Race Recap Well done to everyone who ran the London Marathon last weekend. Whilst the rain made spectating a bit drab it looked like great running conditions. Although the marathon looked tough spare a thought for your newsletter editor who has the difficult challenge of selecting a photo from they many glorious pictures taken on the day. Big up to Nick Johnson for setting up another quality cheer station. It was great to see so many smiles from Chasers as they zoomed past Good luck to Mark Lamb and Paul Dickens who are both taking on the Yorkshire 3 Peaks race on Saturday. Best of luck to Katrina Kelly who is taking part in the Perivale Mile also on Saturday. Annual General Meeting The AGM will be held on Monday 22nd May at 7pm, Upstairs @ The Pineapple 51 Leverton St, Kentish Town, London, NW5 2NX. All club members welcome. A Thai buffet will be provided after the meeting. The AGM agenda is as follows: 1. Welcome and apologies for absence 2. Annual Report by the Chair 3. Treasurer’s report 5. Notification of club championship 6. Appointment of Officers, Committee members and Club Captains 7. Appointments to lifetime membership 8. AOB Among other things, the AGM is where we elect the club committee each year. Any club member can stand for any role on the committee in the coming year, but we are particularly interested in filling the role of webmaster and the new role of Regent's Park 10k co-ordinator. The Regent’s Park 10k co-ordinator will be responsible for liaison with the Race Organiser (the business which runs the RP10k for the club). They will also work with our social media secretary and webmaster to improve the promotion and advertising for the race series in order to increase the number of runners participating in the event. If you are interested in joining the committee in any role, please let Alice know in advance at <alice.sullivan@ucl.ac.uk>. If you would like to find out more about a particular role, feel free to get in touch with the current committee members.  Vacant roles on the Committee Thanks to everyone who respond to our call for nominations for Committee roles, which was shared in the Newsletter.  We are delighted to have received nominations for the following roles: Chair, Club Secretary, Newsletter Officer and Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Officer Any member can stand for any role. We are still seeking nominations for the following roles: Regents Park 10K Coordinator, webmaster and Kit Secretary. The Regent’s Park 10k co-ordinator will be responsible for liaison with the Race Organiser (the business which runs the RP10k for the club). They will also work with our social media secretary and webmaster to improve the promotion and advertising for the race series in order to increase the number of runners participating in the event. If you are interested in joining the committee in any role please let Alice know in advance of the AGM at <alice.sullivan@ucl.ac.uk>. If you would like to find out more about a particular role feel free to get in touch with the current committee members. The full list is  here Mornington Chasers - Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Recently questions were put to Welfare Officers and the MCRC Committee regarding our inclusive and friendly club brand, which our Welfare Officers have investigated fully in accordance with our club policies.  Some members asked for reassurance that Mornington Chasers will continue to actively promote equality, diversity and inclusion for all.  Indeed we won England Athletics Club of the year on account of the many things we do to include more people - including financially accessible subs, a beginners programme and participation in Camden Council's programme to reach people in communities that find it difficult to access running.    We all wish to continue this and do more.  One action we've taken on this is to create a new Committee role of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Officer. It was put to us that any member of Mornington Chasers should not publicly represent a specific political view on behalf of or in the name of the club. The Committee agreed and supported this. We also confirm that we do not hold specific political views as a club. We also agreed that no member should be silenced, accused of wrong-think or made to feel unwelcome in the club.  The purpose and sentiment of equality, diversity and inclusion is to accept and embrace different views, interests and opinions and at Mornington Chasers Running Club, we welcome everyone. As an outcome of the discussion, we also took additional steps, that you can find below, along with a link to our club policies.    https://www.chaser.me.uk/about/diversity.php https://www.chaser.me.uk/policies/inclusion.php Thank you - The Committee Lesbian Visibility Week - 24th - 30th April   This is Lesbian Visibility Week, so in keeping with the theme of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, a shout-out to all lesbian women in our club.   Chaser's has always been a welcoming and safe space for everyone, but in Lesbian Visibility Week, if there's anything you believe we can do to address barriers to running or the club for lesbian women, let us know.   