We have all had our struggles with the current situation, but add to that being Matron of two ICU’s during a pandemic, working very long days, shortages of staff and having a young family to look after, but somehow still managing to get out to run!
Thank you Sharon for all you have done during the pandemic – You are a true hero to us all!
We got in contact with Sharon to get to know more about him:
How long have you been a member of Sandhurst Joggers? I was actually a member back in 2003-2004, but left due to working in London and having my two boys. I came back to the club in December 2015.
What first attracted you to the club? They were easy to find and I felt so welcome on my first few runs. Then when I came back, SJ was the only local club that ran most days, and they are such a friendly supportive bunch I would never go anywhere else!
Tell us a bit about yourself: I’m a nurse, wife and mum to two boys, who loves running, reading and listening to music. I love the social aspect of running, as well as the challenge of longer distances.
What benefits do you feel you gain from running, with or without the club? It helps me to maintain my physical and mental fitness, helps to relieve my stress and means I can eat what I like (within reason!!). At the moment it really is my ‘me time’ where I can just think or talk about completely random stuff, and forget about the stresses of work.
Do you take part in any other sports? Occasional cycling, and walking, but it’s really running that’s my main passion.
Do you have a favourite distance you like to run? Probably marathon or ultra-marathon distance, as I can have a chat and eat nice food whilst enjoying the scenery with my amigos!
Do you enjoy races? Yes! I don’t enjoy long waits and queues for the toilet beforehand, but that hasn’t been a problem in the last year!
Do you enjoy / participate in the social aspect of the club? Yes – I have made some lovely friends at the club and love to get together with them when I can. I don’t always attend functions but am hoping the ball will go ahead this year so we can all get together properly!
What are your running aspirations? To keep running until I am 100 (at least!), and I would like to achieve a 3.30 marathon at some point.
Is there anything you feel the club could improve? I think it will be nice to get back to club runs at some point, and perhaps then we could have a bit of a refresh in terms of marketing.. It would be good to attract some new runners – of all speeds.
Andy stepped up to take over the coordination of the Tuesday run groups, which is a challenge in its self! With the restrictions changing, almost on a daily basis, it became an even bigger challenge! So congratulations to Andy.
Thank you Andy for coordinating Tuesdays – We can’t wait to get back to Tuesdays! 😊
We got in contact with Andy to get to know more about him:
How long have you been a member of Sandhurst Joggers? In my 2nd year now
What first attracted you to the club? I already knew a couple of members and them convincing me that even I could be accepted by a club being not very good at running at the time, I have got a bit better over time,
Tell us a bit about yourself: I live in Owlsmoor with my long term partner Sue , you are likely to see me ( If not running) on a motorbike or driving my classic Ford Escort,
What benefits do you feel you gain from running, with or without the club? Health and friendship
Do you take part in any other sports? I would like to say yes but no.
Do you have a favourite distance you like to run? I think it has to be 10k as I dint do them a lot but enough to be a challenge still,
Do you enjoy races? Does anyone enjoy them until they finish them ?
Do you enjoy / participate in the social aspect of the club? I try to commit to them when I can, the social team make great efforts to bring ideas and things we can do as a club even through the current tough times.
What are your running aspirations? Keeping getting out and hopefully soon with the rest of the club like we used to.
Is there anything you feel the club could improve? Currently happy with the club and all it has to offer.
Vinnett received several nominations from many members who sing her praises with regards to the motivation and experience she brings to their running journey.
Thank you Vinnett for always encourage us on runs! 😊
We got in contact with Vinnett to get to know more about her.
We got in contact with Vinnett to get to know more about her:
How long have you been a member of Sandhurst Joggers? Just over a year – I joined September 2019. Don’t be fooled into thinking I’ve not run before. I was a very good runner when I was younger. I just took a bit of a rest (couple of decades).
What first attracted you to the club? I met a group of Sandhurst Joggers (Patrick, Helen and Jackie) at Bracknell Parkrun and was invited by Jackie to try a Sunday morning run at the Lookout. I did and everyone was really kind and that was it. I joined.
