 3 lap course around a park and lake. Starting by the pavilion it heads slightly uphill before dropping round to a long flat path by the lake. At the far end of the lap there is a hill imaginatively called Mr Hill. It was fairly steep but thankfully not too long. You then run along a ridge before dropping back down to the start. This is repeated thee times. Once you had finished the three laps there was a short sprint uphill to the finish.

It was a great course and, despite the hill, it felt fairly fast. It was a very warm morning and the course offered very little shade so it was a tiring but enjoyable run. The volunteers and core team were superb and very enthusiastic. There were also a large number of celebratory runs so loads of cake at the end! Always a bonus!! I would recommend you check it out if you are ever in the area.

Next week will be my 200th parkrun so feel free to come and join me for a celebratory run!

Winchester Half Marathon - Volunteers needed!

Some of you may have seen the post by Lynn on the WhatsApp group about the Winchester Half Marathon needing volunteers for this year's race. The race is on Sunday 23rd September and needs over 300 volunteers to be successful.

By volunteering you get free entry into next year's race.

If you are interested please follow this link: http://winchesterhalf.co.uk/get-involved/win-city-marshal/

Race Calendar

Here is an updated race calendar. If you have any others that you wish to add, please let me know!

Salisbury 5,4,3,2,1 Trail Runs - 12th August 2018
http://salisbury54321.com/index.html

Overton 5 - 2nd September 2018

http://www.overtonharriers.org.uk/club-races/overton-5/

New Forest Half - 9th September

http://southernrunningguide.com/race/new-forest-half-marathon

Baccus Marathon and Half – 9^th September

https://www.209events.com/uk-running-events/surrey_bacchus_marathon_and_half_marathon

Meon Valley Express 5km, 10km and Half - 16th September
https://www.eventrac.co.uk/listed-races/meon-valley-express

Hursley 10km - 16th September
https://www.hursley10k.co.uk

The Lake Run, Andover 10km and 5km – 16^th Septembver