You can contact edi@chaser.me - this email address currently defaults to our Female Welfare Officer, Laurie and will move to our new Equality, Diversity & Inclusion officer when they are confirmed in post! Sri Chimnoy 5k One of our amazing coaches, Sarah Funderburk has put together a Feisty 5k training plan designed to get you fit and firing for Summer League as well as the Battersea Sri Chimnoy 5k which takes place on 13th of June. Social secretaries, Ellie and Jodie, have booked a pub in Battersea afterwards. Get involved! Ballot Entry for London Marathon There are likely to be club places for the next London Marathon. Further information will be provided in due course but a prerequisite will be an unsuccessful ballot entry. The last day for ballot entry is today (Friday 28th April) at 9pm. Click here, good luck! Part 2: The Rise of the Ultra Runner – Sarah Funderburk We arrived at the K2 track in no time. The Barrington Lodge may have been a dump, but at least it was only half a mile away. For my eyes, the track was a beautiful sight. There was stadium seating on one side and a few bonsai-like trees surrounding it. The reddish-brown hue of the surface was a lovely contrast to the blue sky as the sun was just beginning to set. Obviously I was waxing lyrical in my head to distract myself from my nerves and thoughts of what was to come. As we 12-hour runners were registering and setting up our food tables around the track, the 6-hour runners were collecting their things and heading out. We took stock of those whom I would be sharing the track with over the next 12 hours, mostly weighing up how the 24-hour runners were doing 7 hours into their run. There seemed to be no stopping one particular Vegan Runner, and I could see that two women were still looking incredibly fresh - Ali Young and Sophie Power, the brains and voice behind SheRaces. As for my fellow 12-hour competitors, I wasn’t sure what to make of the group. There were two young guys who looked really strong, an older runner who held the record for his age group, and Andy Day, an accomplished ultra runner who competed on the GB Backyard Ultra World Championship team with Sean back in October. As for the ladies, there were two women who would be walking…so right off the bat I knew we would all podium and that I would be first unless something went horribly wrong. There was a lot of waiting and nervous peeing over the next 1.5 hours. Finally as we got closer to 9pm, I changed into my Alphaflys, stripped down to my shorts and Chaser singlet, and made a last-minute decision to go ahead and wear arm warmers and gloves. We gathered at the start and waited for the countdown. As the horn blew, I started my watch and was immediately annoyed because I hadn't crossed the timing mat yet. It meant that my miles would be just a bit off every mile for the next 12 hours - doh! As I started to run, the first feeling was one of relief, relief that my inflamed right knee felt perfectly fine and relief that all of the the waiting was finally over. In the month of March alone I had run almost 380 miles and burned over 37,000 calories. I was literally hungry for this race. With the excitement, I knew I was going a tad fast, but it was still within reason (or so I kept telling myself). The plan was to aim for ~8.39min/miles, which would give me a buffer of about 30s per mile for my end target of 3 sub 4-hour marathons (i.e., 9.09min/miles). I would need that buffer for food-walk breaks and loo stops. However, I was currently averaging about 10s per mile under that, including 100m walk breaks every 4 miles. It didn't seem crazy, but everything adds up over the course of 12 hours. The first few hours seemed to fly by. Sean stayed at the track until around 10:45pm, calling out "topics for me to think about" and passing me a gel or bottle of Maurten 320 when I asked for it. I had put out a request to Chasers and work colleauges for questions and challenges for me to think about and solve over the course of the event. I had a list of 21 questions, mostly work-related, and moved on to a new topic every 30 minutes or so or when it was time to take on more fuel, which was also roughly every 4 miles. Having the questions to keep my mind occupied turned out to be really useful as I wasn't quite moving at the right pace to chat and run with other runners. In my slightly too fast pace, I just kept passing people...except for one guy...Juhanna Kirk. It felt like he was moving at the speed of lightening compared with everyone else. I was amazed that I was in a comfortable second position, though. There was no point in even thinking about Juhanna. Just as other runners were encouraging me and telling me how great I was doing, I passed on the encouragement to him every time he went by. The mutual admiration on the track, irrespective of how long you'd been running, was a powerful fuel. Once Sean left and I was on my own for fueling and topic-gathering (I had a list of the questions printed out on my food table), I tried to get myself into a rhythm as much as possible. However, my brain would sometimes wander from a topic to music and then would get stuck