Bourton Half successes - new club record (Kate K), a PB (Rich), and an amazing debut (Clare S)

Bourton Hilly Half – Sunday 28^th September

The hilly half marathon at Bourton on Sunday was not only the 10th of the 12 races in the Glos AAA road race series, but also the County HM championships, so medals were up for grabs as well as the usual series points, and some of our seasoned athletes duly added to their previous honours.

There were some very fast athletes in the field with both men’s and women’s course records being broken by athletes from Western Tempo.

• Rich Allen in his last season as an MV40, turned in an impressive PB for such a hilly course of 1:20:36 to finish in 6^th . He took the county gold for his age group (more than 5 minutes ahead of second place), £20 race prize, and a maximum 10 points for the road series. A very successful outing – great run Rich, and good luck for another PB as and when you find a faster course.

• Kate Kilby, still not fully fit, was using a run-walk strategy, but she was still fast enough to reap the same benefits as Rich (race prize, county gold and 10 points). But the extra cherry on the top was breaking Liza Darroch’s club FV65 record 1.57.19. Congratulations Kate!

• Karen Higuera took a calculated risk to line up for this race, having both a recovering arm (from breaking it in her Cotswold Way relay leg), but more seriously another more recent leg injury. Determined to stay in contention for the FV60 county series gold, she also mixed running with some walking, feeling strong for the first 10k.

We will update on county standings and club championship standings next week. Photo below of Karen and Kate in club kit with medals.

Happy with their bling - Karen Higuera and Kate Kilby after Bourton Hill Half 2025

The first lady home for the club was actually Clare Stickney in the competitive FV40 category. Taking a rather unorthodox approach to road racing, Clare (who is in training for the Abingdon(?) marathon) ran a 14km trail warm up before running the actual HM still in trail shoes, for a total run of almost 24 miles including cooldown.

Not only did Clare register a Strava PB for the HM, but she was initially unaware she also came 2^nd in the Glos champs (Rich Allen looking after her silver medal) in what was her first race in a club vest.

Huge congratulations Clare on a really strong club debut and enjoy your tapering over the next few weeks.  

Clare Stickney, fitting a county silver for the Bourton Hilly Half into her mega training run 28.9.25

28 September 2025, Bourton Half Marathon, 13.1 miles road

1 Dylan Gillett (Western Tempo) 1.10.06 (chip 1.10.06)

6 Richard Allen (Cirencester AC) 1.20.38 (1.20.36) – 1st V40 and PB

50 Clare Stickney 1.44.05 (1.44.01)

76 Kate Kilby 1.56.21 (1.56.15) – 1st FV65

89 Phil Davey 2.05.45 (2.05.31)

92 Karen Higuera 2.09.06 (2.08.58)

104 Jocelyn Randall 2.19.46 (2.19.33)

114 finished 

OTHER TRAIL RUNS

Gareth James ran 2hr21 for the 13.7m Two Valleys trail race in the Lake District, finishing 159/648. He summarised it thus on Strava.

“Have been ill for weeks and had a bad MH week however, I managed to get myself up to the Lakes and moved from the 5 valleys ultra to the 2 valleys event. Really pleased I did as I wouldn't have managed the 5 today and I had fun doing the 2 which was a bonus. Thank you Jessica James for the pep talk to get me on the hills! Ha 3rd fastest 1/2 marathon time, I'll take that in the hills, and I bonked with 2km to go!”

Tom Morgan also ran the Forest of Dean Trails Half Marathon in 2.13.00.

PARKRUNS 27^TH SEPTEMBER

At Cirencester, congratulations to junior Toby Conway on being first member home in a new PB time of 20.48.

Also at Cirencester, Jo Musk accompanied son Brecon for his last parkrun aged 8, and their time of 22.52 was not only 40s faster than a few weeks ago, but fast enough on the day for Jo to be first lady. Well done both.

In London for a family party, Brian Harris took the opportunity to test his speed with two laps of the flat but occasionally twisty Clapham Common trail course as he continues to rebuild his weekly mileage after time off injured. After a mad dash at the start to avoid a bottleneck (see field size below), he slowed to a slightly less painful pace and tried to sustain it, with family support on the course providing the incentive not to slow to a more comfortable pace. Mostly ignoring his watch on the way round he was pleasantly surprised to finish just inside 22 minutes, and amazed to be 4^th out of 849 on an age-graded basis with only 75%. It must be that Clapham is much more chilled than Cirencester in terms of how many people run it hard rather than just enjoying it – they’ve heard it’s not a race ;-))

Brian Harris sub-22min Clapham Common Parkrun 27.9.25

Cirencester: 9 Toby Conway (J) (PB) 20.48, 31 Brecon Musk (J) 22.52, 32 Jo Musk (1st lady) 22.52,38 Paul Timms 23.54, 58 Susanna Austin 25.23, 74 Jonathan Higgs 26.09,114 Rachel McAdam 27.44, 135 Pam Wheeler 29.13, 145 Alan McAdam 29.51,161 Samantha Timms 30.50, 262 finished.

Tetbury: 38 Stephen Hale 24.24, 58 Lara Tompson 26.53, 59 Jo Roberts 26.53,87 Alan Tompson 30.03, 157 finished.

Swindon, Seven Fields: 58 David Moss 27.29, 181 finished.

Chippenham: 179 James Hunton 31.36, 243 finished.

Clapham Common, London: 89 Brian Harris 21.54, 849 finished.

Lloyd Park, Croydon: 165 Gordon Jones 32.46, 189 Rachel Jones 35.02, 260 finished.