On Saturday, an intrepid group of club members set off from Eastbourne seafront into the countryside of the South Downs to complete the challenging Beachy Head Marathon.
Martin Croucher, Jo Roberts and Lara Tompson ran together to complete the race in six and a half hours. Martin tells us a bit about the day, with his usual gastronomic focus.
“Beachy Head Marathon, my fifth time there and definitely one of my favourites. Despite the weather not playing ball this year, it was a tad on the wet and windy side, the views at the top of the hills were still as stunning as ever. The atmosphere at the start from when you park up and drop your bag, to standing on the start line looking at the hill you are about to climb is always a buzz. And this year, the run was shared with friends Alan, Lara and Jo. Indeed, Alan even got interviewed at the start so I will keep an eye out for when his acting debut premiers!!”
“We all ran together and had a great time chatting and eating our way around the course. Not sure what other race does cups of tea, bourbon biscuits, jaffa cakes, hot cross buns, sweets and sausage rolls. I was certainly quite full by the end but still had space for the yummy school dinner of jacket potato, sausage, beans and cheese.”
“Highly recommended but don’t run it for a good time, unless of course you are in the company of friends. Until next year everyone…”
21st October, Beachy Head Marathon, 26.2 miles, trail
1 Oliver Varney (Unattached) 3.03.42 (3.03.40)
819 Martin Croucher (Cirencester AC) 6.35.36 (6.34.18)
821 Joanna Roberts 6.35.36 (6.34.18)
822 Lara Tompson 6.35.42 (6.34.25)
1154 finished
Also in marathon action at the weekend was James Thomas, who definitely didn’t stop for lunch along the way.
James ran a superbly evenly paced first 18 miles, every one of them between 6.42 and 6.52 and was well on course for a sub 3 hour time. He was really unfortunate to suffer glute cramp from 20 miles but still finished in a super impressive 3.05.41.
Well done James and on to cross country now.
22nd October, Abingdon Marathon, 26.2 miles, road
1 Alex Teuten (Southampton AC) 2.19.22
152 James Thomas (Cirencester AC) 3.05.41
741 finished
Dave Musgrove completed the 50k Five Trails Ultra at the weekend. The route begins at the foot of the South Downs and takes in sections of the Serpent Trail, the New Lipchis Way, the West Sussex Literary Trail, the Monarchs Way and the South Downs Way.
Despite suffering from sickness in the last few miles Dave finished in 10th place overall in an impressive 5.24.57.
21st October, Five Trails Ultra, 50k, trail
1 Anthony Light (Unattached) 4.41.03
10 David Musgrove (Cirencester AC) 5.24.57
66 finished
Brecht Grieten enjoyed a brand new local 10k race on home turf. The route of the Well Run 10k took in country roads near Northleach, familiar training ground for Brecht who ran yet another excellent race and finished 3rd overall.
22nd October, Well Run 10k, 10k, road
1 Cal Winwood 35.14
3 Brecht Grieten (Cirencester AC) 37.06
80 finished
There was great parkrunning as ever this week.
Gordon Jones continues his return after injury with a good run at Lydiard. Ollie Campbell was 2nd at Coventry with a 74% age grade. At Tetbury Wendy Nicholls was 2nd lady and ran an age graded 80% time of 21.55. Rachel McAdam was 1st FV60. On his first appearance at Blaise Castle parkrun, Ian Barrett finished 2nd.
At Cirencester, Simon Campbell was 1st. There were milestone runs for Kate Sackett and Pam Wheeler both clocking up 100 parkruns. Pam also earned her 50th volunteering credit on Saturday, all her runs and volunteer duties have been at Cirencester. Rob and Lynne Tuttle enjoyed their first experience of parkrun volunteering.
21st October, parkrun, 5k trail
Lydiard parkrun
1 Harry Woods (Unattached) 17.05
105 Gordon Jones (Cirencester AC) 27.04
325 finished
Coventry parkrun
1 David Hill (Unattached) 16.36
2 Ollie Campbell (Cirencester AC) 17.25
647 finished
Cirencester parkrun
1 Simon Campbell (Cirencester AC) 18.42
72 Sophie Humphries 27.22
81 Jo Musk 28.04
83 Brendan McCarthy 28.15
87 Pamela Wheeler 28.43
115 Ruth Fulford 34.39
131 Kate Sackett 37.52
143 finished
Marlborough Common parkrun
1 Dillon Howe (Unattached) 19.13
47 David Moss (Cirencester AC) 29.46
93 finished
Tetbury Goods Shed parkrun
1 Harry Maxwell (Unattached) 17.51
7 Wendy Nicholls (Cirencester AC) 21.55 – 2nd Lady
46 Rachel McAdam 27.47
114 finished
Blaise Castle parkrun
1 Daniel Ewing (Unattached) 19.15
2 Ian Barrett (Cirencester AC) 20.11
222 finished
A new addition to Tuesday evening club training was a great success this week. There was a good turnout for the time trial on a route around Chesterton.
The exercise will be repeated on 19th December, this time as a handicap event using the times recorded this week.
Thanks to Luke and the coaching team for pulling everything together.
24th October, Cranhams Lane Time Trial, 2.8 miles approx. road
1 Ian Barrett 16.43
2 Alex Banks 17.10
3 Chris Hopkinson 17.36
4 Kate Jacobs 17.37
5 Tom Barnes 19.39
6 David Moss 20.38
7 Jake Yeo 20.59
8 Nicola Denning 21.18
9 Rachel Ranger 22.01
10 Lara Tompson 22.20
11 Jo Roberts 22.20
12 Martin Croucher 22.27
13 Jill Hadland 22.32
14 Alan McAdam 22.56
15 Rupert Chesmore 25.15
16 Seb Chesmore 25.15
17 Tanya Everett 25.24
18 Gordon Jones 27.22
19 Helen Manners 27.42
20 Kirsty Leggate 28.14
21 Cathie Cowell 29.14
22 Liza Darroch 29.40
23 Ruth Fulford 29.44
24 Karen Carter 30.05
25 Carol Clarke 30.10
26 Rachel Jones 30.12
27 Clare Tapley 31.22
As ever, please send your race results to Martin at cirenacresults@gmail.com and any stories and pictures to accompany your results to Rachel at rachelelisabethbarrow@hotmail.co.uk
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