In the first of two reports for this weekend we cover the 2nd race in the Glos County XC League in Cirencester Park, and Parkruns. A second report will lead with the Guy Fawkes 5 miles, and the results of this year’s county road race series.
Cross country, but not as we knew it Jim
More or less the only things unchanged from last year’s XC (hosted by the club) were the overall venue (Cirencester Park) and the provision of a selection of cakes afterwards. Gone were the steep hills, wooded sections, rain, cold weather (it was 14C), twists and turns, fallen trees, water hazards inches deep, a coffee/snack van, one not six Ciren ladies competing, and cars churning up a parking field.
However, it was annoyingly still run on the day before the county road race series finale at Tewkesbury, where several medals involving club members will be decided. (Ed. – committee representations to Glos AAA about this diary clash were, sadly, unproductive).
To be clear, none of the above were attributable to this year’s host club, our friends at RSE, who provided friendly marshals and just had to work within the constraints set for them. And the dry/relatively warm conditions were comfortable for spectators and volunteers if not the runners themselves ;-))
Dorian Matts kindly provide feedback on the junior races - we had representatives in the U13 and U11 races, but with half term absences not in the older races .
In the 3km U13’s, we started with four boys and four girls. Unfortunately, two of the girls twisted their ankles on the lumpy grass and could not finish. However, all four boys made it round, led admirably by Toby Conway (sporting his new “go faster” haircut) with Bertie Andrews not far behind, with a bit of a gap to Heath Forbes running in his first U13 race and Hugo Dobson. Emma Cunningham was our first girl home. It was Georgia Hills' first time out and she had just got back from holiday abroad the night before.
We had 10 runners in the 2km U11 race over 2km, most of them ten years old. They were led home well by Stroud schools champion, Ed Knight, in 9th place overall. Otis Forbes and Wilf Andrews had a battle all the way round with Wilf just holding off Otis by two seconds. Next in was Abigail Cunningham, who was 11th in the girl’s race, with Poppy Wilson only 7s behind in 13th. There was a block of Ciren runners : James Garner, Annabel Campbell, Alice Averies, then Alex Willis (aged 9) with Oscar Smith (aged 9) last home. One of our runners pulled out after going off too fast and “blowing up” - a lesson learnt for next time. The course was very dry and fast, and half a dozen runners fell over each other at the start, although thankfully none of ours were involved. We want the children to enjoy the experience, and with the exception of the three who had to retire, they all did.
After the juniors, came the 6km race for senior ladies and very senior men, which for the club involved one of each.
Some of our ladies were either injured or resting for the following day’s 5-mile road race (see next report).
Our only lady running, Corinne Clark has hopefully kept something back for Tewkesbury.
Dorian Matts (more used to racing over sprint distances) was pleased with his pace in his first XC as a “super-vet”.
The last race for men was significantly longer, at just under 10k. But the unchallenging nature of the course showed in the winner’s time equating to c. 31:40 10k pace, and being > 5 minutes faster than last year. Our first man home was Rob Forbes, (Ed. - making it look easy as ever), closely followed by Aaron Willis only a week on from his HM PB at Stroud. Both Aaron and next man home James Thomas were also just over 5 minutes faster than their times last year.
At the time of going to press the team rankings were not available. They will be added to the results section of the website when available.
Volunteering - not always in the news
The club was well represented on the volunteering front at both the XC (above) and Parkrun (below). Liza Darroch, Rupert Chesmore and Ruth Fulford were all helping at the XC finish area, whilst Ruth had earlier also volunteered at the Ciren parkrun “as she was coming to Ciren anyway”. In total the club had 6 volunteers there, including Jos Randall celebrating clocking up her 100th volunteering credit (as well as running!).
Parkrun news
Firstly, especially to new members, a reminder that if you are concerned that you can’t see your own or your child’s parkrun time in the results each week please do check you/their Parkrun profile – if it doesn’t include the club then you/they won’t automatically be picked up in the consolidated report that is generated.
Parkrun legends the McAdam’s ticked off what they believe to be the last venue in their self-devised “Chip” challenge. Those of you who know them will not be surprised that this didn’t actually involving french fries, but parkrun location names with “Chip” in them.
Lastly, welcome to several (some very) newly-joined members appearing in our results for the first time – Rich Allen with an impressive 4th place (3rd age-graded), Casey Vatcher and parkrun old hand Phil Davey, all at Cirencester.
Gloucestershire Cross Country League (2 of 4)
Under 13 Boys:
1. Alistair Spurr (Cheltenham harriers) 10:31
13 Toby Conway. 12:20
15. Bertie Andrews 12:32
30. Heath Forbes 13:25
35. Hugo Dobson 13:55
Under 13 girls:
2. Ivy Wightman (Cheltenham harriers)12:06
12. Emma Cunningham14:00
17. Georgia Hills15:02
DNF Evie Mence & Ruby Crouch
Under 11 Boys
3. Sebastian Guzman (Yate & District AC) 07:12
7. Ed Knight 08:02
23. Wilf Andrews 08:45
24. Otis Forbes 08:47
42. James Garner 09:25
43. Alex Willis 09:38
47. Oscar Smith 10:58
Under 11 Girls
4. Lyra Leach (Stroud & District) 07:53
11. Abigail Cunningham 09:11
13. Poppy Wilson 09:18
20. Annabel Campbell 09:26
21. Alice Averies 09:27
DNF Alyssa Edwards
Ladies, U17, Men V65 plus (6km)
58 Corinne Clark 25.53
101 Dorian Matts 30.32
Men (9.6km)
1 Dom James (Western Tempo) 30.21
33 Rob Forbes (Cirencester AC) 34.26
39 Aaron Willis 34.44
70 James Thomas 36.56
85 Alex Banks 38.51
92 David Musgrove 39.21
100 Luke Campbell 40.27
113 Leo Crawford 41.22
130 Andy Duff 42.51
2 November 2024 Parkruns
Cirencester: 4 Richard Allen 18.33, 19 Casey Vatcher 22.00, 42 Paul Timms 23.34,46 Neil Broadley 24.13, 100 Phil Davey 28.44, 113 Jocelyn Randall 29.22,117 Brendan McCarthy 29.38, 128 Amanda Naylor 30.19, 146 Samantha Timms 31.43
Tetbury: 2 Ollie Campbell 18.42, 31 Ben Hilditch 24.32, 100 Angela Hilditch 31.14
Stratford Park, Stroud: 42 Stephen Hale 26.38.
Berkeley Green: 9 Martin Croucher 22.43
Monmouth, Chippenham Playing Fields: 41 Alan McAdam 24.49, 58 Rachel McAdam 26.37
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