News

On Saturday 28th September, the England Athletics South West region held its annual Volunteer Awards, hosted by the brilliant Jo Pavey - and what a night it was for AVR! 

The event aims to celebrate all the work of dedicated volunteers from athletics clubs across the South West and the evening saw our club bring home an amazing four trophies! They were;

• Winner in Coach of the Year - Fiona Price
• 3rd place in Club of the Year 
• Runner Up in Contribution to Athletics and Running - Sara Robert
• Runner Up in Newcomer to Volunteering - Katie Oliver

The night provided many stories of hard work and achievement from a range of different clubs, and it was also a great occasion to honour and remember the dedication and passion of the wonderful Sara Robert. 

A big congratulations to all our award winners, as well as all our members who help to make AVR the club that it is! What an achievement!

Club Update: New Chair Appointed

On Monday 5th August we held an EGM in order to appoint a new Chair for the club. 

Following the member vote on the evening, we are delighted to welcome Vicky Bodman and Tim Burrell to the position who will be taking on leadership of the club in a joint capacity. This therefore means that we no longer have a Vice Chair position on the committee. 

Congratulations to both Vicky and Tim for the appointment, and a big thank you for stepping forward for the position. There is no doubt that AVR will continue to go from strength to strength with you both at the helm.

Following the results of the survey circulated (and thanks to so many of you for responding with such an overwhelmingly positive response), we have finalised the plans for our Autumn race training. We will be running the training programme on Thursday evenings for ten weeks, commencing on 15^th August, and culminating in the Great South Run on October 20^th and/or the Gosport Half Marathon on November 17th

If you missed the survey, or need a refresher on the programme, you can find it at AVR Autumn Target Races and Coaching Plan | News | Avon Valley Runners

Tim Burrell will be the lead coach for the programme, and he is delighted to have a brilliant and inspirational team who will act as your group leaders and mentors to ensure that the training and the race(s) itself will be a truly memorable experience.  Your group leaders will include Ed and Gemma Knudsen, Hayley Anderson, Paul Dredge and Becky Fletcher.

As we will be training for a 10 mile and Half Marathon distance (or both if you fancy it!), you should currently be able to run a 10K distance (at any pace).  However, this programme is designed to cater for everyone.  Whether you are nervously wondering whether you can achieve your first half marathon (you can!), or are an already proficient runner looking to achieve a PB in these distances, this programme is for you.

In order to secure your place, and be allocated to the group appropriate for your aspirations, we to invite you to sign up to participate in this exciting programme, which you can do on the link below.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MRYDPZC

We look forward to training and racing with you!

AVR are pleased to announce the launch of a new addition to our training offering, free to all members.

From July 2024, members will be invited to sign up to weekly training sessions, commencing in August, that are specifically designed to enable you to take on a target 10 mile race or Half Marathon – or both - in the Autumn.

We will be training for two great races:

• The Great South Run (October 20th). A popular 10 mile course; flat and fast with a great atmosphere.  This is also an England Masters qualifying race.
• The Gosport Half Marathon (November 17^th).  Another popular race, this time a club organised run of 2000 participants, and like the Great South Run, flat and fast.   

This programme is designed to cater for everyone.  Whether you are nervously wondering whether you can achieve your first half marathon (you can!), or are an already proficient runner looking to achieve a PB in these distances, this programme is for you.

If this sounds like something you might be interested in, read on.  And if you’re already sold on the idea, go ahead and book the races you fancy, and more details will be communicated to you soon.

Further information can be found here: AVR Autumn Target Races and Coaching Plan - For Website.docx

It is with the deepest sadness and regret that we have to inform you that our beautiful, brilliant and fun loving Chair Sara Robert, who gave her absolute heart and soul to AVR and in everything she did, passed away suddenly yesterday Sunday 24th March.

In the coming days, we know this will be hard for members to process as we are all heart broken. We encourage people reach out to their AVR friends and family for support.

Our thoughts are with her family at this time.

Please direct any correspondence to Dave Hyde and Vicky Bodman using the address, secretary@avonvalleyrunners.org.uk.

