31/12/2025
And here we are, the end of another year - one that has flown by, and looking back (in true NYE-style!), with so many challenges overcome, wins, gains and achievements earnt by so many in the club. 🤩
Ian and Ellen returned to the racing circuit again to begin December; taking part in the RunThrough Running GP events at Goodwood Motor Circuit, organised by RunThrough. Both, once again, put their mental endurance to the test to complete laps of the track in wet weather conditions, with Ian completing eight laps to total the 20 miles. Top perseverance, resilience and effort from them both! 🏁
Meanwhile in sunnier climes, Emily was one of approximately 35,000 runners taking on one of the most popular marathons globally, Valencia Marathon. Emily had a great training block going into the marathon and her efforts were well and truly rewarded during her marathon 'victory lap' with an incredible marathon time and new PB that reflected her progress. Well done Emily! 💥
Mid-December saw eleven of the team representing at the Turkey Trot, organised to support the Keyworth Scouts. A key race for runners in the club, particularly as it draws our club standards window to a close. The course is a single, undulating lap of South Nottinghamshire villages, beginning and ending in Keyworth. A great job done by Tim, Josh, Helen, Ian, Andy, Alistair and Ramzi, with brilliant efforts and times in amongst. Beth ended a great year of running to come away with a new half-marathon PB with Antonia, Lauren and Jonathan also making their distance debuts for the club. 🎽
Just about rounding off the racing year, Matt and Laura participated and ran at the Birmingham Running Festival events, also organised by RunThrough. Both took on the half marathon distance which also brought the added challenge of consisting of four laps of the hilly Sutton Park. Fantastic work from Laura and Matt! 🌳
December has brought a brilliant month of social events to top the year off nicely and bring the festive feels. In our final social parkrun of the year, ten of the team journeyed over to Trentham Gardens parkrun to enjoy the stunning surroundings of the Trentham Estate, with some enjoying the cafe in the shopping village afterwards! Our thanks go to Laura and Matt for organising all of our club social parkruns this year, which have been a fantastic addition to our club social calendar. Our final Wednesday evening session before Christmas always plays host to our annual Christmas lights run, another social run but in and around Ashby, finishing with some well-earnt drinks in the pub! Our thanks again to Matt for organising. Running into the Christmas break, we had a fantastic turnout from Ivanhoe Runners joining the Ivanhoe Robins in the annual mince pie run, this year taking place at their training venue at Ivanhoe School. A great event bringing our two groups together, with the Robins making us work for our mince pies! Finally, as we hit the period between Christmas and New Year, Gemma and Stan brilliantly organised our Bacon Butty Run social, involving planning an approximately 5 mile run route for us (with mud and hills for good measure!) around local village, Blackfordby, followed nicely with catching up, tea, coffee, some cheeky pints in there and bacon rolls all round!
And there we have it with 2025 nearly drawing to a close. We wish all of our league and neighbouring clubs, followers, local runners and our members a very happy new year! 🥂🎉
