At an EGM held on Tuesday 27th September 2022, Sara Robert was voted in as the new chair for the club.  The meeting also saw David Hyde voted in as Secretary.  We would like to extend our thanks to Dave Hyde for acting as Chair for the past few months and Laura Waterhouse for undertaking the Secretary role.

September saw 14 members of AVT complete Ironman 70.3 Weymouth 2022. Most were first-timers at the middle distance and put in performances to be proud of. Special mention goes to Daniel Colman who placed 15th overall out of 2003 competitors in a time of 4:34:25. Congratulations Daniel, and all AVT athletes for your achievements:

Daniel Colman 4:34:25

Simon Down 5:28:32

Esther Frawley 6:06:44

Sue Porto 6:18:12

Emily Dye 6:22:47

Gary MacAlister 6:22:57

Jenny Nattrass 6:25:46

Kat Taylor-Laird 6:28:03

Caroline Scott 6:40:20

Annalie Ibison 6:51:39

Cliff Dye 6:54:22

Laura Waterhouse 6:58:16

Chris Walford 7:30:22

Gareth Rickerby 8:03:04

A huge thanks to all club members who came down and cheered everyone over the line as well.

Over The Hills - 6 November 22 - Entries now open

Entries are now open for Avon Valley Runners Over The Hills race and you can enter here

This 12km multi terrain race returns for another year and promises to be a fantastic race. For 2022 it will also be race 3 of the Wiltshire Off Road League. 

Click here to sign up to the beginners' course.

The Westbury 5k road series and the 5x5 off-road series are now open for entries.

https://race-nation.co.uk/register/avon-valley-runners-1/avr-westbury-5k-may-2022

The 5x5 will take place on Thursdays: 7^th April, 5th May, 2nd June, 7th July. Information and entries available here.

Westbury takes place on Tuesdays: 10^th May, 14^th June, 12^th July. Entries available here.

https://www.entrycentral.com/AVRRelay2022

Following our Wiltshire Half Marathon event in November 2021, club Chairman, Richard Newman and Assistant Secretary, Sally Frawley visited the Semington base of the Wiltshire Air Ambulance to present the lifesaving charity with a sizeable donation. We raise money for the charity every year and recognise the importance of the ambulance for the residents of Wiltshire and beyond.

They met with Hollie Perryman, the charity's Community and Volunteer Co-ordinator who says, "We need to raise £4 million a year to keep the air ambulance flying and saving lives. We receive no regular direct Government funding or National Lottery grants, so rely solely on generous donations from the public. Events such as Avon Valley Runners Half Marathon help to generate vital funds for our lifesaving work and we are very grateful for their support, with the most recent donation of £2000.”

Richard and Sally were shown around the inside of the helicopter by Paul Rock, Critical Care Paramedic, on their visit and were shown why the service is so important to Wiltshire. The helicopter, which on average flies 3 times daily and needs around £11,000 each day, visits local areas but can travel up to Oxford in around 12 minutes but has also been called as far south as Southampton and Dorset too.

Entries for the 2022 AVR Wiltshire Half Marathon opened this weekend and will once again be raising money for the Wiltshire Air Ambulance through the proceeds. Sign up for the event on the 27^th November here.

The AVR Awards took place on 5th February to celebrate our achievements from 2021.

Congratulations to all of our award winners:

AVR Race Series

Ladies

3rd lady Paula Farrell

2nd lady Jo Farion

1st Dian Hier

Men

3rd Male Peter Campbell

2nd Male Stuart Arguile

1st  Male Tim Burrell

 Subjective award winners

Adewale Kadiri - Most Improved Male

Laura Beardsley - Most Improved Female

Ed Knudsen - Outstanding senior Male

Bethan Francis - Outstanding Senior Female

Rich Harding - Outstanding MV40

Jo Farion - Outstanding FV40

Tim Burrell - Outstanding MV50

Jackie Rockliffe - Outstanding FV50

Phil Harding - Outstanding MV60

Pauline Bradley - Outstanding FV60

Stuart Arguile - Outstanding MV70

Rosemary Barber - Outstanding FV70

Anthony Hickson - Outstanding MV80

Terri Duddy - Tony Bartlett Perseverance award

Vicky Bodman - The Bomb

Carrie Almeida - Volunteer of the year

Samantha Parry - Club Beginner of the year

Chris Redshaw - Most Promising Athlete of the year

Club Champs

MV40 - Rich Harding

MV50 Tim Burrell

MV60 Andrew Jefferies

Senior lady Emily Dye

FV40 Annalie Ibison

FV50 Jackie Rockliffe

FV60 Pauline Bradley

FV70 Rosemary Barber

AVT Inspire and Motivate award - Chris Walford

Stan Farr Boxing Day run - First Male Mike Towler - First Lady Jackie Rockliffe

Goofy - Kat Taylor Laird

Race Face - Martin Russam

David Griffiths "Members Member" - Sean Price

Club co-founder Judy Farr recently celebrated her 80^th birthday.

Encouraged by her brother, John, into race walking and joining Trowbridge Athletic Club as a young teenager, Judy soon excelled at racing in various distances on track and road. In 1960, at the age of 18, Judy won the 1.5 mile national title on the track at White City in 12m 31s. She went on to win a total of 10 national championships, 9 of them consecutively. She is especially proud of her 1 mile world record set at Chiswick in 1965 in a time of 7m36.2s, and of representing England and Great Britain in many international events.

Judy had always run cross country as part of her training and then also in time, turned more of her focus to road running. She took part in the first ever Women’s National Marathon Championship on the Isle of Wight in 1978 finishing in 4^th place in 3:27.57. She was then picked for England, much to her surprise, for the Milton Keynes International Marathon finishing 5^th in 3:23.39 in the same year.

Judy met her late husband, Stan, at Trowbridge AC where he encouraged and supported her. As road and distance running was becoming more popular in the late 1970s and 1980s there was felt to be an increasing need for a club specialising in that area. Ten members of the club decided on a break-away and on January 1^st, 1986, Avon Valley Runners was officially born, first of all running regularly from Stan and Judy’s house and then from the Judo Club on Innox Rd (there is an in-depth piece about these early days on the website written by the late Tim Northwood).

The rest is history! Stan and Judy drove the club in its early days and saw its rapid growth. They travelled far and wide competing and encouraging others. Judy still holds the AVR V40 record for 5 miles, 30m 47s set in 1988, and still holds the ladies record for most wins in the annual Boxing Day Run (now the Stan Farr 5K) with 17 wins!

Judy is hugely proud to have played a part in founding Avon Valley Runners and happy that such a large number of people love and enjoy running as much as she has.

Congratulations to all of the runners who graduated at Southwick Country Park parkrun on Saturday 3rd December.

Group leaders Sean Price and Gretchen Tucker attended along with the club's Chairman Richard Newman and Club President Denise Ellis.

These athletes completed the full 12 weeks which started in September:

Drew Holloway

Emma Larkham

Catherine Russell

Danielle Russell

Rachel Saunderson

Sharon Alexander

Nicki Hilliard

Karen Newman

Emma Day

Ceri Sonnet

Sandra Bayford

Tracy Patterson

Laura Clifford

Kathryn Quadling

Caroline Reid-Watts

Samantha Parry