Marshalling, England Athletics, marathon season and paceline rides
Sprint marshalling
Thank you to those who have signed up to volunteer to marshal our races. We’re up to 2/3rds of the numbers we need. We can’t put on the race without our marshals & we need the revenue to keep the membership fees down, hence put a firm request that every senior member marshals at least one of our races. Please sign up here!
Strength and Conditioning session
We’re are investigating adding an extra zoom S&C class into our weekly schedule. If you hadn’t already, please fill in this poll if likely to be interested.
The England Athletics (EA) year runs from 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2026 - the club has re-affiliated on 1st April, so we are now welcoming you to sign up as EA members for 2025-26. TTTC welcomes all junior, senior, student and social members to sign up for EA membership with TTTC as your first claim club, plus also junior parents and club Committee members. This will enable you to race in the name of Thames Turbo at EA-events, and provides a discount on most EA-events. There are a range of other EA member benefits too - see EA website for details. More importantly, the club gets more benefits from its EA affiliation from the more first claim members we have - so by signing up for EA membership, you are also helping the club.
EA sign-up is easy - please just follow the steps below:
1. Existing TTTC EA members - we will send all existing TTTC EA members a £20 payment request link to sign-up again for 2025-26. It is obviously up to you whether you choose to sign up again.
2. If you are not already an EA member - we would love for you to sign up. Please ask for the form and we will send you a link; it needs filling in by 20th April. The club will then create athlete profiles for all new EA members in w/c 21st April and you will receive a £20 payment request at that point - payment will then activate your EA membership.
3. If you are already an EA member of another EA-affiliated club (e.g. a running club) - you need to follow the change of club process here.
In 2024-25, the club's EA affiliation meant we were successful in securing a club entry for the 2025 London Marathon, which we awarded by ballot of the club's EA-members - Duncan was the lucky winner and will be lining up on the London Marathon start line in a few weeks time. If the club is successful this year in securing any club entries for the 2026 London Marathon, then we will provide details towards the end of the calendar year on how these will be allocated. Please note only full club members (seniors and students) and/or committee members will be in-scope of the club's London Marathon entry allocation process.
Any questions please contact Rob on secretary@thamesturbo.co.uk although please note due to holiday plans these will likely not be answered until after Easter.
We hope many of you will join us in signing up for EA membership 2025-26!
Marathon Season
This does lead on to those running marathons this month. Ben Hunt at Brighton, Maria & Nicole at Boston, Dave J at Hamburg, Angelo & Steve O at Manchester, Duncan, James, Chuck, Alice at London. Many run marathons or compete in Ironmans for personal satisfaction; sometimes a more personal fundraising objective is the real motivation. Please take a couple of moments to read Alex & Em’s story.
“This year I will be running the London marathon in April and racing Ironman Copenhagen in August to raise funds for Lupus UK.
Lupus UK is a charity very close to my heart, my partner Emma, (a more recent member of the turbo family and whom I will be running the marathon with), was diagnosed with Lupus 10 years ago and I know she won't mind me sharing her story. For those of you who are familiar with rheumatological conditions will know, this can be a devastating diagnosis, as the diagnosis often occurs very late on after symptoms developing.
Emma has defied belief in terms of what was thought possible for her presentation of the condition, 10 years on from what was once touch and go, she is now completely medication-free and able to thrive in an active lifestyle. Emma and I are keen to raise as much as we can for Lupus UK, as without support from charities such as this, it is likely she wouldn't be here to run her third marathon in the last year, raising funds for this great cause.
Please donate as you are able to do so, and please share this message on. Every little bit helps go a long way and helps more people with Lupus to thrive as Emma has been able to do so.”
Friday night rides
With the lighter evenings, we’re back to Friday night rides – sometimes social bike & beer ride, sometimes the faster Paceline groups. I will repost Ryan’s note on the etiquette – it is important that you do sign-up early, so we can organise similar paced riders within each group (if in-between, drop down & take longer turns). These are drop rides, and there’s no shame in riding hard until your legs give up – though no-one should be trying to drop others (smooth accelerations, checking the group is together through junctions and not trying to gun the cobbled sectors).
Race Results update
Fewer races to report on; Justin Ryan went under 50 mins for 10k at Kew the Run last week, Tom Savage a PB at the Hampton Court 10k the weekend before. Rob Hart ran a 1:23 PB at the Wilmslow ½ whilst Gabbie a superb 1:39 in Malta.
Tom matched his 10k time at Dorney at the start of a duathlon this morning, on route to a hugely creditable 2:08, whilst Steve H made light of injuries curtailing his running activities to run 39:16 / 20:36 for a 2:02.
Sam Holness will be off very shortly at the Oceanside 70.3, hoping to join the Turbo party in Marbella at the end of the season.