Big turnout by the Oxfordshire XC League Clubs - the dogs weren't running! I haven't run all the cross-country (XC) races this year, but the last two Oxfordshire league races were quite something : big fields, great courses and not being dominated by one Team. This month's race (they're on the first Sunday of each month, November to March) was at Cotswold Farm Park, near Guiting Power and was a pukka XC course, only missing one thing in my opinion:- a water crossing. It had b

From Juniors to Seniors : Ed Knight, Alice Averies, Aaron Willis and Kate Sackett There’s so much information on how to train, what to do, when to do  it, etc. that it’s difficult to sometimes know what to do. Also, fellow runners are apt (it’s human nature) to tell you what worked for them. It may have worked for them, but will it work for you? Hmm. I call that anecdote. So the purpose of this article is to help you decide how to train, in a way that works for you. Let me st

********************REDUCED/DELAYED RACE REPORT SERVICE IN FEBRUARY***********   With thanks again to our excellent results co-ordinator David Wright, we’re expecting the raw race results to be uploaded to the club website on a timely basis as usual – see here   https://www.cirencesterac.com/results   However, these accompanying commentaries will be subject to a variable delay over the next several weeks. If you do race, then please consider posting about it, including any ph

The Gloucestershire County AAA 2026 road race series kicked off today with the a 10 mile race along the country lanes near Boddington, organised by CLC Striders. Fortunately the weather decided to stay dry and the sun even appeared for the latest finishers.   Now in its 3 rd year after the previous Staverton 10 course based at the airfield was compromised by housing development, the 4-lap race is virtually car-free (but this year not horse-free!!) and fairly flat, albeit pro

Henry's so fast, he's a blur ! The third Sportshall event was completed in mid-December (14th), but the results were a little late getting to me. We had only one Under 11 : Henry Thomas and the two usual U13 girls : Aria Stavrakakis and Katie Leicester. Again they were all well supported by Aria's mum, Fritha. Henry did three individual events : speed bounce, vertical jump and javelin (indoor type!) and scored highly in all of them. He also was part of a composite team doing

Linda Franks 5 miles There was a good club turnout for more or less the first road race of the year, and it was particularly encouraging to see, in addition to the road race regulars who weren't injured some relatively new faces including husband and wife pair Jonathan Higgs/Amanda Naylor as well as Bill Leggate and fast-improving Clare Stickney.   Feedback was that it was a really friendly, well organised club race with great marshals and lovely cakes. Given last year’s V45

After a long read last week, the only official results you’ll see for this week are for parkruns, but there was one member competing elsewhere, and what an event!   Chris Illman took on the brutal Montane Winter Spine Challenger South which is   “a non-stop, 108 mile race along the Pennine Way. Beginning from Edale in Derbyshire at 08.00 on Saturday, runners have a time limit of 60 hours to get to the finish at Hawes. The race covers the southern section of the trail which f

Ed. A surprisingly long report covering the end of the holiday season and the start of 2026.     *********** NEW YEAR’S MESSAGE FROM CLUB PRESIDENT*************   Thanks to the Editor for allowing me to gate-crash this first report of 2026.   I just wanted to convey my sincere thanks, on behalf of all our members, to all of the committee who work so hard on our behalf.  To Luke and Rich, a massive thanks for the seamless transition from Ruth and me - from our perspectives at

I recognised a little while ago that the last article on health matters, "Getting to the heart of the matter" (read it here ) may have left a bit of a "training isn't good for you" message, which isn't what it intended. The key message from it, is that your heart is a muscle and needs decent recovery, just like your quads, if you don't want to have issues later on in life. So I have wanted to reset the balance around training and health. Thankfully, there has been some reall

Firstly news from Luke Campbell of a one-off special session this coming Tuesday ********************************************************************************************************************* "Tuesday evening's festive run will be an orienteering event around Cirencester's Christmas lights. Runners/walkers will have 45 minutes to get to as many of the mapped points as possible and finish at The Crown by 19:15 (please stay for a drink afterwards if you can). Maps showin

Thanks to Rupert Chesmore for informing us that 2 of the races that we told you about in last weekend's newsletter are unfortunately cancelled. Due to the sad death of Terry Haines of Severn AC, the races which he organised at Elmore village hall on 27th December and 1st January are not now proceeding. This post is to reach any member who hasn't already seen the news on the club Whatsapp races group.

