What a full and exciting month April turned out to be!
Firstly, the National Road Relays. As reported on the website, the club had an amazing day, with the Senior Men’s Team incredibly missing out on a medal position by just one second! This was, by far, the club’s best ever showing at this major event, the previous best C&C placing being 16th. What an improvement! And keep in mind that this was done without Callum Elson, who, to keep you informed, continues to make steady progress in his injury recovery.
Well done to the Ladies Team also, who came a brilliant 13th in the 6-stage relay.
Also, congratulations to Tom Bridger for running the fastest short relay leg of the day.
Well done to all athletes, coaches and managers. This is another one where we have now laid-down a benchmark that we can work to improve on in future years. It is so exciting to see the club doing so well on big athletic stages like this.
Our own Cambourne 10k went ahead very smoothly, on 14th. The weather was very kind to us this year, but we deserved that after last years unfortunate enforced April postponement. Participant numbers were up on recent times, the atmosphere was great, and really positive event feedback was received. A big, big “Thank you” to all those that were there to help out on the day (and setting up on the Saturday too), you did an absolutely fabulous job. There were several comments about how good and encouraging the marshaling was. It’s so important for the club to get this event right, and thanks to everyone’s help, we really did that!
Then there was the Big Day Out which is the London Marathon. My wife was watching near the finish, and couldn’t believe the number of C&C vests she saw speeding past her. Not just the numbers, but also the quality. So many high placed finishers. So much can happen over the 26.2 mile journey, but so many of you really nailed it on the day! Again, it’s a testament to your dedicated commitment to training, and the quality of the coaching. Well done to everyone who took part. And I mean everyone. If this day wasn’t your day, just keep going, the good days feel so much better if you’ve been through disappointments along the way, and pushed on through them. Your day will come, and it will be a great day!
I know, as well, some of you still have marathons coming up, so best of luck to you too.
The first Arkwright League match of the new season took place just 4 days after London. Despite this, a number of our marathon runners were there, taking part. Just a special mention to Chris Darling. He ran an amazing 2:22 marathon, then followed it up with a 15.54 5k, to take 4th place, just 4 days later. That guy is phenomenal, a wonderful clubman too, and so deserving of everything he achieves.
And what a club turn-out we had! 84 runners from C&C, on what was not the most pleasant of evenings weather-wise. Again, well done to everyone who turned-out to represent the club that evening. Let’s keep it going, and enjoy the rest of this fantastic summer series.
At this point, I’d like to mention how great it is to see “new blood” coming through to help support the club’s activities. Nathan Graves was Race Organiser for the Cambourne 10k for the first time, and Joey Colley has taken over the management of C&C’s Arkwright League Team. Both took over from people that had done these roles really well, for some time, Gordon Aspin and Ben Meadows respectively. However, the fact that there has been such a smooth change-over is great credit to all involved, including Chris Hurcomb as well. It’s so important for the club to have this flow of continuity. Well done to Nathan and Joey for taking on these roles.
So, on to Track and Field. In the first EYAL match at Stevenage, C&C came 2nd out of the 6 teams taking part. Overall this performance puts us in a pretty healthy 8th position out of the 24 clubs in the League. The top 12 make the final in September. So, well done all, this is a good start, but always more to be done. Let’s keep going and build on this in the next matches.
Despite awful weather, there was a good turn-out, and another solid C&C start, at the first EAL match at Cambridge, on 28th. It’s wonderful to see new members competing for the club for the first time, and to see some of our Carver-based athletes joining the teams and adding to our competitiveness.
A big shout-out too, for everyone that was officiating that day. If the weather was bad for the athletes, think what it was like for them, out in it for hours on end. Without them, the events wouldn’t go on, so let’s make sure that we always thank the officials, home or away.
The Masters team travelled to Peterborough for their first match on 30th April. There was a really good turn-out for both Ladies and Men’s teams. There has obviously been some good recruitment and motivation going on! The new members are very welcome! The picture is of just part of the team really, it’s hard to get a full group photo at an event like this where everyone is competing at different times. Apologies to those that are absent from the picture.
Amongst the highlights of the evening, a great finale of three very exciting 4 x 100m relay victories from C&C teams.
The SAL season gets underway too, very soon. Let’s have a really strong turn-out for that. After winning promotion last year we are now competing at a higher level, so we need to be strong.
Lots more challenges and competition to come this month, including the County Championships, this year on our home track at Cambridge.
Good luck in May! Throwing, jumping, running 100m, or 26.2 miles (or beyond) enjoy every second of it!