Christmas and New Year period had a variety of events to choose from, with members of Waveney Valley Athletic Club attending several in the region.
The annual Groggy Doggy races, in which man’s best friend shared the limelight with their masters, were organised by Bungay Black Dog RC and held on Outney Common in Bungay. There were awards for runners both with and without their dog, plus best fancy dress and the muddiest competitor. In the 9-12 age group race, Thomas Spurgeon was 8th in a time of 10:48 and in the 13-16 age race Tai Elvin-Andrews was 2nd in 17:11 and Tobias Scriven 9th in 23:46. In the 17 years and over one lap event plus dog, James Gooch was 12th in 26:53, Michaela Gooch 13th in 26:54 and Vicki Fairs 20th in 39:03.
The 17 and over 2 lap race plus dog saw Stuart Spurgeon finish 6th in 41:57 and Chris Bradford 9th in 43:32. In the 17 and over 2 lap race without a four-legged friend, third was Joe Skipper in 29:10, 28th Lloyd Scriven 36:24, 34th Peter Andrews 37:30, 37th Nigel Herrod 37:56, 39th Tim Earl 38:16, 133rd Alan Fairs 51:05 and 139th Caren Elvin 52:10.At the Hadleigh 10m race, 307 athletes competed with Wayne Freeman placed 54th in a time of 1-10.57. Lisa Knights was 107th in 1-16.20 and Alan Richardson 190th in 1-27.40. In the supporting 5m event Jayne Richardson finished 74th in 48:41 with Angela Mower 115th in 55:13 accompanied by her husband David 116th in 55:14.
On New Years Eve at the Marham 10k, David Mower was 21st in 44:22 with Matt Baldry 25th in a personal best 45:18, Sarah Phillips 81st, also a pb, in 57:47 and Angela Mower 104th in 1-06.39.
At Wymondham AC’s New Years Day 10k, Rose Nicholson finished 28th overall – and 2nd lady – from almost 700 entries in a time of 37:42. Rob Knights was 281st in 48:29, Louise Adamson 380th in 52:09, Suzy Knights 387th in 52:19, Alan Varle 392nd in 52:42 and Jo Fisk 481st in 56:38.
The regional 5k parkruns have kept many of Waveney Valley’s members busy on Saturday mornings. At the Lowestoft event there have been personal bests during December for Stuart Spurgeon 22:44, Sarah Phillips 27:59, Tracie Ashford 29:37,Laura Head 35:14, Jamie Besford 19:49, Matt Baldry 22:22 and Lisa Wilson 29:20. Gemma Aldred recorded 36:19 on her debut run for the club.