Whether it was the inspiration from wearing our striking new running vests for the first time or the drop in temperature that put a nip in the air, but Flyers have certainly put in some great mid-October performances recently.
Running in the Grindleford Gallop in Derbyshire, Rob Mackenzie had the honour of being the first Flyer to race in our eye-catching ‘swirls’ and he did us proud finishing the 21.21 miles in 3hrs 33 minutes covering 2,600 feet of climbing. Congratulations to Jo Parden and the other Flyers who also took on this challenging event. The following day Jeremy Ashdown ran one of many Flyers PBs over the weekend, completing the Oxford Half in 1 hour 40 minutes. Meanwhile, on what was clearly a fast course in York, a clutch of Flyers ‘smashed it’ with PBs for Neil Smith, John Rainbow and Freddie Turner, while Head Coach Jim Last completed the York marathon in a fraction over 3 hours.
Closer to home at a cold and blustery Saxons 5, Steve Hall led the men’s team home with a PB. Sarah Maidment ran a strong race to do the same for the women. In addition, there were strong age-group placings from many other Flyers (you know who you are!), not least from Club President Jan Green, who completed her first race for a number of years.
A few years ago, our ace photographer Phil Donlan mentioned that he sometimes found it hard to spot Flyers in races among all the other vests, which really was the starting point for us investigating possibilities for a new design. Although they may have had the gestation period of an Indian elephant, they arrived safely at last, hugely due to the efforts of Alex McGregor, to whom our thanks.
Let’s hope the new kit continues to work its magic at our cross-country fixture in a couple of weeks’ time!