Member profile.
💚💚💚
This week our spotlight and questions fall on long standing club membership secretary Steve Birkett.
Here is what he had to say.
1. Please Briefly introduce yourself.
Hi I’m Steve Birkett, probably best known to most of you over the past ten years as the Membership Secretary, the man who hassles you for money each year, and who circulates info about the club through Footprint. Believe or not I did use to run a bit. After over 30 years of hockey, I joined the Thrift Green Trotters 25 years ago this September. I know we have changed our name to the Brentwood Running Club, but I still feel a Trotter!
2. What events if any do you have coming up?
The calendar used to be full of races, but my last race was the Billericay 10K in 2017. However these days I get great satisfaction in running the beginners groups, couch to 5K, over the past 3 years, and seeing former non-runners achieve a personal goal
3. What does running mean to you?
That has changed over the years. Initially it was a means of keeping fit in the open air and challenging oneself over different terrains and distances to go faster and further. Looking back now, it was all those things but done in a great spirit of camaraderie, and the joy of running is in the togetherness rather than the loneliness of the long distance runner.
4. What is your best BRC memory?
Wow so many over the years, from the simplicity of the mile loop we all used to run together from the Courage Hall at the start of a Wednesday evening, to the various club marathon trips to Dublin, Berlin and Lanzarote, and coach day trips to places such as Whitstable where Annie would sing her heart out from an improvised stage after a few (too many) bevies. Probably the best memory has to as a Gamesmaker at the London Olympics, helping to marshal the marathon alongside fellow Trotters
5. Proudest running moment?
That probably has to be reserved to my first London Marathon in 2001. Four newbies to marathon running – Barry McDonough, Roger Stevens, Steve Rich and myself – trained for and ran the marathon together with the aim of getting under four hours. Great joy in getting over the line in 3:59:26, but probably the proudest moment was on the train coming home was when a little old lady congratulated me and gave up her seat for me
6. Best bit of running advice you could give or have been given.
The best advice I’ve been given is Steve Rich’s famous line – ‘hooold it back’, but mine would be ‘give it all you’ve got, but enjoy it’
Comments