Tell us a bit about yourself: I am divorced with a 21year old son. I am a Director and Consultant, I am known for my expertise in championing Digital Transformation around the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, leveraging business acumen to generate solutions. I have worked on lots of first-to-market technology including WiFi hotspots in 2003 and autonomous vehicles in 2013. My passion outside of work has always been sport. I played mixed hockey for Maidenhead until I hit my 40’s, when the bruises took too long to heal.
What benefits do you feel you gain from running, with or without the club? Losing my confidence was quite difficult to deal with after my divorce and running with Sandhurst Joggers has allowed me to meet great people and has given me back my passion for running.
Do you take part in any other sports? I do reformer Pilates several times a week. Back in February I completed the England Athletics Leadership in Running Fitness (LiRF) and Coaching Assistant course. I am in the process of doing my coaching qualification in Athletics Coach Endurance but won’t be able to qualify until we can do the practice days. Hopefully I’ll be able to give something back.
Do you have a favourite distance you like to run? I don’t have a favourite distance at the moment. I’m no spring chicken, therefore my body is probably more suited to the longer distance runs, like the marathons. However, having run for Halifax Harriers, county “Yorkshire” and the English schools in both the 400 and 800 metres, don’t be surprised if I change my mind once I’m fit again.
Do you enjoy races? I have a love-hate relationship with races. I hate them until the start and once I start running, I love them.
Do you enjoy / participate in the social aspect of the club? I’m not really a beer and curry girl, so you will notice I disappear rather quickly after the handicap and I’ve really enjoyed the virtual events through lock down.
What are your running aspirations? My goal for 2021 is to do a 5k under 20 mins. So that will be a 19:59, plus a 4-hour marathon. It’s not going to be easy. I have a plan but it needs to be fun so I will need to have some crazy people around me to stop me from getting too focused.
Is there anything you feel the club could improve? It would be good to have a session within the week that includes strength training, focused on targeting the key muscles and keep us injury-free. Maybe introduce a fell run once a quarter and or a night run at the Lookout as a bit of a twist to our winter runs. (Not sure if we could do a risk assessment on them). Just a few suggestions.
Remembrance Sunday: Lisa and Andrea lay a wreath at the Sandhurst Memorial on behalf of Sandhurst Joggers, to remember those service men and women who have fought for their country. “Lest We Forget” is so important as ever now, to continue to remember their brave and courageous efforts in years gone by.
Virtual London Marathon: The 2020 London Marathon was the 40th running of the annual marathon race through London. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the race was postponed from 26 April 2020 to 4 October 2020. Only elite athletes ran a revised course in London, with the mass participation event cancelled and a virtual marathon set up in its place for mass participation. Over 43,000 people took part in the virtual event – Sandhurst Joggers was well represented! Here’s how we got on:
Below are a few summaries from; Alison Jones, Gloria Long, Vinnette Taylor and Jane Bannister.
Alison Jones – “Since Sharon Burfield and I were entered into the London Marathon we signed up for the virtual event, due to take place on 4th October 2020, as luck would have it we were also due to run the Manchester Marathon and signed up to run this as a virtual event, which could be run anytime of the week ending 4th October.
What we could not control was the weather, so after an early start, we pitched up, wearing our London numbers, temperature checked, registration complete and we were off. This is an aspect of Covid regulations I really like, pitch up and run, none of the usual hanging around deciding if you need the toilet, yet again, before you start.
The idea was to run a lap and maybe shed some clothes, but this never happened, the rain stayed constant and the wind was relentless, especially along the riverside where there is no shelter.
On our outward journey on our last lap we saw another couple of runners coming towards us and one was shouting and waving, Sharon said “is that random person waving at us” I said “that random person is Gloria” who will share her own marathon story with you, so another wee chat was had, sadly she was going the other way, then we met another 2 runners nearing the end of their own marathon and kept them company for the next couple of miles, all of which passed the time until we reached the end, was it worth it for 2 t-shirts and 3 medals, you bet it was.”
