…….often quite a lot when it comes to races. So, some gritty Cirencester AC members signed up for New Year fun at the gruesome sounding Gut Buster and Immortal Sinner events.
Nicola Wood, Tanya Everett, Rachel Ranger and Paul Edrich headed to the Berkshire countryside on New Years Eve for the infamous Gut Buster event where there was a choice of 10k or 10 miles on offer. Nicola plumped for 10k while her buddies signed up for the 10 mile challenge.
Rachel was nominated to gives us the low down on the days events and reports “It was a little murky when we arrived at the farm on the morning of New Year’s Eve. We sheltered from the drizzle in the barn while deciding whether to wear waterproof jackets.”
“The course was filthy. Knee-deep, lane-wide puddles, sideways rain, two river crossings, and sodden, muddy fields all the way. Paul thoroughly enjoyed his ten miler, falling over only once, and coming in at 1:30. Nicola, having been carefully increasing her mileage, opted for the 10k and was warm and dry by the time Tanya and Rachel squelched through the last field to the finish, motivated by the promise of mulled wine. In the end, our choice of attire was immaterial: everyone was thoroughly soaked.”
“It was a well organised event and I would recommend it, particularly for those who appreciate mucky conditions.”
Well done all four. That mulled wine must have tasted good!
31st December, Gut Buster 10, 10 miles, trail
1 Ben Nutley (Molly’s Boys) 1.07.40 (1.07.40)
68 Paul Edrich (Cirencester AC) 1.30.20 (1.30.13)
163 Rachel Ranger 1.50.36 (1.50.04)
165 Tanya Everett 1.50.42 (1.50.01)
237 finished
31st December, Gut Buster 10k, 10k, trail
1 Christopher Parker (Reading AC) 40.52 (40.51)
151 Nicola Wood (Cirencester AC) 1.16.07 (1.15.27)
219 finished
Also on New Years Eve was the Westonbirt House Christmas 10k. Taking place against a beautiful backdrop of the house and gardens, the event had been rescheduled from earlier in the month when the snow arrived.
Another brilliant 10k run from Brecht Grieten earned him 3rd place overall in a field of over 400. Congratulations to him.
31st December, Westonbirt House Christmas 10k, 10k, road
1 Max Thompson (Cheltenham & County Harriers) 36.04 (36.02)
3 Brecht Grieten (Cirencester AC) 36.4 (36.44)
426 finished
Martin Croucher rounded off 2022 by travelling to Kent for an event put on by one of his favourite race organisers, Saxons, Vikings and Normans. Anyone who follows Martin’s running adventures will be familiar with the format of lots of these events……..run a measured course as many times as you can or want to within a set time. Some do enough circuits to clock up an ultra, others may only go round once.
In this case the loops were 3.28 miles and the time limit was 6 hours. Martin clocked up marathon number 119 in 4.47.04 in what he described as the worst conditions he has ever run a marathon in!
Now he is busy planning his challenges for 2023.
As the calendar page turned over into January, four very determined Cirencester members were found in the Forest of Dean for the grim sounding Immortal Sinner race. And what fabulous performances and results from all of them over the 14 mile course encompassing 14 ‘substantial’ hills.
The whole event took place over several days with the option of Seven Sins (one lap of the course). But that was obviously not enough of a challenge for Ollie and Luke Campbell, Howard Ewan and Neil Corbiere who, despite having done it before, all felt they should go round twice for the full experience.
Howard kindly summed up the day like this “It is usually the last of a set of races, the earlier ones being 7 miles with 7 climbs and the Immortal Sinner being double, so a clockwise loop and an anticlockwise loop of the 7-mile version. It was made a little harder this year as we had to do both loops in the same direction (due to tree disease) which meant longer uphill drags and short sharp descents - not ideal for the head!”
“It's disgustingly muddy and brutal, but somehow many who run it agree it's their favourite race (myself included). The Campbells were out in force with Ollie coming home in 1st to retain his winning form there. Man he's quick! Luke Campbell was 4th, Neil Corbiere 6th and myself just behind in 7th (a reverse of last year for Neil and I which keeps things entertaining). My cavalier approach to downhills, which usually serves me well, failed me today so covered in cuts and bruises but fun was had by all.”
Luke reports that Ollie’s superb winning time of 1.42.35 is an unofficial (at the time of writing) course record. Congratulations Ollie and thanks to Howard for painting a vivid picture.
