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 !

Incoming message from our team captain:

Now that the Winter Cross Country season is over you’ll be looking forward to a bit of sunshine and warmer weather and also some fun events to compete in.

As well as the trail runs, the famous river crossing (!) and structured coaching sessions, that we hold on Tuesday evenings and Sunday mornings, we have many team events to look forward to. 

Sun 16 Apr – Suffolk Road Relay Championships

Our ladies’ team of Kate, Aimee and Lottie will be hurtling around Colchester. 

I’m sure they’d appreciate some encouragement if you’d like to cheer them on.

https://suffolkathletics.org.uk/road-relay-championships/

Sun 21 May – Our very own 10km!

Clearly the entries have now closed for this, but there are plenty of marshalling positions available if you wish to help. 

Contact Pat for more details.

Tue 20 Jun – The return of the Shufflers Sports Evening! This year held at Martlesham Heath with refreshments to follow at Sheridan Manor.

Sun 23 Jul – The Ekiden – join us for a fun day at Ipswich High School where mixed category teams are competing in relay races of varying distances.

This event is on Spond so please pop your name down if you’re interested. We need runners of all ages and all abilities. It really is a fun day.

Sat 28 Aug – Outrun 23 – a 12 hour or 24 hour continuous team relay event. 

Details below –

https://hare-tortoise-running.eventize.co.uk/e/outrun-2023-

Again if you’re interested please pop your name on Spond and we’ll populate teams nearer the time.

If you’re looking for some summer evening entertainment, many Shufflers take part in the Friday 5 series which consists of a 5 mile race in different picturesque locations on 6 Friday evenings in late May through to early July. 

The entry fee is £13 per race (with your England athletics number).

Enter here –

Fixtures

Finally there’s many other events throughout the summer from 10kms to Ultras, these are always shared across the club by email or WhatsApp.

That’s all for now. Feel free to contact Sarg with any questions.

That’s it then, the 2023 Woodbridge 10K is sold out, there are just a few Junior race places left. Thank you so much for all your support.

Those of you who got in :

Congratulations!, very much look forwards to seeing you and hope you love your race with us.

For those of you who didn’t get in : Commiserations – Maybe next year? … why not come along and cheer on the 21st? There is always a carnival atmosphere and the cheering the runners helps so much.

Thanks to all our sponsors, we should be able to donate £12,000 to local charities this year

For all of you wanting to enter the ever-popular Woodbridge round the town race (or Woodbridge 10K as its often known), the race will be held on Sun 21st May, race entry opens at noon on Saturday 18 here . It sells out quickly, in tens of minutes rather than days so please be quick if you are keen to take part.

For more information please see the 10K FAQ page