Green Belt Relay Challenge 2020

On the weekend that would have been our Green Belt Relay organised by @stragglers_running_club we set out on our own 220 mile challenge.
25 runners, 5 countries and 250 miles later looks what we’ve created.
Fi even managed to fit in most of the glory leg on the official Green Belt Relay Route! And Lizzy visited another stage close to home.

We might have missed getting together and the challenges of coordinating and navigating around the Green Belt but at very short notice letter routes were planned and executed – see our results below!
A great example of how our team can come together and deliver a great team event.
Excellent running by all and great to bring everyone together (virtually) with amazing cheer leading from those who couldn’t run. 
Thanks team – for getting organised and joining in. That was fun what’s next?
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To the official Green Belt route – we’ll see you in 2021
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November & December

Winter well and truly hit our Tuesday sessions, we did prevail… possibly one week our smallest ever captured on camera Katy, Jarred & Rob showing full commitment!

Over in Athens temperatures were kind to Anneka getting her sub-4 at Athens Marathon, ft. Super fan helping the motivation at the finish line 🙌🥇

Emma was also back on it with a 10km race in November with friends

Ken travelled further afield to join the Tribe Run for Love team in the Azores, a half marathon up and around a volcano… that’s a new one! Well done.

December brought us the run up to Christmas and still finding time to fit in our training… we even got fed on our final session Jon’s suet soup!

 

Rob hit all the right notes not trading in training for festivities and completed Advent Running, being active everyday through to Christmas 🙌

Rob was also selected in the club London Marathon Ballot so another name to cheer come April!

Towards the end of the month Ken hit 2019 in 2019 to break his 2018 mileage record, what can be achieved in 2020?!

And best of all 2 of our Clapham Runners Abroad team met up for New Year in Sydney. Our Clapham Runners Abroad team continues to grow. Cheers to Rachel & Steph, stay safe downunder!

A very happy new year to everyone.

October round up

Ken hitting the 1,500km for 2019 so far keeping him on course for hitting 2,000km for the year 😀. Great work Ken!

…also showing up best dressed to our Thursday track sessions… is a suit shirt going to help your speed…???

A very well done to Kim who is keeping up the running since moving out to Bristol, Pb @ Cardiff half, still representing in the Clapham Runners kit!

October brings us the London Marathon ballot results… the Clapham Runners 2020 team is looking strong with Phoebe, Tom W, Frank, Marikje, Jessica, Damian, Ellie all securing places.  A couple of rejections received, however there is still the opportunity for members to claim a place through the club ballot… watch this space!

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Kieran hit a great milestone of 200 parkruns, the team joined him at Tooting to cheer him round and cover the line to double that 100 and now he can claim his next milestone t-shirt!

We had a huge weekend in the middle of the month of Marathon running, Emma – headed up to York for the Yorkshire Marathon,

George nipped across to Amsterdam

…..and Rob over to sunny Lisbon

Building up the distances for Azores in November Ken completed the Royal Parks Half on a damp and drizzly Sunday in London, a twisty, turny, muddy affair taking in some great landmarks and what an excellent medal!

As a club we love to support our local parkrun events, with members being involved in our local Tooting & Clapham Common parkruns since their conception.  In October we took up our positions and organised a volunteering take-over at Tooting offering our bit back to what this excellent event provides us week in week out, as we are a small club we brought in some friends of Clapham Runners to bulk our numbers for a great morning of cheering and giving our bit back.

October was a month where we’ve had to say a reluctant farewell to one of our longest standing members and most reliable Thursday track attendee… Hannah has now moved on up t’north, we hope you find a lovely club to keep up the running once you are settled in. As her final Thursday act she managed to get the illusive John out to the pub for a drink after the track session 👏

We have also said goodbye for now to Steph, as she heads away on her travelling adventures, keep us posted on your running, another member of the Clapham Runners Abroad club!

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We are always happy to welcome new members to our friendly group, and in October we say hello to Katy & Jessica who have joined our team.

If you were lucky in the London Marathon ballot and want to improve your running, or are just looking for some company and motivation on these darker nights, drop us an e-mail or just turn up and say hello at either of our sessions to see what you think.

Well done everyone on a busy October, now for recovery and jumping head first into November!

September Round up

A very busy September for a number of our Runners, starting on the first Sunday of the month for Rob, running for Kebabs and rolling all the way through to the final Sunday of the month with half marathons for our runners, well it is known as sunday runday! Read more

Thames River Relay 2019

River Relay 8th September 2019 by Frank
Fielding two teams for a ‘point to point’ 5 stage relay from Windsor to Kingston has been on the Clapham Runner club calendar for a few years now.
Each year the weather has been fantastic and it’s a simple event with 70 teams of all standards* ferrying the baton through the five stages. Good to see familiar faces in our teams and for the organisers.

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parkrun take over

We have always been involved in our local parkruns (Tooting & Clapham) with members having covered (at some point) all volunteers posts, and also hitting our milestone t-shirts for numbers of runs completed, not to forget achieving all the PBS either!

26th October will mark a first time experience for the club as we gather, with friends of Clapham Runners to host Tooting Common parkrun, filling as many volunteer roles as we can

If you want to say hello, come along to run and see us for cake at the cafe afterwards, or if you’d like to take up a volunteer role with the support of our team see the link below and email the parkrun directly where we welcome you to join us! Read more

Gobi March (Mongolia) 2019

Rob August 2019
Two years ago my Brother and Sister-in-Law bought me a book of the 25 must do races; instantly captivated I read cover to cover but particularly noted the Gobi March, a 250km, six stage ultra marathon. The landscapes of the Steppe, Gobi Desert and Orkhon Valley mixed with covering the equivalent of six marathons in six days, self supported, instantly appealed to me.
Fast forward to July 2019 and I found myself in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital, sitting in the pre-race briefing with the race director stressing the need to look out for yourself and for your fellow runners whilst the medical team drilled in the importance of calorie and electrolyte intake… This is a seriously well drilled race organisation and I started feeling that perhaps I was slightly out of place in a room packed full of seasoned ultra runners, explorers, mountaineers and even ex-olympic hopeful skiiers – too late for worrying about it too much though, the race starts tomorrow!

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July round up

A busy July for Clapham Runners near and far, our July round up takes us from local parkrun milestones to international ultras and everything in between.
Marie-Anne completed her 200th parkrun, celebrating this milestone at our local Tooting parkrun complete with Kieran’s famous Guinness cake and Tooting Common parkrun friends.

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