News 2009

30/12/09	London Marathon A results page for the London Marathon has been added to the website. If you can supply any omissions it would be appreciated.
28/12/09	10k Every Day Local sportsman, Tim Bridle has set himself a challenge to run 10k every day in 2010 and in the process hopefully raise a large sum of money for Cancer Research. All club members (16 years and over) are invited to join Tim on his first run of 365 on Friday 1st Jan (BH). The run which begins at the Ramada hotel on Swingbridge Road is being started by Lady Sarah McCorquodale at 12 noon. Hopefully the press and radio will be there, so why don't you come along and join us, wear you club vest and help put GAC on the map. It will be a very steady 10k run round the sights of Grantham - meet 11:45am.
23/12/09	Beginners Night Time Change Monday 28th is a BH and there would normally be no training. For those that want to though, there will be a Beginners group running at 11am - same location - all welcome.
08/12/09	Beginners Night Time Change So as to bring our training time in line with our other nights and give coaches and runners slightly more time, we have altered the Beginners night training to 6:30 for a 6:45pm start.
08/12/09	Tony Madge Tony Madge recently ran a 1:04:23 10 miler giving him an age graded performance of 79.48%. This is the highest results we have had since keeping records and is knocking on the 80% national class door. We shouldn't be surprised though as he has a marathon PB of 2:33:45. He has also just been lucky enough to get a club's ticket for next year's London. Is there any bets being taken on him going through the 80% barrier ?
07/12/09	Google Search Facility A Google search button has been added to our Home page. This will make searching our website really easy for those obscure or forgotten snippets. Try typing your own name in, you may be surprised how many hits it will come up with !
03/12/09	Presentation Night Pictures Some pictures of the Road section receiving their awards from Rod Bradley on Presentation Night can be seen on the Season Best 09 page.
02/12/09	London Marathon The draw for the club’s guaranteed London marathon tickets was made at the stadium tonight. The lucky recipients are: Geoff Collier, Helen Brown, Mark Hillson and Tony Madge. We wish them all the best with their training and the actual race on the big day.
01/12/09	Lucozade Visit We are pleased to announce that the rescheduled date for the visit by Emma Kingzett, the Lucozade sports scientist, is Tuesday 2nd February 2010.
20/11/09	Tuesday Training 24 November 2009 After representations from a number of members who were keen to attend our Club presentation evening and still train we have agreed to move both the time and the venue for this Tuesday only. We will meet outside the foyer of the stadium at 18:30 prompt for some speedwork. Whilst we will be reducing the length of the session we will still be try to cram in the same amount of benefit so expect a sharp one!"
17/11/09	Lucozade Visit I'm sorry to announce that due to unforeseen events we have had to cancel the visit on Tuesday 1st December.
14/11/09	Presentation Night It has just been confirmed that Rod Bradley will be our guest of honour this year. Rod is a talented local sportsman who went on to star in the TV's 'Gladiator' programme.
12/11/09	Steve Twigg Steve is the latest person to take advantage of using a bit of our webspace by posting his profile online. You can put anything you like on there, pb's goals, etc just email it to me. You can make amendments or add to it anytime you like.
09/11/09	Presentation Night Our Club's première event of the year will take place at the SK Sports Stadium on Tuesday 24 November at 7pm in the Strikers bar. The guest of honour has yet to be finalised. All Club members and there families are cordially invited.
05/11/09	Athlete of the Month At last night's committee meeting, Steve Gould was nominated as our Club's 'Athlete of the Month'. The award is made each month for outstanding performance. Steve's award was for finishing 6th out of a field of 1500 in the 'Hell up North' extreme off road event. This is the first time a Club's road runner has been given the award. Well done Steve
31/10/09	New Forum We now have a new forum page. Please feel free to use it as you wish. Time will tell if it will be useful.
29/10/09	Congratulations Marijke We hear on the grapevine that Marijke DeGroot has recently tied the knot. Congratulations from all of us.
