Welcome to the Elgood's Brewery Great East Run
NEXT YEAR'S RACE WILL BE ON SUNDAY 21ST FEBRUARY 2010
2009 Confirmed Results - click here
NEW - 2009 Photo Gallery
Photos of the race are now available for purchase from Digitography - click here
Photo from 2009 race. Photo courtesy of Derek Haden
2009 Race Report
The tenth running of the Elgood's Brewery Great East Run took place on Sunday 15th February, in cool conditions with occasional drizzle and a moderate breeze. For the first time, electronic timing chips were used. These greatly reduced the amount of help needed at the finish and enabled the times to be collated in a matter of minutes. The announcement of the results of the early finishers could be made whilst the later finishers were still running. Chairman of the race committee Roland Shaw said the Race Timing Systems technology was a success and would be used for the club's biggest event in the racing calendar, the Bungay Marathon, which takes place on April 19. All finishers, helpers and marshals received an excellent goody bag, and a bespoke Black Dog medal together with a welcome bottle of Elgoods award winning ale, appropriately named Black Dog Mild. Free hot soup was also provided for all runners.
Total entries at 470 were down on last year, not helped by a new, clashing, race in Norfolk. This Gold BARR 20km road race starts from the market town of Bungay and follows an undulating one lap course through beautiful Suffolk countryside. The race was won by Neil Davison from the City Of Norwich club in 1:10:16, with Benvenuto Baldelli (Cambridge & Coleridge) 1:12:35 in 2nd place and Charles Lound (Dulwich Runners AC) in 3rd position in 1:13:14. The womens' race was dominated once again by Tamara Jordan (Stowmarket Striders) who broke the course record by one minute in a time of 1:16:20, with Jane Clarke (City of Norwich AC) second in 1:20:13. Tracey Curl of Norwich Road Runners took 3rd place in 1:24:03. The race organisers, Bungay Black Dog Running Club, had 11 runners taking part. The first Black Dog home was Ian Taylor in 1:21:16 (27th) followed by Robert James 1:26:17 (49th). Other runners from the host club to finish were Mark Fawbert 1:27:12 (56th), Nigel Gilham 1:43:10 (223rd), Andrew Smith 1:45:13 (240th), Carol Maycock 1:47:44 (267th), David Punt 01:50:45 (299th), Robin Farrar 1:54:51 (326th), Anne-Marie Freeman 2:09:18 (386th), Rob Donovan 2:16:07 (399th) and Donna Dean 2:26:20 (405th).
For full results Click Here
About the race
This single lap course is virtually traffic free, even though it is run on public roads. It is considered one of the most scenic in the area. Other than a small Suffolk hill at the start and finish it is a flat and fast course. The marshalling is top draw with clear BARR standard signing all round this very rural course. There are well manned water stations, a sponge station and marshal points are radio linked. Two lead vehicle operate, together with sweep vehicle. Split times are called at 10k. The race is a BARR graded and has achieved GOLD standard.
Start and finish at Bungay Sports Centre Suffolk and parking is well signed and fully marshalled, if not on site, it is only a short walk away. We bear in mind that runners come with family and friends, so we cater for them as well. The on site facilities offered are, secure baggage storage and retrieval, late entry desk, information desk, hot drinks, large indoor waiting area for relatives and friends, post race and pre race massage, clear signing of site, site map, police control traffic at the start, St Johns first aid on site and course, male and female changing, showers, public announcer,
Race day information sent out is informative and clear, maps, course profile, directions, places to stay, places to eat and all those things you need to know 
about before the race.
This race is run at a time of the year were there are not many long distance races in the area, but there is a surge of interest in entering races with the London Marathon not far away.
The fundamental thing that we feel has made this race a success is the friendliness of the club and all helpers. This is uppermost in our minds right from the first race committee meeting to the departure of the last runner after the race.
