And so this is Christmas

Even if the ongoing madness means you’re Home Alone this Christmas, don’t forget It’s a Wonderful Life and at least you’ve got your Elf – which is important for all the Die Hard runners of Horsham Joggers. (Although you could be forgiven for thinking it’s more Groundhog Day than White Christmas right now…!)

Thanks to you

As 2021 draws to a close it’s time to thank all of our members for continuing to make Horsham Joggers a great club to be part of, and a supportive running environment for everyone from the super quicks to the nice and steadies. Indeed the club continues to expand like a Christmas waistline, with 510 members at the latest count. 

There’s been a lot of hard work this year to keep the club moving through challenging times with a number of new faces on the committee. We’ve invested in getting more of our members LiRF-qualified  (Leader in Running Fitness), we’ve got the new training kit in circulation (great to see that out on the club runs), increased group options, added new run leaders, introduced RunAndTalk Tuesdays, and even secured the use of The Tube at The Bridge for when it gets so cold that Thursday night track sessions turns into Dancing on Ice. 

Track continues to go great guns – don’t forget it’s open to all and (for now at least) you just have to turn up and pay £1.50 (contactless please) on the night. 

There have been murmurs from some folks who can’t make a track night on a Thursday. If anyone is interested in an informal get track session at a different time of week/day, let us know. It might be possible to organise a group. 

Volunteers of Joy

Clearly the uncertainty will continue into 2022 and the back office workload will continue to pile up so if you have any time you can volunteer to the club, please do get in touch. 

In particular we are looking for someone who’s a bit handy with websites and social media management as Andy Robins has stepped down from his committee role. Many thanks to Andy for all the support and enthusiasm he has provided. Welcome, meanwhile, to Ella Agent, taking over as our new Treasurer. A Treasury Agent, no less. Many thanks to Iain Campbell for all the hard work over the past three years. 

We also need volunteers to help out with: 

• The coordination of the summer pub runs which – with all the usual caveats – we hope to restart in 2022
• Marathon training for Brighton and London preparation
• The club Time Trial (the Itchingfield Time Trial as it was previously known), which will see one run per month in May, June, July, and September
• The Horsham 10k, slated for May 22nd

In other personnel news, Julie Jochimsen is the new club rep for the West Sussex Fun Run League which is back for ‘22, kicking off with the traditional Hangover 5k on January 1st. If you’re running in that race, don’t forget you need to be resplendent in your HJ kit in order for the club to be awarded points for your participation. 

We recently paid a special thanks to Jenny Boyd for her many years service on the committee as our WSFRL rep (pictured below with Club Chairman, Paul).

Quizzical Exercise

A shout out to everyone who participated in the HJ quiz in November, with particular thanks to Quizmaster Roger, and Julie for organising an evening that raised more questions than a Number 10 Christmas Party. The winners were the Hoka Cokeys (pictured) and the wooden spoon went to Blood Sweat and Beers, underscoring the importance of coming up with a run-pun of a quiz team name. 

Parkrun Tourism

We’ve just brought back the Parkrun tourism round-up on the Facebook page and the club would like to encourage any Parkrun members who are interested to work up some organised touring to local events, perhaps once a quarter. It would be great to get dressed up in club kit and show the club’s face at some of the nearby runs. Tilgate Park on January 15th is mooted as a first attempt. If you do go along, please try and hang around to support all your fellow members. 

HJ Club Challenge Races for 2022

The club challenge races will be back next year, and the qualifying events will be:

• 10k – Mel Milers 10k, Sunday 3rd April
• 10 miles – East Grinstead 10, Saturday 30th April (part of the Mid Sussex Marathon Weekend)
• Half Marathon – Brighton Half, Sunday 27th February (NOTE: entries close on 31st December!)
• WSFRL – Fittleworth  Flyers  Fittleworth 5, Sunday 4th September

There will be various age-category awards, just make sure you run in your HJ race top to be in with a chance of winning. If you happen to be in Gary Tomlinson’s age category, we can only apologise.

Charity Donations

The club is very pleased to have made this years’ donations of £400 each to:

West Sussex MIND

Chestnut Tree House

Horsham Responders

Honourable Mentions – and New Email Address

We have had one or two instances of members’ results getting missed from the newsletter and we want to make sure we try and avoid that wherever possible. Sometimes the results don’t show club affiliation, which makes it difficult to find you all. The results gatherers do their best to catch what they can but, if you really want to make extra sure you’re included, please email your result directly to horshamjoggers.newsletter@gmail.com – in fact use that email address for anything at all you want included in the newsletter. 

Having said that, and with apologies to anyone we’ve missed in the past – and indeed in the following round up – here is some kudos:

• Delayed mentions for London Marathon runners Andy Robins 04:36:35, Victoria Robins 04:51:58, Lisa Bowler 04:59:14, Tony Hogben 04:45:07, Margreet Potter 04:43:01
• Delayed mentions for Worthing 10k Becky Harrison 01:00:08, Simon Holmes 00:43:19, Claire Miller 01:01:12, Barnaby Smith 01:19:47
• Chris Yeomans Watch: Southend Pier Marathon 03:55:28. Portland Coastal Marathon 04:54:28. Roly’s Run, a circular 40-mile route in and around the Meon Valley. Watch time 07:56:32
• Ian Bradbury completed the Frontier South Downs Ultra in 07:35:23 
• Hampton Court Palace 10k. Emma Walters 00:46:20, Graeme Hull 00:47:44 & Ian Hines 01:33:53
• Goodwood 10k Hadley O’Dwyer 00:39:24, Nick Street 00:42:47
• Goodwood Half Lee Jestico 01:19:50, Julian Shelley 02:13:22
• New Forest 16k Paul Davis 1:05:40 – Second Place!!
• British Masters 10k Road Championships: Bryan Camfield 38:59, Pete O’Connell 39:01
• Laura Luxton for winning the Winter Handicap (pictured below)!

Upcoming Events

Jan 15th – HJ Parkrun tour to Tilgate Park

Jan 16th – Tadworth 10

Jan 19th – HJ Committee Meeting

Feb 12th – Maverick West Sussex

Feb 27th – Brighton Half

Feb 27th – Jigsaw 10k Dunsfold

Mar 1st – Membership Renewals Due

Mar 2nd – HJ Committee Meeting

Mar 6th – Eastbourne Half

Apr 3rd  – Mel’s MIlers 10k

And that’s a wrap for 2021. Happy Christmas everyone, have the best break possible and we look forward to seeing you all soon. Keep on running!

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Huge thanks to Mike Hibberd for another great read, and for giving up his time to keep us informed and entertained with HJ News throughout the year.