1st January, Seven Sins Run Immortal, 14 miles, trail
1 Ollie Campbell (Cirencester AC) 1.42.43 (1.42.35)
4 Luke Campbell 2.06.42 (2.06.34)
6 Neil Corbiere 2.13.46 (2.13.36)
7 Howard Ewan 2.14.58 (2.14.48)
28 finished
There has been a bumper number of parkruns over the past couple of weekends what with extra events for Christmas Day and New Years Day. Take a look at individual event websites if you are interested in finer details, but here are the various results for Cirencester AC members.
24th December, parkrun, 5k trail
Lydiard parkrun
1 Ben Cole (Unattached) 15.45
74 David Moss (Cirencester AC) 24.02
76 Jill Hadland 24.04
346 finished
Chippenham parkrun
1 Ollie Campbell (Cirencester AC) 17.12
95 James Hunton 28.00
201 finished
Cirencester parkrun
1 Harry Barnes (Unattached) 17.59
3 Brecht Grieten (Cirencester AC) 19.11
30 Paul Timms 23.54
47 Alan McAdam 25.48
55 Dorian Matts 26.12
64 Rachel McAdam 26.52
81 Brendan McCarthy 28.20
95 Samantha Timms 29.42
151 Simon Campbell 35.34
184 finished
Milford Waterfront parkrun
1 Phil Livermore (Unattached) 18.54
15 Holly Willis (Cirencester AC) 24.54 – 3rd Female
96 finished
Dorian is, quite rightly, keen to shine a light on all the junior members who ran with parents on Christmas Eve at Cirencester. Here are the results for these young stars. Well done to every one of them.
114 Francesca Paddock (with dad) JW10 31.04 PB
142 Annabel Campbell (with dad) JW10 34.10 PB
143 Charlie Cutler (with Annabel's dad) JM10 34.18
150 Tilly Campbell (with dad) JW10 35.33
155 Tom Pritchett (pacing dad!) JM12 35.54
175 Alex Willis (with dad) JM10 40.31
NB 131 Brecon Musk (on Junior wait list) ran with his dad 32.34
25th December, parkrun, 5k trail
Chippenham parkrun
1 Ollie Campbell (Cirencester AC) 16.55
24 Luke Campbell 21.38
300 finished
Tetbury Goods Shed parkrun
1 Adam Stokes (Unattached)
17 Nea Sneddon-Jenkins (Cirencester AC) 21.43
61 Jocelyn Randall 27.16
77 Rachel Barrow 28.56
85 James Hunton 30.42
107 Lorna Harris 35.46
109 Brian Harris 35.48
115 Paul Barrow 38.30
139 finished
Seven Fields parkrun
1 Ben Lines (Unattached) 17.58
6 David Moss (Cirencester AC) 21.14
153 finished
Central parkrun, Plymouth
1 Isaac McAdam (Unattached)
93 Rachel McAdam (Cirencester AC) 27.05
94 Alan McAdam 27.06
218 finished
31st December, parkrun, 5k trail
Plym Valley parkrun
1 Isaac McAdam (Unattached) 18.33
35 Alan McAdam (Cirencester AC) 27.26
36 Rachel McAdam 27.33
129 finished
Torbay Velopark parkrun
1 Shaun Mckernan (Unattached) 18.10
4 Ian Barrett (Cirencester AC) 18.12
186 finished
Cirencester parkrun
1 Harry Barnes (Unattached) 18.50
49 Gordon Jones (Cirencester AC) 27.46
84 Pamela Wheeler 32.57
121 finished
Tetbury Goods Shed parkrun
1 Marc Fallows (Unattached) 17.51
30 Paul Timms (Cirencester AC) 23.29
67 Samantha Timms 29.09
87 Ruth Fulford 31.05
140 finished
1st January, parkrun, 5k trail
Chippenham parkrun
1 Sam Hull (Unattached) 18.12
48 Alan McAdam (Cirencester AC) 25.40
62 Rachel McAdam 26.53
193 finished
Seven Fields parkrun
1 Simon Dill (Unattached) 19.33
15 David Moss (Cirencester AC) 23.29
165 finished
And finally, a plea from Martin (Mr Results) for 2023. Please make sure that when you enter a race you sign up as a Cirencester AC member if you want your result to be recorded and reported on. This is particularly important when it comes to races in the club championship. He’s going to be tough on this point! Plus, its just a whole lot easier to spot things if you sign up this way.
And please continue to send info for inclusion in the report to Rachel at rachelelisabethbarrow@hotmail.co.uk by Sunday evening if you can. Its much appreciated and makes for a more interesting read for all those who like to follow clubmates.
Happy New Year everyone and good luck with all your 2023 running endeavours.
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