19/10/09	London Marathon We now have the club's guaranteed London Marathon entry tickets. All club members (that will be 18 years old on the day) are eligible for a chance of a ticket. If you would like to be considered for an entry please email. The closing date for applications is 30 November.
16/10/09	More News From The Clinic Not a good year for Trudy Hanson. Just getting back to training after a lengthy recovery from an Achilles type injury, Trudy has been in the wars again. Whilst on holiday in France she was taken to hospital with suspected appendicitis. Fortunately, it turned out to be a nasty groin strain. Get better soon Trudy (Goodness knows how she managed a groin strain on holiday ! Ed)
04/10/09	Clinic Latest Gill Cooper had to pull out of the Great North Run recently due to a persistent chest infection. Hannah Whitney won't be training or racing in the near future due to a nasty knee injury. We wish them both a speedy recovery.
21/09/09	Lucozade Visit I think everybody found the visit by Emma the Sports Scientist from Lucozade last Tuesday, really informative. Well the good news - she is going to come back and do some testing with us ie a pre-workout weigh-in and urine check - followed by the session - then the post-workout weigh-in and urine analysis. Make a note in your diary - The Railway Club, Tuesday 1 December - 6:30pm.
12/09/09	Tri (ing) Times Neil Dowsett has become a "Vitruvian" by competing in his most grueling event yet. The 1/2 Ironman event took place at Rutland Water on 5 September. A testament to how tough this aptly named event called "...a full on tough quad crunching, lung buster of a race..." out of the 1000 competitors only 785 competitors completed the event and became Vitruvian’s. For the full report of this event (and other Tri events) see Tri (ing) Times.
05/09/09	GAC H/C Champs There was a great turnout to this years club HC - thank you - and we hoped you enjoyed it. If you were a betting man, you probably wouldn't have put money on Phil Garner - but he won the men's race. Club newcomer, Fiona Vaughan was the ladies winner. Well done Full results It just shows you - anything can happen in this race !
02/09/09	Seasons Best The Season's best page has been updated. Don't forget our competition year ends on 30 September - so there's still time to get a race in and yourself onto the leader board!
01/09/09	Newsletter Online The club's latest newsletter is now online for downloading.
30/08/09	Well Tri (ed) We had four athletes compete in the Grantham Tri today. Fastest was Neil Dowsett with brother Gavin not far behind. Next was Jez Page (pictured right just after his 800m swim) followed in by our only lady Hannah Whitney. The event wasn't without incident though - Neil had a slight mishap with a low barrier ! Results Grantham Tri Club would like to thank all our members that volunteered to help on the day. It was great to see our club supporting the efforts of others promoting a sporting event.
25/08/09	Club Meal Our club is having a meal at the Gregory at Harlaxton on Friday 9^th of October. All club members from the U13’s (with parents) and upwards are welcome (as well as their families). A specially negotiated price of £16 for a 2 course meal has been agreed. There will also be some kind of entertainment – possibly a disco. Adam Madge the organiser is open to ideas to make the evening a great success, so if you can think of anything, such as a quiz, Wii sports night, Grantham AC’s Got Talent contest ! – please contact him (07841 430 360). You will need to get your payment and Menu Choice form back to Shelagh Woollard or Debbie Woods at the track (Wednesday nights) preferably before the 2 October. Menu and Form
25/08/09	Grantham Triathon Grantham's own Triathlon takes place on Sunday starting at the Meres at 9am. It should be a great event to watch and we also have several of our athletes in it. Better still why not help out at the event. Grantham Tri club is asking for helpers on the day. All helpers will get a free event T-Shirt (and 1/2 price entry into next years Tri-It-Tri if they want). If you would like to volunteer to help please ring the organiser Bob Panter 01400 273710 or email: robertopanter@tiscali.co.uk
22/08/09	Documents Added A variety of documents have been added to the 'Library' mainly useful for those new to running. It is hoped though to develop the resource by adding other material that will benefit athletes of all abilities. If you have useful material please send it to us.
