Beer Race & more Triathlons
- brian17harris
- Jun 1
- 5 min read
Late result from last week
Nursing a hamstring injury, Bill Leggate was on official pacing duty [ and not allowing walking breaks ;-) ] for his wife Kirsty in the Dunblane Road Race last weekend, run over 12km in the midst of their family holiday in Scotland. The pair finished in 1.18.37, whilst both children enjoyed the 2km event.
Westonbirt Triathlon 26th May
The bank holiday Monday that kicked off this week saw a handful of club members taking on a “sprint” triathlon in and around Westonbirt House (400m pool swim, 23km bike, 5km run).
There were widely differing levels of experience for our members going in the race, from 2nd timer Rachel Ranger through younger members who I understand have done a few events through to our own GB Masters triathlete Kate Kilby. Our competitors all went off at different times, but were well supported by Ann Sherrington and Tanya Everett. Kate reports
“The bike course was breezy and the pool swim was choppy but the run was 3 laps of the grounds and flat. A great course for novice and elite. I was happy to finish with no injury.”
And Angela commented
“It was a brilliant local sprint triathlon, well organised and the cycle was beautiful. Despite a bit of rain everyone was cheerful and very supportive, and it was so motivating to be cheered on by other Cirencester AC members during the run! Will be back again next year.”
As between our members apart from Kate, it looks like the bike leg was where the margins were biggest, with Rachel overtaking both Bradley and Angela after their faster swims.
Although it has now disappeared from the event results website, on the day it was showing the reasons for one athlete’s disqualification, which were rather alarming – abuse of an official and obstructing an ambulance !
1 Daniel Colman (unknown) (6.14; 34.14; 18.31) 1.03.37
86 Kate Kilby (Cirencester AC) (9.35; 47.54; 25.06) 1.28.41
157 Rachel Ranger (11.25; 48.58; 27.09) 1.35.28
171 Bradley Keene (9.54; 52.46; 27.08) 1.36.42
300 Angela Hilditch (10.20; 1.04.00; 28.15) 1.52.46
County Road Race Series update
The Stroud Beer race at Minchinhampton (see below) on Wednesday 28th May was the 4th in the series of 12 races (with the best 8 to count). So there’s still time to make an impact if you haven’t joined in so far - watch out for the entries to the Bugatti 10k on 6th August opening tomorrow (2nd June).
Whilst it’s still fairly early in the season, Kate Jacobs, Kate Kilby and Karen Higuera all remain unbeaten by anyone in their respective age categories so far. Kate Jacobs is also currently leading the Ladies Open category.
Rich Allen is 3rd in MV40, whilst Liza Darroch and Ruth Fulford are the only two LV75’s to have run so far, but not against each other, so each have 10 points.
The ladies veteran team (of 3) has had some strong results, and is currently in 3rd place. It looks like it could be a close competition with Stroud and Severn, so all to play for.
The Beer Race, for those who haven’t done it, consists of 3 laps of a hilly circuit on the edge of Minchinhampton Common, starting and finishing at a pub. It tests your ability to race both down hill and up, with a headwind more often than not on the more or less flat section.
Six from the club took on the challenge, led home by Ladies Captain Kate Jacobs who finished 3rd lady. Karen Higuera took the LV60 prize (10-year age groups). Both scored 10 points for their county age-group bid, as did Kate Kilby, who also ran faster than last year, hopefully now fully recovered from her foot injury.
Both Karen and Kate K are enjoying the first year of their respective new 5-year age groups, giving them the once in 5-year chance to leave the younger runners behind for a season. Fingers crossed for them staying injury-free {Ed. which is arguably the biggest challenge esp. into your 60’s and beyond}.
1 Alister Liscott (Stroud AC) 39.17 (chip 39.17)
17 Kate Jacobs (Cirencester AC) 45.50 (45.48) – 3rd lady
43 Andy Duff 49.51 (49.48)
82 James Widdowson 57.14 (57.08)
88 Karen Higuera 57.55 (57.50) – 1st FV60
95 Kate Kilby 58.55 (58.44)
139 Jocelyn Randall 1.08.19 (1.08.08)
159 finished www.stroudac.co.uk
Briefly updating on the club road championship
· James has gone into the lead ahead of Rich Allen and then Andy Duff, both having run one race less than James.
· Kate Jacobs is the only one to have run all 5 races so far, so is some way ahead of Karen who has herself run 2 more races than Jo Musk and the injured Charlotte Wilton.
Parkrun 31st May
It was rather warm for the local Ciren/Tetbury events, but not "officially" hot yet.
Simon Campbell, bringing himself back into racing shape (after a footballing winter?) for the Fairford 10k was first member home at Ciren, despite getting stuck in the pack at the start [that old chestnut ;-)]. No milestones or PB’s here this week – Rachel Ranger was nearest to her PB (12s off).
There was a new PB though for Edward Knight at Kingsway in Gloucester, over a minute faster than his best time there last year. Well done!
Still on holiday in Scotland, the Leggates took in the large Perth parkrun, with Bill accompanying young Hamish (not a club member) to another PB by 75 seconds.
Phil Davey was unimpressed with the running surface at Egham (Ed. - good job I can’t show his disapproving Strava emoji).
Cirencester: 20 Simon Campbell 21.42, 30 Jon Young 23.13, 51 Rachel Ranger 24.05,128 Annabel Campbell(J) 27.55, 131 Brendan McCarthy 27.59133 Gordon Jones 28.06, 138 Jocelyn Randall 28.24, 142 Tom Morgan 28.39,180 Richard Edwards 30.35, 190 Isabella Stickney (J) 30.46, 344 finished.
Tetbury: 39 Alan McAdam 25.42, 59 Rachel McAdam 27.51, 174 finished.
Gloucester, Kingsway: 11 Edward Knight (J) 21.09 PB, 210 finished.
Egham Orbit: 53 Phil Davey 25.19, 181 finished.
Y Promenad, Aberhonddu (Brecon): 35 Martin Croucher 24.07, 221 finished.
Perth: 132 Bill Leggate 26.33, 207 Kirsty Leggate 29.48, 355 finished.
1 June 2025, Cotswold 113 Triathlon
The Cotswold waterpark was once again the venue for a large triathlon, pulling in some valuable tourist trade for the local economy over the weekend. The bike and run legs being very flat attracted a large field of over 700 looking for some fast times.
Congratulations to Corinne Clark who bagged a podium place in 3rd of the 209 ladies to finish, in a combined time of 4.46.08.
The only other club member we know of (the results service isn’t the easiest to navigate) was Rich Allen, racing for his RAF triathlon club. He finished 35th in a 70.3 PB time of 4.38.02, helped by a very strong bike leg (18th fastest) and 27 minutes faster than in 2023 (hopefully some of that improvement down to running with the club).
1900m swim, 90km bike, 21km run
1 Daniel Cope (unknown) (28.59; 2.06.52; 1.20.07) 3.58.29
60 Corinne Clark (Cirencester AC) (31.08; 2.32.07; 1.39.32) 4.46.08 - 3rd lady / 1st FV40
738 finished www.113events.com
Sunday Runners
Two members raced over 10k on Sunday 1st June – Keith Firkin on the road at Reading Green Park in 47.24, finishing 305th/1323, whilst David Wright was in action in the multi-terrain Tarrant Valley 10 event in Blandford Forum, where his 43.39 earned him 38th/328.
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