📰 April News📰 

With race season truly upon us it has been a busy month for the club. However first we have to share the really sad news of the passing of a much-loved club member, David Barnett. In the words of our Founder, Charlene, David was “our loved, valued and respected Club Secretary, Run Leader, Social Media Lead, Club Welfare Officer, Club News Author and Editor and friend of many”. David was truly at the heart of our club and will be sorely missed by us all.

In Dave’s memory, the club organised a parkrun takeover at Charlton parkrun on 12th April where over 30 members ran, walked or volunteered. Community remains the heart of TRC and this gathering truly showed this, providing a source of emotional and social support for our club members.

This parkrun takeover was also a celebration for our Beginners Group who graduated from their 12-week Couch to 5K programme on 5th April and joined us for their first 5K run or walk. We have warned them, though, that opening their world to parkrun is a whole new venture that quickly becomes addictive!

In other parkrun news, Will has continued his parkrun tourism streak with now reaching 32 different parkruns! In Dave’s memory, he is on a mission to complete the Gar-DONE of England challenge with attending all parkruns in Kent. This month Will toured to Ally Pally, Eastbourne, Bethlem Royal Hospital, and Folkestone.

Yat continues to challenge Will with touring parkruns and ran Grangemoor in Cardiff and, a bit further afield, Poznan in Poland! Ana and Aoibheann enjoyed a trip to the Cotwolds and ran Lydiard parkrun.

More club members have come out of winter hibernation this month as we welcomed lighter evenings and warmer weather. April saw the return of the Pyramid Challenge in Gallions Park, which always receives a good turnout! Debbie has also set up a new Saturday morning run aimed at new runners or those returning to running, with the aim of providing continued support to those who completed our 12-week beginner’s course. Please see the Run Together app for more information.

‼ Some key reminders ‼

🗓  April is membership renewal month – can all club members please ensure they have completed the necessary membership forms and payments ASAP. Sarah will be following up with anyone who is yet to confirm if they are renewing their membership in the coming days. Non-members will be removed from the WhatsApp community group. Click here to access the membership form. 

🏃🏿‍♀️Please ensure you are booking onto the Run Together app in a timely manner; this helps the Run Leaders know who is due to attend and plan the session accordingly.

🏅Our annual race is on Saturday 10th May 2025. To sign up please visit https://englandathletics.sport80.com/.../wizard/e/29496/home. We are still looking for volunteers too! If you can help please contact Yat.

🍟Lola and Gemma have organised a trip to Southend seaside with a 10K run/walk followed by fish ‘n’ chips for 27th July. Please join the separate WhatsApp group if you’d like to join them.

🗓 We will have a stall at the Thamesmead Festival taking place on 2nd August 2025. If any club members would like to help on the day, please contact Sarah.

🏅 London Marathon Edition 🏅

This year we are proud to have had 4 club members representing TRC at the London Marathon. It was an incredibly hard race with temperatures surpassing 20C, but they all showed grit and determination to finish! They would all be worthy contenders for Runner of the Month, so rather than having to pick let’s celebrate each of them in turn!

Rachel – This was Rachel’s 6th marathon, including 3rd World Major Marathons (WMM). Her goal was to enjoy it, and that she did! Rachel said she finished feeling toasty, slightly achy but very happy with her jaw aching where she smiled all the way round!!

Liam – This was Liam’s 2nd London Marathon after completing it previously around 9 years ago. Training hadn’t been easy, balancing being a dad to a 3-year-old and a full-time job but he’s motivation didn’t waver. Liam still managed to beat his previous London Marathon time by over 40 minutes, even with the heat. Well done Liam!

Stuart – This was Stuart’s first London Marathon and despite the heat he managed consistent splits and finishing in a time of 4:20! Stuart was proudly greeted at the end by his wife and son.

Sam – Sam was on a mission to complete the London Marathon for Terrence Higgins Trust in memory of her Uncle. Being new to running, after securing her Marathon place last August Sam joined TRC’s Beginners Group in September 2024. Sam has gone from, in her words, “not being able to run a minute” to completing a marathon! Sam unfortunately injured her calf at mile 16 but her mental strength was incredible as she “limped the last 10 miles” and finished it in 9.5 hours.

🎉 April things to celebrate🎉

Kerry completed two more marathons on 06/04 and 13/04, now totalling 43 marathons! 🏅

Andrew ran the Ibiza marathon and shaved a huge 38 minutes off last years time 🏅

Caroline ran the Ibiza 12K and also PB’d from her race time last year 🏅

Lara ran her first solo 10K race at Regents Park over Easter and PB’d her 10K time… for the third time this month! 🎉

Ana reached her parkrun 25 milestone 🎉

Vijay completed his first ever parkrun 🎉

Various club members achieved 5K PB’s at both Charlton and Thames Path parkruns ⏱️

Shelley passed her L2 Gym Instructor qualification 🎉

We welcomed several new members at the club – Alex, Kevin & Hayley 🎉

Alessandro ran his first official half marathon with completing the Coventry Half 🏅

The club recorded a total 1844KM in running, walking & cycling 🌍

The club was represented in two more countries - Ibiza & Poland 🌍

⭐️Runner of the Month ⭐️

So with such a busy month, who do we award the runner of the month to?

This month it goes to Caroline for completing, and PB’ing, the 12K Ibiza race. Caroline has recently changed careers which has meant she is travelling a lot and her work shifts are forever changing. This was making it harder for Caroline to schedule in her training for the race. However, Caroline didn’t let this deter her; she focused on what she could do and instead adapted her training around her new life schedule, accepting it might be less or different to what she would have wanted. Caroline enjoyed her race and finished with an accidental PB as a bonus!

It seems a life lesson for us all that running can be done in so many ways, but the most important thing is to enjoy how you incorporate running into our lives and not get caught up with what others are doing. Congratulations Caroline  😀🏅👏