And that’s a wrap for yet another year! The Woodbridge Round The Town race 2023 was once again a roaring success, with runners from all around the county – and some further afield – making up the race numbers. Read the full race results here.

Our joint club secretary, Mark Allen, said after the race: “It’s been a brilliant day.

“It’s been months in the planning, but as a club we’re delighted that it has gone so smoothly. 

“Thank you to all the participants, marshalls, sponsors and to the wonderful club of volunteers for bringing the Woodbridge 10k magic once again.”

One of the volunteer marshalls, Natasha Sones, said: “It’s an amazing day for the town and it’s lovely to see the whole community come together.”

A Shuffler on the Podium!

The adult men’s race was won by Cooper Berry from Best Athletics, with Brandon Barber from Framlingham Flyers and Stuart Haynes from Woodbridge Shufflers following closely behind.

Yes, that’s one of our own – well done Stuart, great to see you on the podium!

Stanley Peacher from Framlingham won the age category for 15-19 year olds.

In the adult women’s race, Kat Parnell came out on top, with Anna Firth and Ruby Vinton coming in second and third respectively.

Lauren Squirrell from Ipswich Harriers came first in the 15-19 age category. 

Lauren is the daughter of Woodbridge Shuffler husband-and-wife duo, Rob and Lisa. It’s lovely to see her following in her parents’ footsteps!

Charities and their beneficiaries the real winners

As a charity race, we were delighted to support East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, Home-Start in Suffolk, St Elizabeth Hospice, Martlesham Wilds – Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Woodbridge Riding for the Disabled and Cleft Lip and Palate Association. The race proceeds of £12,000 will be split between them all, providing a welcome boost to each.

Here’s what they said…

Cleft Lip & Palate Association (CLAPA) – Lottie Williams

“On behalf of the Cleft Lip and Palate Association I just wanted to say a huge thank you to the Woodbridge Shufflers and all the runners – the charity is extremely grateful for your support.

Cleft is the most common birth defect affecting 1 in 700 people. CLAPA is the only UK charity to support people affected by cleft and their families and they rely solely on donations to fund their work.

The money raised will support people by supplying specialist feeding equipment and support during surgeries. The charity also delivers sign language and speech therapy courses, counselling, and provides social activities for young people to be able to meet people who are going through similar experiences.”

East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) – Ali Butler

“Thank you so much to the Woodbridge Shufflers and to all the participants for your support. The money raised will allow us to continue to support families across East Anglia where they need us the most.”

Home-Start in Suffolk – Sarah

“Thank you to the Woodbridge Shufflers and to the participants. The money will allow us to provide training for volunteers and support for our families in a home or group setting.”

Martlesham Wilds – Suffolk Wildlife Trust – Michael Strand

 “We’re absolutely thrilled to be one of the charities benefitting from the Woodbridge 10K. Thank you for supporting Martlesham Wilds, which is a brand-new nature reserve for Suffolk.”

Woodbridge Riding For the Disabled – John Anderson

 “The money will go towards putting on additional late afternoon and evening sessions so that we can make the most of our purpose built arena. If we can get some more volunteers to help us with the sessions, then that would be the icing on the cake!”

And that’s all folks – see you next year! Interested in joining the club behind the 10K? Follow us on Facebook!

The provisional results for the Woodbridge 10K are now available:

Junior race

Senior race

Hello! In case you have not seen the signs scattered around the town – just a reminder that this Sunday is the Woodbridge 10k round the town race.

The race has raised over £100,000 for local charities in the course of its 40 year history.

The race starts at Noon, there is always a great atmosphere…. Feel free to come out and watch 500 people regret their life choices, specifically the one about entering one of the tougher local 10k races.

Please see below for details of the race and necessary road closures

Whilst most of the country were kicking back and celebrating the coronation of Charles III with a beer or two and some cake, several members of the shufflers were taking on some pretty epic running challenges

Maverick Exmoor Marathon

Tackling this, frankly nightmare, of a marathon was Rob Squirrel and friends. Technically “just” a marathon because its distance was 26.2 miles but the 1780 metre elevation gain  and generally appalling terrain certainly took it to the next level in terms of challenge.

_{Smiling and clean, very obviously a “Before” shot}

Well done Rob and team, finishing in a very respectable 8 hours and 1 minute.  

Five Rivers Ultra

A pretty new, but local event is the Five Rivers Ultra. 

This race offers 3, 4 or 5 river options (51, 71 or 103 miles respectively). Three Shufflers, for some reason, jumped at the chance to tackle it : Mike Ward, Bertie Wheen and Jack Morrison.  

Mike and Bertie took the 4 River option while Jack plumped for the 3 river option.

Several shufflers turned up along the route to cheer and offer a  little company along the way. One Shuffler, I am reliable informed, was out in the dark in her PJs cheering people on.

The 4 river runners results were 

• Mike completed the course in 19Hrs 17 mins, putting him second overall and first male
• Bertie completed it in 23hrs 15 mins putting him 4th overall

3 Rivers Results 

• Jack completed the course in 12 hours dead 

And well done Mike, raising over £1200 in the process

Suffolk Coastal Path

Mark Allen took on the Suffolk Coastal Path, stretching from Lowestoft to Felixstowe and covering 57 miles over 4 days

 

A group of Shufflers competed today (Sunday 30th April) in the Heritage coast run, 10k ( inc dog runners ) and half marathon

The start was at Thorpness so after a team photo with the House in the Clouds as a backdrop, the runners set off on the sandy trails and the ‘lovely’ shingle beach stretches.

It was surprisingly hot and everyone had a great run in the tough conditions.

Special congratulations go to Matt Alexander who finished 7/73 in the Half with a brilliant time of 1.39 and Thomas Jarrett who was 8/105 with 40 min

One of the common themes from the members feedback was the variety of runs we offer.

At the time of the survey we offered running on 2 days:

• Sundays, traditionally two trail runs, one longer than the other
• Tuesdays: A combination of coached sessions and trail runs (summer) or drills (winter)

We introduced an extra run on a Thursday afternoons, This run seems to have become instantly really popular with the Shufflers, particularly those with 4 legged friends.

After discussion we decided we wanted to offer even more runs, particularly offering slower shorter runs on Tuesdays, aimed at new runners, including those who have just completed our couch to 5 K course.

To support the wider range of runs we want to lay on we have recruited another 8 run leaders from our membership and are funding their formal qualification to the tune of approx £1,000.

Happy running !