July’s Member of the Month Award is presented to Bridget Gregory.

Until enrolling in the Beginner’s Group 3 years ago, Bridget had done no running at all.  Since then, she has been committed, attended training and accomplished amazing things.

She has run Endure24 as part of a team the last 3 years, and for the past 18 months has run a half marathon, mostly on trail courses, virtually every month, including the Resolution Run, Batty Bimble, Winter Festive Frolic and Larmer 20.

She also comes along to cheer other members on when they’re racing or running even when she’s not, and she often
stays to the end of a race to support the slower runners, something that is highly appreciated! 

Congratulations on your amazing achievement Bridget!

June’s Member of the Month Award is presented to Helen Borrett.

Helen has absolutely smashed her PBs in all distances from 5k up to marathon over the last 6 to 7 months.  Recently, her focus and determination has seen her knock over 4 minutes off her half marathon PB at the Southampton Half Marathon and 3 minutes off her 10k PB at Eastleigh 10k.  She has represented the club over the winter at the x-country races and has also achieved her furthest distance running by completing her first ultra-marathon at the Pony Express in September last year.

She is also an active member of the club and regularly takes on the role of run leader on a Thursday night where she is great at encouraging members to step out of their comfort zone and push themselves to see what they can achieve.

Many congratulations Helen, and thank you for your enthusiasm and encouragement to other members.

May’s Member of the Month Award is presented to Nigel Lee.

Nigel is a very supportive member of the club.  He regularly encourages and cheers on other members of the club, and is very good at noticing when someone is struggling and quietly encourages and runs alongside them without being pushy.  At Alton 10 in May, he sacrificed his own time to run alongside another Hedgie and keep them going when they felt like giving up.

He has also been exceptionally supportive of other members of the club in their preparations for races, going out of his way to deliver specialist running fuel that he thought would be useful to another member.
Nigel also recently completed a marathon distance at On the Whistle 'Revenge of the fifth' without planning to complete that distance

Congratulations Nigel, and thank you for embodying so many of the values that are a part of HERC.

April’s Member of the Month Award is presented to James Kinley

James has regularly supported HERC in league races for many years, but juggled running training with cycling and swimming training in order to complete Ironman Triathlons.

He has always given 100% in training; to quote the person who nominated him “I have never been in the gym without James being there, and I’ve been a member for 12 years.”

Last year he decided to focus more on running, and has seen significant improvements in his performances; in particular running a sub-3 hour marathon at Berlin in September last year.  His hard work and dedication continued over the winter, and resulted in him running 2:52:08 at the Manchester Marathon in April, the second fastest marathon by a Hedgie.

Many congratulations James.

March’s Member of the Month Award is presented to Aurelio Bello.

Aurelio’s running achievements along are worthy of a Member of the Month award; he has completed over 100 marathons and 350 parkruns, along with representing the club at numerous road and cross-country league races.  But on top of this, he regularly sacrifices his own performances to support others and enable them to achieve their goals.  In fact, he’s volunteered nearly 500 times at parkrun, many times as tail walker in order to ensure everyone taking part has an enjoyable run.

Aurelio is always encouraging to others, be it at training sessions or the events he takes part in.  He really epitomises the Hedgie spirit by believing in and supporting others even when they don't believe in themselves.

​Many congratulations Aurelio and thank you for your tireless efforts supporting other runners.
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We’ve had an unprecedented number of nominations for one particular member, and it should come as no surprise that February’s Member of the Month award is presented to Jordan Winbourne.

Jordan has been training very hard over the winter for the Brighton Marathon in April, and this discipline and dedication has paid off in his race performances so far this year:

On the 10th February he achieved a 3 and a half minute PB at the Barcelona Half Marathon, running 78:35; one of the fastest times ever by a HERC runner.  

On 23rd February he broke 18 minutes at parkrun for the first time, running 17:24 at Whiteley Parkrun.

On 16th March he ran the Eton Dorney 20 Mile race in 2 hours and 8 minutes. To put that into perspective, if he had continued at that pace he’d have run a 2:48 marathon!

Of course, most recently he was 1st male at club championships, completing the Eastleigh 10k in 35:05; a PB by over a minute.

Even more impressive is that fact that, until just over 3 years ago, Jordan had never done any running. For those of you that aren’t aware, Jordan played snooker for England for several years.  He represented England Under 21’s in two European Championships and a World Championships in China, where he reached the quarterfinals. Due to the traveling and some poor results, he gave up on his dream of being a professional snooker player and began running. It’s clear that Jordan has since applied the same ethos to his running training that he applied to his snooker practice, and many at the club are excited to see what Jordan can achieve over the next few years.

Many congratulations for all that you have achieved so far this year Jordan, and we look forward to seeing the culmination of your training at Brighton in just over a week.

January’s Member of Month Award is presented to Christopher Chester.

Chris has participated tirelessly for the club on many occasions in all leagues, such as HRRL, RR10 and CC6.  He’s also very supportive and helpful to other members, demonstrating all the Hedgie values.

His form of late, in particular, earned him numerous nominations for Member of the Month.  This began with him running a new Parkrun PB of 19:39 at the end of December.  Then in January he ran a new 10k PB of 41:02 at Stubbington, followed by coming third in the V50 category at the Romsey 5 Mile race whilst finishing within 4 seconds of his PB.  He then followed this up with a 10 Mile PB at the beginning of February at Ryde (of all places!)

​Congratulations on your amazing recent performances Chris and thank you for your service to the club over the years.

December's Member of the Month Award is presented to Joanne Dunn.
 
For those of you not aware of Jo's remarkable story, her was thrown off her horse in February 2017. Her horse landed on top of her, resulting in her being airlifted to hospital. After 11 days in hospital and 9 months of rehab, she returned to running on 1st January 2018, barely capable of doing a mile. Many people would have given up the idea of running, but in April 2018 she completed her first marathon and since then has done 4 marathons and 2 ultras, raised money for Hampshire and IOW air ambulance.
 
An incredible achievement and a remarkable demonstration of courage and determination. Many congratulations Jo on all you achieved in 2018!