Sara pictured arriving at and then presenting the AVR awards earlier this month.

On Saturday 9th March, we held our annual Presentation Evening at the Civic Centre in Trowbridge, celebrating the brilliant achievements of our members throughout 2023.

This year’s event followed a “Casino Night” theme, with plenty of red and black decorations and a fun photo booth with themed props to match! We even had our very own Martin Russam providing tunes from across the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 00’s until the early hours - with plenty of people dancing the night away!

Alongside the celebrations, our charity raffle on the evening was a resounding success and raised £545 for the deserving local community group ‘Helping the Homeless in Bath and West Wiltshire’.

A huge thank you to everyone that attended and donated raffle prizes, and a big well done to all those that won an award, including those that achieved either a Single or Double Goal Getters Award in 2023. It was a fantastic night of celebration, and we already look forward to next year!

Please see the full list of award winners below:

Outstanding Performance
U20s - Oscar Jarman
Senior Male - Ben Mees
Senior Female - Isabella McNally
V40 Male - Gary Day
V40 Female - Emily Dye
V50 Male - Tim Burrell
V50 Female - Fiona Price
V60 Male - Robin Mark-Schols
V60 Female - Diane Hier
V70 Male - Peter Campbell
V70 Female - Rosemary Barber

Most Improved
Male - Mark Spiers
Female - Adrienne Barthram

Ultramarathoner - Ben Blackwall

Best Beginner
Male - Julian Roughley
Female - Sharon Walter

Most Promising New Member
Male - John Naish
Female - Molly Braham

Perseverance Award - Jack Prout

The Bomb - Gary MacAlister

David Griffiths Award - Dave Bagshaw

AVR Road League
Male - Peter Veleski (1st), Gary Day (2nd), Paul Dredge (3rd)
Female - Fiona Price (1st), Sharon Firkins (2nd), Annalie Ibison (3rd)

AVR Off-Road League
Male - Frank Lamerton (1st), Richard Newman (2nd), Gary MacAlister (3rd)
Female - Veryan Cranston (1st), Fiona Newman (2nd), Fiona Gibbs (3rd)

Club Championship
Senior Male - Ben Mees
V40 Male - Gary MacAlister
V50 Male - Chris Suter
V60 Male - Robin Mark-Schols
Senior Female - Katie Oliver
V40 Female - Emily Dye
V50 Female - Fiona Price
V60 Female - Diane Hier
V70 Female - Rosemary Barber

WAVA Awards
Male - Chris Suter
Female - Diane Hier

Avon Valley Triathletes League
Male - Alan Best (1st), Will Whitmore (2nd), Steve Clark (3rd)
Female - Emily Dye (1st), Annalie Ibison (2nd), Kathryn Butt (3rd)

How Hard Did You Tri
Male - Alan Best
Female - Caroline Scott

Most Improved Multi-Sport Athlete
Male - Alan Best
Female - Emily Dye

AVT Segment of the Year
Male - Will Whitmore (1st), Alan Best (2nd), Darren Wrintmore (3rd)
Female - Caroline Scott (1st), Jen Nattrass (2nd), Annalie Ibison (3rd)

AVT Inspire and Motivate Award - Steve Clark

It was an early start for AVR on Saturday 22^nd July. We had to be on the Active Trowbridge minibus by 6:15am but luckily, it was to attend a wonderfully welcoming parkrun by the sea and despite the terrible weather, we all had a great time.

After a long drive with a couple of loo and car-sickness stops along the way, we arrived in Seaton with plenty of time to spare. We made ourselves known to the volunteering team and listened in on the informative run brief.

At the beginning, the weather wasn't too bad - just a little windy and our interest was focused on the unusual pebble beach start straight. It was amazing how loud they became when nearly 300 runners started moving across them in a Bambi-like fashion. Once off the pebbles and onto a more solid footing, it felt exactly the same as when you stop bouncing on a trampoline and walk along the floor! The esplanade was nice and flat for the majority but the pebbles at the opposite end were much smaller so they were a fun challenge to navigate a couple of times but it just made us smile every time because we were having so much fun! The weather became increasingly windy and rainy and was pretty awful when we all finally finished. A couple of us had planned on a dip in the sea but changed our minds when we saw how choppy it was but that didn't stop Nicola who dived straight in!