Unsurprisingly, It was a very quiet week on the formal "racing" front, with club colours appearing at just one event we know of.   This Sunday, Gareth James ventured into the Forest (of Dean) for a Christmas tree run before he gets down to the serious business of training for the London marathon (he has the club’s place this year). Results are traditionally v. slow to emerge from the depths of the Forest.     G James, FODAC Xmas tree run 21.12.25 Sunday also saw the 21 st co

It seems that cross-country races are a bit like London buses, nothing for a wheil and then along come a couple at the same time. Last weekend, December 13th and 14th, both Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire had league matches, the latter also being the County Championships. Despite it being one of four counties' championships (Glos, Avon, Somerste and Wiltshire), there were not as many runners at Bath as I had expected. This was a slight concern for the author who was worried h

Following fast on the heels of round 1 (and before the publication of the results!) the second round of Sportshall took place on Sunday 30th November at Archway School in Stroud. This time competing were : Under 11s : Florence Tanner and Ted Ralling Under 13s : Aria Stavrakakis, Ellis Bowen, Katie Leicester It's called "Hi Stepper" for a reason ; Ted and Florence showing high knees for this challenge Florence (8) and Ted (10) competed in target throw (we had been practising t

**********************CLUB SOCIAL PARKRUN*****************   Feeling it was time for another social, the committee (well mostly Luke) figured we’d get more of you to come along to a Cirencester parkrun than to drinks after Tuesday training session, and this proved to be the right call. More than 30 members and their families gathered to run/volunteer and then chat/drink coffee afterwards.   That it was bright and dry for a change (although misty see the 2 nd photo below) mus

************** PARKRUNS SATURDAY 6TH DECEMBER* ******   Rarely are runners' comments on Strava so aligned – it was definitely wet (continuous rain) muddy and consequently slippery at Cirencester again. So all the more credit to those who braved it (and the volunteers including Jos Randall).   No milestones or PB’s for our members this week, although Pam Wheeler placed 2 nd overall on an age-graded basis. The Leggate family were all participating. Hamish running with his dad

Fritha supporting Saffron's handover to Eleanor, while Florence awaits her turn With ever increasing numbers of Juniors and Teens attending the Wednesday training sessions we have been looking at further activities to supplement their involvement in Athletics. Currently Teens and older Juniors can do open track and field meetings, including Low Key Opens, in the summer and cross-country in the winter plus the odd Parkrun. Younger Juniors can now also do XC as Oxford league r

We'll start with a few announcements this week in case you've missed them elsewhere. ********************* SOCIAL EVENTS COMING UP ********************* 13th December - Parkrun in Cirencester - please join us after the parkrun for coffee and/or breakfast in the RAU canteen. If you're not running, why not volunteer first? And don't forget to try and wear some club kit. 30th December - after Tuesday evening training, please join us if you can for a drink afterwards at the Crow

The committee met last and agreed on the races that will count towards next year's Road Championship awards. You can find full details on this website page https://www.cirencesterac.com/road-racing-fixtures As usual your best 6 scores from 11 races plus any road marathon will count, with 20 points for the first finisher, 19 for 2nd etc. We have chosen a mixture of races that are or aren't in the county road race series, and tried to include a range of distances up to half mar

This summer, we have been doing QuadKids events with both the Juniors and younger Teens (Under 13s) using the QuadKids scoring system. Unfortunately, due to the incident at the College and an Open Day (evening) not all the Juniors and Teens were able to complete four events, so we will have another go next year, starting in April and so hopefully having sufficient opportunities for all to score in all four disciplines: sprint, run, jump and throw. The Under 11s do 75m, 600m,