10/08/09	Listen To the Fifties Song specially composed by Ian Fisher to celebrate the coming of age of Grace Plant and Robert McArdle (and performed 'live' at their birthday bash).
06/08/09	Lucozade Seminar A short seminar for our club on nutrition/hydration will take place in the Railway club on Tuesday 15 September at 8pm. The talk given by a Sports Scientist from Lucozade will last approx 30 to 40 minutes. There will also be a chance to ask any questions you have on the subject. Believe me, getting this aspect of your training/race/recovery right can make all the difference to getting your pb's or season's best down! All welcome
05/08/09	Grimsthorpe 10k Some of us are doing the Grimsthorpe 10k on Monday 31st August (BH). Pre-entered competitors plus one guest gain free entry to the St Johns ‘Fun Day’ by showing your race number. After the run we will be relaxing with a picnic and a glass of wine/beer. All welcome. Speak to Robert or Paul for more info.The course is multi-terrain so a pb is probably not on the cards - but it will be a good day. The show includes - quote " Jazz Band, Classic Cars, Vintage Aircraft, Fairground Rides, Country Crafts and Stalls, and much more for all the family".
03/08/09	Handicapped RR Champs This year our H/C RR champs will take place on Thursday 3 September. The Start and Finish is on the Green at Barrowby. The course is approximately 5 miles but includes the infamous Casthorpe Hill. Please be ready to run at 6:45pm. Afterwards we shall retire to the White Swan for the post race analysis and a beer. All welcome.
31/07/09	Road Vests Arrived The new Road Vests with Grantham AC printed on the back have now arrived. See the Kit Shop page for details of the new vest and other club kit for sale.
30/07/09	Hannah's Channel Swim They did it!!!! in 15 hours and 32 mins......... Well done Hannah and team. (PS Next time I would try swimming in a straight line or try taking the 'Channel Tunnel' ! It's not too late if you would like to support Hannah and the teams effort please visit www.justgiving.com/channel-relay/
23/07/09	£600 Raised A big thank you to all those people who took part in the Little Apple Fun run this year. Proceeds from the run and sponsorhip raised, enabled us to pass on a cheque for £600 to the Notts/Lincs Air Ambulance. Also many thanks to all who helped marshal the Newton's Fraction/Fun Run - without whose help the events couldn't happen.
10/07/09	Neil Returns After being away from us for over 20 years Neil Dowsett has come back to the club. In his first stint with us, Neil was a track and Field junior star. He has now returned to the Road section and was the first GAC finisher in the Whissendine 6ix last night. However, his passion is for Triathlons and along with his brother Gavin, it's hoped we can develop a Tri section for those interested in the multi-disciplined sport.
10/07/09	Beginners Success Last night 2 ladies who started with our beginners group earlier in the year tackled their first race - The Whissendine 6ix. When they started coming to our Monday night session they were struggling to run a 3 mile loop. Last night they both ran the undulating six mile route with relative ease. Well done Tina and Fiona
09/07/09	Hannah Whitney is going to be joining a team that is undertaking a channel relay swim for charity. If anybody doesn't know Hannah, she is a slip of a thing and can't weigh more than 7 stones wet through. The thought of her jumping into the cold English channel doesn't bear thinking about. If you would like to support Hannah and the teams effort please visit www.justgiving.com/channel-relay/ For more details see www.a-snails-pace.co.uk/ GOOD LUCK Hannah
06/07/09	Catherine Payne won the ladies race in the Roplsey 10 on Friday night. Two days later she was back in action taking runner-up prize in the Thurlby 10k.
05/07/09	Web Updated It's been a busy week for racing - well done everybody. The 'Seasons Best' page has been updated.
03/07/09	New Vests Our new vest with the clubs name on the back should be available within the next 4 weeks. See also the Kit Shop page for other club kit available.
