Each month HRC members will be invited to nominate a Member of the Month. This will be someone who has achieved or done something special in that month, such as having performed exceptionally well in running events and/or gone above and beyond to support the club in a voluntary capacity. Nominations will be considered by the Committee and a winner selected based solely on merit.
2023 Winners
Month
Who
Why
January
Kate Russell
Kate has been with the juniors since she was 12 and is described as – Very disciplined, Very enthusiastic and a Great team player. She has improved immensely considering she was out of action for almost a year after breaking her leg in 2021, to then come back and run 21:16 in January’s TT putting her in top 10 club records, this is testament to her hard work, determination and dedication to her running. Kate also made it in the team for Essex XC championships. We are told Kate is an absolute joy to coach
February
Jan Walker
Jan has been running with the club for a good few years now. The run leaders say that she always puts 100% effort into training sessions and also gives great feedback on sessions. Jan is known to be great for a chat and brilliant at encouraging others. known to always be pushing herself she managed a 15 minute PB at this years Tarpley.
March
Mat Bigley
Joanne Rosenwold
Mat is commitment to the club and achieved a great success in the winter league cross country.
Joanne helps with the beginners course, sometimes standing in at the last minute, and always supporting the beginners on their TT graduation 5k. Jo can also be often seen marshalling at race events and was a great cake seller at our own cross country.
April
Benjamin Smith
Ben stepped in last minute to run the final leg of the Suffolk Essex Road Relay after having already that day competed in a triathlon in Northampton. His other recent achievements include a 35min 5 mile, a sub 44min 10k, and at the High Lodge Duathlon he ran a mile in 6.03 minutes. Then, while training for his Hungary triathlon, he picked up a third-place podium finish at the Gravesend Duathlon. Ben has really caught the running bug.
May
Andy Gage
Andrew was awarded member of the month for his amazing achievement in the 100-mile challenge (though he actually did 104 miles), and for giving us a video commentary throughout the event.
Andrew is always enthusiastic about running, very supportive of other runners, and is always there to help at club events.
Well done, Andrew!
June
Sophie Horler-Impey
Sophie has been one of our juniors for over 2 years and shows that hard work pays off. She is continuously improving and in the last 10 months has taken over 4 minutes off of her 5km PB. She ran a sub-22 at Newmarket’s Summer 5km series and improved on this a few weeks later at the Arkwright 5km race with a sub-20 minute performance. This effort puts Sophie 4th in the HRC women’s club records for the distance. In the Friday Five series she also finished 2nd overall in her age category. Well done Sophie.
Well done Sophie!
July
Vashti MacDonald-Clink
HRC is Vashti’s second claim club, however she represented HRC at every Friday 5 race finishing the series 2nd in the Open Female category and 1st in the FV40 category. Although she wasn’t wearing our vest in the Saffron Striders 5k, she ran a time of 20.46, which is only one second outside our club’s top 10 records. Vashti also gives advice and support for members of the club who are struggling with their running.
Well done Vashti!
August
Chay Hopkins
Chay came 1st in the SVP100 – Stour Valley Path 100km ultra run (62miles) in an amazing time of 9 hours 1 minute and 37 seconds, this was over 1.5 hours faster than the second place person. This race is the longest point to point race in East Anglia.
Chay also finished 3rd in the last of the Summer 5k.
Chay has shown he can perform over all distances and terrains, also enjoying the X-Country events.
Well done Chay!
September
Stephen Reyes
Absolutely everyone knows and loves Stephen. If it’s from being shown the dodgy sideways Greek dance in a beginners course, or his bright pink tabard when he’s parking you at a local race. Stephen has been a member of Haverhill Running Club since 2007, and is such a great ambassador for the club and the sport.
His nomination this month comes for the amazing job he did this year (and every year) in planning, organising, and recruiting for the Round Norfolk Relay, even using his persuasive recruiting skills only days before the event. If it wasn’t for Stephen and his efforts we would not have a team entered, not to mention organising the support team. Stephen would have started this planning way back in the spring (while he was training for this year’s London marathon) .
Well done Stephen for your hard work!
October
Daniel Pelling
Earlier this year after running a dramatic 2:54:01 Tarpley 20, Dan thought he would never be able to run again. Despite this he has worked very hard and has come back with an impressive run in the Chelmsford half, with great pace control in a time of 1:41:44, and only two weeks after running Abington 10k in 44.38!
Dan has been a very active member of HRC for many years, representing the club at many events including the Round Norfolk Relay, both in the past and this year.
Dan always shows true grit and determination along with a happy smile and friendliness towards other members.
Congratulations Dan!
November
Stuart Nunn
Nominated for his unique enthusiasm for, and contribution to, club activities. In particular, for his work on designing and delivering the ‘Spooky Special’ club run.
Well done, Stuart!
December
Silke Sheppard
Silke is still passionate about running in her 60s. Moreover, she has had two top three age groups within a month of each other, she was the 1st FV60 at Salcey Forest Xmas 10k on 9th December, and she’s steadily getting quicker.
Some fantastic achievements here! Well done Silke!