Gloria Long – “Having ran London in 2018, I had experienced injury and didn’t get to run the race as planned so it was always my plan to have one more go. A friend from school had a similar experience, so it was strange that we both again ended up with places for 2020! We decided that we’d run it together.
We just had the second half to run, heading through Shepperton, Chertsey into Staines where we bumped into the lovely Alison and Sharon also running VLM as part of the Saturn run. All was going well, we had lots of support from family and friends, just the last 10k slog back to Sunbury. It was tough but we pushed on as Danielle’s phone was running out battery. It definitely kept us motivated to keep running!
Friends and family created a finish line on The Avenue and we were cheered on with balloons and drinks from the local pub. We had a great race and had the pleasure of running with or being cheered on by lots of old school friends. We also got a PB, so we celebrated with drinks in the pub to end the day.”
Vinnette Taylor – ““WARNING” be careful who you run with on a Monday night club run which is my favourite club run of the week. You will get a perfect combination of wit, charm, and lots more. One minute you are having a nice chat about the weather, the next you are agreeing to run The Virtual London Marathon, just for the fun of it!.
Since October I have run several virtual half marathons and agreed to take a look (not registered yet!) at a couple of ultra-marathons. Thanks to everyone at Sandhurst Joggers and especially the “Machine” and “Sandbagger” for Monday night runs.“
Jane Bannister – “I was joined by fellow SJ Polly Harris for a very wet Loop 1 8 miles around Horseshoe Lake and knee deep in water then onto Blackwater and back home to Sandhurst. For Loop 2 I was joined by another running friend, Kay House for a speedy 12 miles along the A30 to Frimley and back home to Sandhurst. The final Loop and I was joined by fellow SJ Sophie Le Saux for 6 miles around Little Sandhurst and Sandhurst. It was great fun seeing other runners out during the day and we had quite a few cheers on route. So all in all a good days work and another marathon completed.“
Intra Club Relay: Fantastic to be able to get the winners of the Intra club relay together to receive their rewards. Congratulations to Wayne & Dave on 3rd place, Jo & Sarah on 2nd place and Graham & Roy who took gold!
A massive thank you to everyone who participated in our final intra club relay for 2020!
November Selfies: A few selfies and pictures from our runs in November
Beautiful Scenes from Andrea
Dick & Emy enjoying a warm post run
Gabrielle and family ready for a scavenger hunt
Monica & Fiona beat the rain and completed an off-road 10k
Jon enjoying his run/swim
Vinette’s personal cheerleaders – Jon, Sarina, Nikii & Ellie
Looking forward to seeing what you all get up to in December. Please send all you race reports and pictures to: publicity@sandhurstjoggers.org.uk
Since Sharon Burfield and I were entered into the London Marathon we signed up for the virtual event, due to take place on 4th October 2020, as luck would have it we were also due to run the Manchester Marathon and signed up to run this as a virtual event, which could be run anytime of the week ending 4th October.
Since we had run a couple of 50K’s one for a virtual Race to the Stones event and one just for fun, I thought I would try and find an actual event we could run, which I did, Saturn Running had an event on 4th October starting at The Thameside Brewery in Staines, or should I say “Staines-on-Thames” as they now like to call themselves! Ali G has a lot to answer for. Result one marathon, 2 t-shirts and 3 medals, whats not to like.
As with all Saturn Running events, this was a 7 Hour event, the idea being you can do as many or as few laps as you want, each lap was 4.4 miles long.
What we could not control was the weather, so after an early start, we pitched up, wearing our London numbers, temperature checked, registration complete and we were off. This is an aspect of Covid regulations I really like, pitch up and run, none of the usual hanging around deciding if you need the toilet, yet again, before you start.
The idea was to run a lap and maybe shed some clothes, but this never happened, the rain stayed constant and the wind was relentless, especially along the riverside where there is no shelter.
