Flying start to marathon month & ring that PB belle
- brian17harris
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
ROAD RACING
Marathon month is here at last, with some beautiful sunny weather for either that last long run (Ed. - most seem to have gone really well, so maybe look out for some great marathon performances over the next several weeks) or indeed your first marathon. {Or in one member’s case a quick interval session whilst cooking the dinner - he knows who he is, and well done for flying the flag for male multi-tasking ;-)}
Kicking off the spring marathon season in Southampton, we had the two extremes of experience running for the club - first timer Casey Vatcher and veteran Martin Croucher, on his 155th!
Both our venerable results co-ordinator and Martin (see below) have confirmed that the course is not an easy one , which makes Casey's first time effort even more impressive. Running in aid of Macmillan Cancer research, Casey kept with with his brother-in-law, also a first-timer, the whole way. Hopefully showing the benefit of regular training with the club, after a congested start they ran a nicely controlled race, with a negative split and a strong last mile. He noted that the long hill at miles 10 and 23 reduced quite a few other runners to walking.
Our former newsletter editor Martin Croucher has kindly provided this race report
“Race was good fun this morning, despite my lack of consistent running in one go which made the second half harder than it should have been!!! Guess I should just stick to my run walk strategy in future!!! The race itself consisted of a half and the marathon (marathon was two laps) so coupled with a very narrow start road, it did take a while to cross the line and then a few bottle necks in the first mile until things sorted themselves out. The main reason was doing this one was because you got to run through St Mary’s Football stadium twice which was fun. However I did think the race was flattish, although now I know that not to be the case. A few sneaky hills and a bridge which you had to run twice made things interesting. The suddenly sunny weather added an extra dimension as well and I saw plenty of people needing medical attention in the final 5k or so. It was also long for a road marathon, about 0.4 mile so that didn’t help either!! But have to say the finish straight was definitely one of the best I’ve experienced. The spectators constantly banged the boards as you ran in, even for me towards the back of the field. A nice fun weekend but now ready for some more food!!”
1 Daniel Gaffney (South London Harriers) 2.35.08 (chip 2.35.08)
144 Casey Vatcher (Cirencester AC) 3.28.16 (3.26.43)
601 Martin Croucher 4.17.53 (4.15.37)
Dropping down to the Half marathon, Annie Campbell (pictured below) enjoyed her success in the sun
“The first time I ran Devizes Half in 2023 was in a time of 1:55:30, and Luke plodded along with me for the course. Then came 2024, and I set myself the goal of running a 1:45:00 half for Devizes with Tash and managed to hit 1:45:13. It was hard work, and I didn’t have much fun. This year, I have been working very hard on increasing speed over distance, and Thursday evening sessions have been a great addition to my training. I managed my 2025 solo attempt at Devizes in 1:39:17. I had a great time running, felt strong and the sun was shining which was an added bonus.
I guess it’s helpful having coach Campbell as my husband? 😅”
{Ed. - Great improvement Annie, and I'm sure Luke appreciated that question mark ;-) }
1 Marcus Fletcher (Team Bath AC) 1.19.33 (chip 1.19.11)
34 Annie Campbell (Cirencester AC) 1.39.41 (1.39.17)
Staying down south, last year’s Veteran Athlete of the year, David Wright ran the Salisbury ‘10’, finishing in line with his expectations. The course is delightfully described by its organisers as “following a scenic route north of Salisbury following the banks of the river Avon through the gently undulating Woodford valley with fine views of the cathedral spire of the return leg”
1 Gary Marshall (Ryde Harriers) 55.13 (chip 55.13)
155 David Wright (Cirencester AC) 1.11.19 (1.11.12)
822 finished
Off-road
On Saturday, Dave Musgrave took on the Chiltern Ridge classic 50km – starting from Berkhamsted Castle the route takes runners to Ashridge, Ivinghoe Beacon, Coombe Hill and Whiteleaf, “showcasing some of the best trails and viewpoints in the Chiltern Hill”.
Dave's brief Strava report was as follows "I was sick at 28 miles. But I channelled the 14th-century anchorite Julian of Norwich, and her mantra 'all shall be well, and all shall be well' to get me home. Thanks Julian". {Ed. no, I didn't know what an anchorite was either (a religious recluse) nor that Julian in this case was a she - what an erudite bunch ultra runners are ;-)) }
1 Joseph Turner (Cambridge & Coleridge AC) 3.39.30
37 David Musgrove (Cirencester AC) 5.08.34 -
303 finished www.runawayracing.com
On Sunday, Tommy Payne went back to his old stomping ground to run the 10 mile Cathedral to Castle race in Staffordshire, from Lichfield to Tamworth. The route was a mix of roads, woodland trails and canal paths with gorgeous sunshine. Finishing very well up the field, Tommy was very happy to collect an all-time 10 mile PB.
1 Archie Bradbury (Rushcliffe) 56.13
48 Tommy Payne (Cirencester AC) 1.11.41
1082 finished
Track and Field
The first local T&F event of the season, the Mark Cawte memorial, took place in Swindon on Sunday, with 4 youngsters and 1 not quite as youngster from the club taking part. These are their results:
U13 Abigail (Abi) Cunningham – Long jump 2.79m; 80m 13.28s; 150m 25.33s
U13 Aria Stavrakakis – Long Jump 3.54m (equals her PB, which isn't bad, seeing as we haven't done any Long Jump training yet this year); 80m 11.97s; 150m 22.91s
U15 Emma Cunningham – Long Jump 3.27m; 80m 13.32s; 150m 24.59s
U17 Ben Clarke - 1000m 3:03.21
Senior - Brecht Grieten, hopefully getting the taste for racing after some time off, tried out the 1,000m track race. Whilst possibly "having put his cards on the table a little early" he was delighted to finish in 2:54.48 just ahead of his target of 2:55. (He finished ahead of U17 Ben Clarke in 3:03.21 (pictured below)
Parkruns
Rob Forbes lead the field home at Cirencester in his fastest time since September 2023, and there were plenty of other strong age-graded runners out on a drier course, both from the club members (Kate K again), and also ex-members (Nick Holliday) and RSE (an 84.7% PB for Anne Gardiner).
Given he was in Southampton for Sunday’s marathon it would have been rude for Martin Croucher not to have done their parkrun the day before.
Cirencester: 1 Rob Forbes 17.44, 5 Ian Barrett 19.44, 43 Paul Timms 23.32, 44 Kate Kilby 23.36,90 Gordon Jones 26.49, 151 Richard Edwards 29.31, 159 Samantha Timms 30.11,
257 finished.
Tetbury: 36 Stephen Hale 25.39, 42 Alan McAdam 26.18, 46 Rachel McAdam 27.08, 1
64 finished.
Three Brooks, Bristol: 221 Ruth Fulford 32.47, 304 finished.
Itchen Valley, Southampton: 51 Martin Croucher 27.44, 197 finished.
Perry Hall, Birmingham: 29 Phil Davey 24.25, 153 finished.
And lastly,
One late result from 30th March, Lara Tompson and Jo Roberts ran the Cleevewold ‘14’ trail race organised by Cheltenham Harriers.
1 Richard Elsworthy (CLC Striders) 1.30.20
70 Lara Tompson (Cirencester AC) 2.29.48
72 Jo Roberts 2.29.57
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