A thank you must go to all of the volunteers who stood out in the rain to cheer us on. It was a tough job for the first 2 along the esplanade who stood in the middle of the course with the tall direction arrows - that many runners running a them from both directions must be such a daunting sight! AVR all certainly appreciated them so that we could enjoy our trip.

Afterwards, we dried off and ate a delicious breakfast in the Pebbles Cafe nearby. It's just a shame that the weather was so rubbish as we may have stayed even longer but there are plenty of opportunities should anyone want to return another day when the sun is shining.

Castle Mead School have had the chance to use the purpose built track at Trowbridge Rugby Club thanks to AVR. Eleven children from the school's athletic club visited and were greeted off their minibus by Debbie, the club's Youth Secretary who put them through their paces in a series of fun warm ups. After a fun 'caterpillar' around the track, the children then practiced increasing pace gradually before completing one 400m lap as fast as possible. All of the children impressed their teachers, parent helpers and Debbie too so perhaps we may be seeing a few new athletes joining the yellow and green team!

Written by member, Sarah Emery

Another AVR parkrun trip and another incredibly early alarm which buzzed me awake at 5:45am to be at the meeting point in Bowerhill by 6:20am.

After the long trip, we pulled up outside Oxford University. Pauline Bradley, who was with us on the bus, works there and organised parking for us. We had a nervous few minutes after she’d jumped out to open the gate, where the minibus wouldn’t start again to drive through. We started having images of AVR being stranded in Oxford forever until someone worked out it was only because the side door hadn’t clicked shut properly – phew!

We were all instantly enthralled by the university and likened it to being like Hogwarts almost immediately – a sentiment that would return while eating breakfast later on.

A short walk later, we found ourselves at the start in the park and met Holly Newman and Toby Firkins who both attend Oxford Brookes University. We all took the obligatory group photo around the purple pop-up sign and listened to the first timer’s briefing. There seemed to be loads of tourists which was boosted by us but also because there was a pride event on in Oxford that day. Their average finisher count is 380 but on this day, there were 574!

With so many runners, the start was a bit slow (similar to Lydiard parkrun and the old start at Bath Skyline parkrun) but it spread out reasonably quickly to take in the flat, two lap course on offer. The course operates a ‘run on the right and overtake on the left’ policy which is really tricky to do when most of the parkruns at home are the opposite! There were lots of things to look at on the way round including a group of students playing Frisbee, a father and son playing catch, other morning runners going in reverse to everyone else and plenty of birds and other wildlife by the river and surrounding rugby pitches and tennis courts. There just wasn’t the chance to be bored at all!

It was very busy at the end and a strict two-funnel finish was in operation. I’m not entirely sure how it worked if I’m honest but it involved them handing our letters of the alphabet to some runners and handing out tokens to one funnel and then the other. Whatever magic they used, it was extremely well rehearsed and very slickly done. There seemed to be a million barcode scanners too meaning that everyone could get away quickly.

A massive shout out and well done must go to Mark Spiers. Before the event, he asked if someone would help to pace him following a really good result on the 10k run of the 51 Fiver Triathlon a week before. Holly stayed with him and he achieved 24:48 which is a massive parkrun PB as his previous fastest was at Southwick in December last year at 27:52 – a difference of 3 minutes and 4 seconds!

We walked back to the university afterwards to find the dining hall laid out exactly like the aforementioned Hogwarts with tables reserved especially for us. It was an incredible all-you-can eat affair with full English plates along with huge pastries and cakes too! What a day!

Thank you to Rich Newman for being our driver for the day, Pauline for arranging parking and food and to everyone who made the day a great sociable morning out enjoying this hobby of ours.

Next event: Seaton parkrun 22^nd July 2023