As many of you will know, lap marathons are mentally hard work, but we kept each other going whilst sampling every type of terrain known to man, including a new one to me, green hexagonals, I think they were trying to make them look like grass, but Sharon and I were not fooled for a minute, especially when Strava called them the “horrible green hexagonals”
On the return from our first lap, we saw what looked like a homeless man apparently asleep, under a tree, baring in mind the horrible weather and the fact that we were both nurses we were a bit concerned but there was plenty of people around so we presumed he was known to many and maybe had a bit too much of the “falling down water” or even “electric soup” as they call Tennents Super in Glasgow.
Gloria, Alison & Sharon
On our first lap, Leon was the turnaround point, so we had a nice chat, after this it was a cone at the turnaround and no matter how much we tried it would not engage in conversation!
The old man was being attended to by an ambulance crew on the return from our second lap, so we were happy at least he would have a nice warm bed for a couple of days.
On our outward journey on our last lap we saw another couple of runners coming towards us and one was shouting and waving, Sharon said “is that random person waving at us” I said “that random person is Gloria” who will share her own marathon story with you, so another wee chat was had, sadly she was going the other way, then we met another 2 runners nearing the end of their own marathon and kept them company for the next couple of miles, all of which passed the time until we reached the end, was it worth it for 2 t-shirts and 3 medals, you bet it was.
Gloria Long’s VLM 2020 Account:
Having ran London in 2018, I had experienced injury and didn’t get to run the race as planned so it was always my plan to have one more go. A friend from school had a similar experience, so it was strange that we both again ended up with places for 2020! We decided that we’d run it together.
Lucky for me, we chose to run back where I grew up so Danielle planned the route starting from Sunbury. We started early heading to Bushy Park and Hampton Court. Following the towpath we continued to Walton on Thames where we had a VW camper parked up with a toilet and a change of trainers as we were drenched through.
We just had the second half to run, heading through Shepperton, Chertsey into Staines where we bumped into the lovely Alison and Sharon also running VLM as part of the Saturn run. All was going well, we had lots of support from family and friends, just the last 10k slog back to Sunbury. It was tough but we pushed on as Danielle’s phone was running out battery. It definitely kept us motivated to keep running!
Friends and family created a finish line on The Avenue and we were cheered on with balloons and drinks from the local pub. We had a great race and had the pleasure of running with or being cheered on by lots of old school friends. We also got a PB, so we celebrated with drinks in the pub to end the day.
Vinnette Taylor’s VLM 2020 Journey:
“WARNING” be careful who you run with on a Monday night club run which is my favourite club run of the week. You will get a perfect combination of wit, charm, and lots more. One minute you are having a nice chat about the weather, the next you are agreeing to run The Virtual London Marathon, just for the fun of it!. A big thank you to Patrick “The Machine” and Clare, for allowing me to tag along through one or two small puddles – Yes, I danced around a few puddles but also got my feet a little wet. I really did enjoy the experience and the insight into (friendship of?) the people I am running with.
26.2 miles! Wow! Does size matter? YES, I’m afraid it does. Having concentrated on parkruns 5K and not run a marathon for several years, this virtual run gave me my drive and passion back. Now I know I can still do the distance. Since October I have run several virtual half marathons and agreed to take a look (not registered yet!) at a couple of ultra-marathons. Thanks to everyone at Sandhurst Joggers and especially the “Machine” and “Sandbagger” for Monday night runs.
Jane Bannister’s VLM 2020 Run:
Marathon #6 Virtual VLM2020 I was joined by fellow SJ Polly Harris for a very wet Loop 1 8 miles around Horseshoe Lake and knee deep in water then onto Blackwater and back home to Sandhurst. For Loop 2 I was joined by another running friend, Kay House for a speedy 12 miles along the A30 to Frimley and back home to Sandhurst. The final Loop and I was joined by fellow SJ Sophie Le Saux for 6 miles around Little Sandhurst and Sandhurst. It was great fun seeing other runners out during the day and we had quite a few cheers on route. So all in all a good days work and another marathon completed.