on Rhianna's Umbrella...curses! I tried my best to switch it back to a Taylor Swift song or another topic or focus on the other runners around me. Sometimes the "beep-beep" sound of crossing the timing mat every lap was enough of a musical disturbance. Counting laps and keeping track of mile pacing also helped. At midnight, we switched directions on the track for the first time, which also threw my brain for a metaphorical and literal loop. When you switch, you see people's faces for the first time, and there is a general sense of "oh hey, I see you now!". It was so odd to be running in the other direction and took a couple of miles to get into the groove. But, get in the groove I did. Around 12:45am, I completed the first marathon distance. I was thrilled to be so ahead of schedule but also thinking, "oops, what have I done?!". I saw Juhanna taking a break and stretching his calf off to the side. After a few laps, I realized it had been a while since I had seen him. As I passed the timing mat and the volunteers recording laps a little after 1am they shouted at me, "you're in first now!" What?! It took a bit for my brain to compute. On my next lap around I peeked at the leaderboard that the volunteers updated every hour and there I was...on top of the leader board with Andy Day about 5 laps behind. Whoa, this just got really interesting. To be continued...what goes up must come down... Calendar Here's whats happening over the next few weeks other than our usual Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday runs. You can find our full calendar on the website. 18/05/2023 Club Handicap 🏃 Run - deadline 2023-05-14 22/05/2023 Annual General Meeting 20/05/2023 Athletics SAL Fixture 1 - Hornchurch Sign up - deadline 2023-05-18 06/05/2023 Jenny and Anthony’s Pre Wedding Parkrun @ Highbury Fields 13/05/2023 Middlesex AA County Championships - Lee Valley Run - deadline 2023-04-30 Results If you want to upload a photo or your results are missing, log in to our website and update your picture and Power of 10 ID. Parkrun 08/04/2023 Clapham Sophie Critchlow 00:25:34 [57.76%] Spring Treble Series Milford Mayhem 5 (Milford), 13/04/2023 4.5MXC Nitesh Thakrar 35:57, 58 (3) RunThrough Battersea Park 5K / 10K (Battersea Park), 15/04/2023 10K Daniele Biagi 35:47 (35:46), 10 (2) [76.05%]   Janine Makaronidis 39:52 (39:48), 41 (5, 3) [76.55%] Spring Trail Series (Haslemere), 15/04/2023 25KMT Callum Gathercole 2:12:37 (2:12:32), 4 [52.88%] 75KMT Jonathan Gorner 8:09:21 (8:09:15), 7 London Regent's Park (London Regent's Park), 16/04/2023 10K Rahul Mohindra 40:35 (40:34), 11 (4) [65.86%]   Peter Elston 50:57 (50:53), 39 (4) [62.73%] Adidas Manchester Marathon (Manchester), 16/04/2023 Mar Darren Souster 2:39:59, 134 (57) [76.85%] NEW PB   Rendy Prakoso 2:53:22, 552 (239) [71.00%] NEW PB   Matt Thomas 3:06:18, 1570 (639) [66.00%] NEW PB   Philip Barnes 3:23:57, 3231 (1192) [60.28%]   Katrina Kelly 3:29:36, 3992 (278, 134) [64.61%] NEW PB   Gaby Anderson 3:42:20, 5711 (583, 261) [60.91%] NEW PB   Nitesh Thakrar 3:43:39, 5919 (64) [67.82%] NEW PB   Hattie Lowe 3:47:03, 6482 (763, 341) [59.64%] NEW PB   Ellie Holloway 3:50:07, 6934 (872, 383) [58.85%] NEW PB The Boston Marathon (Boston MA, USA), 17/04/2023 Mar John Woodnutt 3:26:24 (3:24:33), 10526 (2) [81.17%] Spring Treble Series Kibblestone Klamber 5 (Kibblestone), 20/04/2023 5MXC Nitesh Thakrar 48:27 (48:19), 58 (3) [53.82%] Parkrun 22/04/2023 Ally Pally Ellie Holloway 25:32, 100 [57.83%] Bournemouth michele griffiths 27:50, 234 [65.03%] Finsbury Park Rafaele Lamour 26:43, 216 [62.51%] Fulham Palace Andy Davies 29:00, 336 [44.89%]   Juliette Westbrook 29:00, 337 [50.92%] Hackney Marshes Marcos Cuevas-Nunez 20:35, 26 [71.66%]   Eleanor Childs 24:40, 122 [59.86%] Hampstead Heath John Mehrzad 21:15, 25 (1) [66.35%]   Brandon Leung 22:49, 57 [62.31%]   Rendy Prakoso 25:19, 112 [51.88%]   Paul Dickens 26:22, 142 [50.88%]   Emily Morgan 26:56, 157 [54.83%]   alon caspi 29:07, 228 [57.18%]   Amanda Taylor 32:21, 304 [56.62%]   Janet Kidd 32:26, 305 [54.52%] Highbury Fields Tom Hill 19:38, 28 [66.13%]   Philip Rutnam 20:56, 55 [74.44%] NEW PB   Daniel Berry 21:32, 69 [74.15%]   David Renton 22:02, 83 [66.94%]   Bruno Papadacci 22:23, 90 [59.94%]   Adrian Cathersides 23:23, 124 [61.23%] Holyrood Nick Herbert 28:47, 186 [45.11%] Lordship Recreation Ground Tony Him 22:33, 34 [62.08%]   Lizzy Muggeridge 35:08, 137 [46.54%]   Carmen Harrington 41:30, 148 [35.66%] Mile End Stephen West 31:21, 351 [46.68%] Oak Hill Paul Matthews 28:22, 156 (1) [73.09%] Southwark Christopher Leslie 17:44, 7 (1) [73.21%] Tsurumi Ryokuchi, JPN Alina Williamson 22:41, 20 [66.20%] NEW PB Sri Chinmoy 10K (Battersea Park), 22/04/2023 10K Pete Calvert-Barr 37:53, 37 [70.96%] NEW PB   Jonathan Thomson 39:07, 46 (4) [72.52%]   Lauren Longhurst 39:29, 50 (3, 2) [77.37%]   Janine Makaronidis 40:16, 58 (6, -) [75.66%] RunThrough Lee Valley Velo Park (Lee Valley), 22/04/2023 1M Marcos Cuevas-Nunez 6:10 (6:10), 3 (2) NEW PB London marathon (London), 23/04/2023 Mar John Woodnutt 3:28:56 (3:28:56), 8257 (3) [79.47%] Links Send your stories to newsletter@chaser.me.uk. 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