Club Person of the Year 2018
Club Person of the Year 2018
Joanna Wood
At the conclusion of the voting by the Club Membership a clear winner of the Roger Dixon Shield had emerged. Jo Wood joined East London Runners four years ago and joined our Committee in Spring 2018. Jo has had a very busy year for ELR both in setting up and overseeing the "new" Wednesday Night Club Run format and she has established and managed the Improvers Group on Wednesday nights.
Jo has also managed to represent the Club in many events throughout the year and has also competed in some long distance swimming events/races. Jo was also Joint Club Runner of the Month - April 2018 an award that came with the following citation - Jo completed the Brighton Marathon on 15th April in a time of 5.28.29, despite suffering a cracked rib and illness in the weeks leading up to race day. Jo achieved a PB which was 49 minutes faster than her previous marathon; Sikhs in the City - Dawn to Dusk.
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Jo's Running Profile
Joanna started running on her own approx 4 years ago, the impetus being to complete her first ever race - a 10k Race for Life for Cancer Research. This had been an item on her "bucket list" of things to do before hitting 40, along with passing her driving test, going to Vegas and losing 5 stone!
With 5 months before the big 40 and having never run before (not even for a bus) she started training - admittedly she started with walking on a treadmill, gradually building up the speed and duration, eventually taking the leap to slow jogging and then running. Outdoor running was a totally different challenge but she completed her first ever 10k, 5 days before her 40th, along with having passed her driving test, booked Vegas for later that year to celebrate her 40th and losing 4 1/2 stone. Not bad going.
She then set her sights on another challenge and entered the Adidas Silverstone Half Marathon the following March. Every training run ended with the mantra "I hate running and can't wait til I can stop after this race!!!". 18 months later, having done several more races (and obviously not stopped) she took the plunge to attend an ELR track session - 6 months of logging onto the website and umm-ing and aarr-ing she eventually plucked up the courage to attend. The infectious friendly reception she received from the runners meant no second thoughts on attending her first Wednesday night Club Run that same week. Running with Jonathan Wooldridge and Andrew Howard for her first 5k club run was a great introduction to the club and she's never looked back, with her most recent challenge being the completion of her first ever marathon, Dawn to Dusk, in December 2017.
By her own admission running doesn't come easy and she's not always a very sociable runner - breathing AND talking are a challenge even for her multi-tasking skills!
Having been a member of ELR for almost 18 months now Joanna has represented ELR in numerous races including the Elvis series (thinking for her first race everyone had to dress up as Elvis - doh!). She's also won the Christmas Jumper Competition at the ELR Christmas party in 2016 and 1st place in the ELR Bake Off in 2017.
Ever in pursuit of a PB she hopes to win a club accolade that's actually running related in 2018!
Joanna has recently been accepted as a new member of the ELR committee and is now looking forward to finding new ways to support the Club.
Winner Christmas Jumper Competition 2016
1st place ELR Bake Off 2017
First Half Marathon - Silverstone 2015 (the Right Said Fred look was due to doubling my sponsorship target and shaving my hair off)
First full Marathon - Dawn to Dusk, December 2017
Joint Club runner of the Month - April 2018
Joanna completed the Brighton Marathon on 15th April in a time of 5.28.29, despite suffering a cracked rib and illness in the weeks leading up to race day. Joanna achieved a PB which was 49 minutes faster than her previous marathon; Sikhs in the City - Dawn to Dusk. A keen competitor for East London Runners, she has also completed a number of 5km, 10km and Half Marathons since joining the club in 2016. Joanna is always in pursuit of a new PB and works hard in training to achieve this result. She is a valued member of the club, enjoys attending and helping out at club functions and is an outstanding baker of cakes! Joanna has recently joined the committee and says she is looking for new ways to support the club.