02/07/09	New Awards At a meeting last night, the committee agreed to 8 new awards for the Road Running section. These will be made at our club's annual presentation night and will be for the seasons best results for male and female runners at 10k, 10 mile, 1/2 mar and marathon.
30/06/09	Newtons Fraction The date for next year's Newton Fraction is confirmed as 7 March 2010.
29/06/09	Calculator Added A Splits Calculator has been added to the website.
27/06/09	Injured It may be a few weeks before we see Robert McArdle. He was messing about with Newton's Laws of gravity which resulted in a heavy object landing on his foot.
27/06/09	Fireworks Five More reports have been added for the clubs Fireworks 5.
25/06/09	Pictures online Pictures of the 2009 Newtons Fraction and Fun Run can now be viewed online. Bookmark the site as photos of other events we are involved in will be posted there.
25/06/09	Calculator Added A new Time Predictor calculator has been added to the website.
24/06/09	Fireworks Five The Grantham Journal report and results have been added for the 1977 Fireworks 5
23/06/09	Results Added Results for the 1988 and 1989 Newton's Fraction have been added to the website.
22/06/09	Solstice Run Well done to all those involved in making the inaugural Summer Solstice Run a success (especially the drivers).
21/06/09	Halls of Fame Updated The HOF have been updated with some data that has come to light (especially the marathon).
20/06/09	Results Added Some results for the Grantham 1/2 marathons staged in 1985 and 1986 have been added.
15/06/09	Trudy's On The Mend We are please to report that after breaking a bone in her foot Trudy is on the mend. She has had her plaster taken off and has started a very gentle training regime.
10/06/09	Gill Cooper Running for Alzheimers Having gained entry via the ballot, on Sept 20th I will be doing 'The Great North Run' I will be raising money for The Alzheimers Society. A devastating condition that my Father battled with before his death in 1993 aged 87. If you would like to sponsor me I would be very grateful. Please click on this link..... www.justgiving.com/GillCooper Gill Cooper (now 70yrs)
08/06/09	Advert * Teadmill For Sale * I am emigrating to Australia later this summer, and am trying to sell my Tunturi-J6 treadmill. I didn't know whether there was a message board within your club? It is non folding, and could be delivered. I am only looking for £70. > It is quite old but works fine. John Blair, A fellow runner, Stroxton, Grantham,Tel 01476 530818
25/05/09	Summer Solstice Run Details of our new venture to compliment the xmas eve run - the Summer Solstice Run. This is almost exactly 6 months after the xmas run so runners will be ready for another challenge. Details on the Solstice page.
15/05/09	New Venue Our new venue for Tuesday and Thursday nights is the Railway Club, Huntingtower Road, Grantham, NG31 7BA. This will take effect from Tuesday 19 May. With training starting at 6:45 prompt. Paul Davidson
08/05/09	Kontacs Closure & new venue If it’s possible can we run from Kontacs next week even though it may be closed. I will be down Thursday and will hopefully have all the responses to share with you. We can have a quick chat/meeting to discus all the options and the way forward. Paul Davidson
06/05/09	10 Pin Bowling night – (note date change) The date has changed for the 10 Pin Bowl night to Wednesday 20/5/09. The venue is The Bowl on Dysart Road at 8pm. 3 games will cost you £10.50. If you would like to take part contact Robert McArdle please (lanes need to be booked in advance). Partners are welcome as are all committee members.
