The Berkeley 10k took place yesterday evening in warm and humid conditions. The race was an opportunity to earn points in the club road race championship and was also part of the Gloucestershire AAA road race series for this year. The event has a low key, friendly feel and is well organised and marshalled by Dursley Running Club. It involves a two lap, country road route.
First home for Cirencester, with the latest in an outstanding run of results, was Brecht Grieten in 37.28 (chip time). Next, and probably the happiest man of the evening, was James Widdowson. James has worked hard to come back from injury, building up his running again and working diligently on strength too. On the start line he announced his target finish time to be 49.59 and was rightly delighted to finish comfortably within that at 48.49. Congratulations James. What next, we wonder?
Rachel Barrow was next to finish and pleased to be inside 54 minutes in the conditions and 3rd in her LV50 category. Ruth Fulford was 1st LV70 in 1.01.57. Paul Barrow enjoyed the company of the tail cyclist and finished in slightly eerie fading light after a delayed start to the race. An interesting stat was that Paul was 9th of 9 finishers in the MV70 age group. In a small field of just 218 finishers, 5% of them were ladies and gentlemen over 70 showing that age is no barrier to continuing to enjoy running and racing.
Brian will update the standings in the club competition and the current age group tables for the Glos AAA championship can be found under Road Racing on their website.
9th May, Berkeley 10k, 10k road
1 Max Davis (Avon Valley Runners) 31.02 - chip time
28 Brecht Grieten (Cirencester AC) 37.28
130 James Widdowson 48.49
166 Rachel Barrow 53.17 - 3rd LV50
207 Ruth Fulford 1.01.57 - 1st LV70
218 Paul Barrow 1.18.54
218 finished
In complete contrast to the small field and country lanes of the Berkeley 10K, Neil Morrissey ran the MDUK Oxford Town and Gown 10k which attracted over 3500 runners. This was the 40th anniversary of the race and profits were donated to Muscular Dystrophy UK. It is run on a closed roads route in the beautiful city centre and includes a glorious stretch along the River Cherwell and finishes in the University Parks.
Neil has been making great progress at this distance and improved on his recent Bourton time of 44.59 with a splendid new PB of 42.41. He is looking ahead now to the Blenheim 7k and Fairford 10k. Congratulations Neil.
8th May, MDUK Oxford Town and Gown 10k, 10k road
1 Alex Miell-Ingram (Radley AC) 31.40 - chip time
290 Neil Morrissey (CirencesterAC) 42.41
3646 finished
Away from the roads and on the tough trails of the Stroud valleys, Jo Roberts and Barbara Thomas were in action at the weekend.
With a choice of distances ranging from a quarter marathon to a 40 mile ultra on offer at the Stroud Trails event, Barbara opted for the half marathon and Jo the full marathon.
Jo reports that it was a lovely day for it. The route was different this year, even hillier but just as scenic! She was thrilled with her age group win and also pleased to note that she finished ahead of six ladies from younger age groups.
In the slightly larger half marathon field Barbara was 2nd in the LV65+ age group.
8th May, Stroud Trail Marathon, 26.2 miles trail
1 Fred Derbyshire (Unattached) 3.49.20 – chip time
48 Joanna Roberts (Cirencester AC) 6.03.30 – 1st LV55
63 finished
8th May, Stroud Trail Half Marathon, 13.1 miles trail
1 Sebastien Bush-Hipwood (Unattached) 1.53.06 – chip time
132 Barbara Thomas (Cirencester AC) 3.48.03 – 2nd LV65+
138 finished
Of note amongst the usual great parkrun performances, Neil Morrissey warmed up for his Oxford 10k with a new best time at Cirencester. Ollie Campbell was victorious in a large field at Coventry, with just seven seconds separating the first three finishers. Gordon Jones, having a change of scenery at Stonehouse, ran sub 25 minutes for the second successive week.
7th May, parkrun, 5k trail
Cardiff parkrun
1 Geraint Williams (Unattached) 16.50
62 Nea Sneddon-Jenkins (Cirencster AC) 21.17
647 finished
Frimley Lodge parkrun
1 James Quinlan (Unattached) 16.44
179 Tom Morgan (Cirencester AC) 25.11
601 finished
Coventry parkrun
1 Ollie Campbell (Cirencester AC) 17.03
785 finished
Stonehouse parkrun
1 Mike Duxbury (Unattached) 19.46
16 Gordon Jones (Cirencester AC) 24.38
30 Rachel Jones 30.01
54 finished
Cirencester parkrun
1 Jim Windebank (Unattached) 19.00
6 Neil Morrissey (Cirencester AC) 21.00
13 Howard Ewen 22.09
31 Rob Jones 25.02
70 Samantha Timms 28.55
81 Pamela Wheeler
125 finished
Tetbury Goods Shed parkrun
1 Jacob Mcadam (Unattached) 20.44
23 Alan Mcadam (Cirencester AC) 25.38
36 Rachel Mcadam 27.51
92 finished
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