06/05/09	Camping Weekend Friday 15 May for 2 or 3 nights at Runswick Bay Caravan and Camping Park , Runswick, Saltburn-by-the-Sea , TS13 5HU . Grid ref NZ805162. The cost is £8 per person per night. Book via the camp co-ordinator Robert McArdle until 11/5/09. After book direct with the site on 01947 840997
29/04/09	Kontacs Club Closure I understand that the Kontacs Club is due to close in the near future - probably on 10 May 09. Are we going to need to a new venue? Do you have any suggestions - please let me or Robert McArdle know. Some considerations you may want to think about. Do you want the same venue for both nights? Is access to a toilet before (and after) training a requiremnent? Do you want to meet in a sheltered location in the winter months ie similar to the Beginners Club in the foyer at the Meres Leisure centre on a Monday night? How important is a beer onsite after every training run? We need your input please - if you have any ideas or comments let us have them ASAP
29/04/09	Lincs Road Relays Lincs AA are resurrecting the Road Relays again on behalf of the Road Runners in Lincolnshire (that’s us). They are probably going to be staged on 27 September in Lincoln . Are you interested in supporting them – please let me know. Also what would your preferred distance be for each leg.
29/04/09	Summer Solstice run We maybe adding another event into your social calendar that may grow like the xmas eve run – The Summer Solstice run – This year the 21^st of June falls on a Sunday. Watch this space!
29/04/09	10 Pin Bowling night We are organising a 10 Pin Bowling night on Thursday 21 May after training. The venue is The Bowl on Dysart Road . If you would like to take part contact Robert McArdle please (lanes need to be booked in advance). Partners are welcome as are all committee members.
11/04/09	Website Additions Keith Measures has been up in his loft again. He must be getting to the bottom of the pile by now because he has come up with a newsletter from April 1989. Sorry about the pictures in it, but there were no computers in those days - just the old fashioned photocopier.
01/04/09	No April Fool Did you you hear about the Grantham AC athlete that completed the Lincoln 10k at the weekend with a broken foot. Trudy Hanson had an excruciating pain halfway round on Sunday but continued the course and finished with a credible time. However the pain was so intense she sought medical advice afterwards and they thought it was a deep tissue injury. It was still no better today (April 1st) so she went back to hospital and got it x-rayed. It confirmed that Trudy had broken a bone in her foot (no joking) and she will be in plaster for a while. We wish Trudy a speedy and full recovery.
01/04/09	Website Additions Keith Measures has found yet another newsletter. I think Jean must be making him have a clear-out!
29/03/09	Website changes Seasons bests updated for Lincoln 10k results, Weekend runs updated, Newsletter May 92 added and London marathon 92 picture added (thanks to Keith Measures).
23/03/09	Halls of Fame have been added to the website. Here you can see a ranking list of the best performances of club members at various distances over the years.
17/03/09	Change to Beginners night We have changed the venue for the Beginners night. The new meeting place is at the Meres leisure centre in the outer foyer. We have also altered the time to 6:30 pm (ready to run) to fall in line with our other training nights.
16/03/09	Website Additions Various calculators and pace charts (see Tools) have been added to the website, including one to calculate your own 'age graded performance'.
16/03/09	Club Camp 09 The preferred weekend is now 15, 16 & 17/5/09
05/03/09	New Captain Last night Robert McArdle was co-opted onto Grantham Ac's committee as the new Road Runners Vice Captain. To see what the club captains do follow the link.
20/02/09	Club Camp 09 We have core dates of Friday 8/5/09 and Saturday 9/5/09 (with the options of adding additional nights before and after). The BH holiday has been deliberately missed to avoid over-crowded campsites and traffic issues. We have a couple of tentative venues in mind (Cambridgeshire and Yorkshire). If you are interested (or remotely interested) or just curious (or very curious) then Robert McArdle (the Camp Co-ordinator 09) would love to hear from you.
05/02/09	Goodbye to Vicki and her puppies We are sorry to report that Vicki Greenall won't be running with us anymore. She is moving back north to be near her parents. The Club and especially the 'Road Runners' wish her good luck with the new job and new home.
03/01/09	Xmas Eve Run There was a new record set at this years xmas eve run - not for running but for the number of diners - 28 I believe. I'm not sure whether the land lord of the pub was so impressed though, he didn't want to do any food. There were at least 20 runners participating.