On Saturday a small group of club members took part in the latest of the meetings in the County Cross Country Championship, this time hosted by Bourton Roadrunners and NCTR. Dorian very kindly offered to write a few words about the event.
“On Saturday the Gloucestershire Cross Country Championships were held at the Cotswold Farm Park. Two of our Under 11 boys participated over the undulating course in appalling conditions of wind, rain and mud. Unfortunately, like many, Rory Brown did not finish, but Seb Compton-Evans came in a very credible 7th, to follow on from his good 5th place showing at the December short-course cross-country event at Stroud.”
“The men had the best of the weather but the 10k+ course was still challenging. Aaron Willis was our first man home followed shortly afterwards by Tom Purnell and Ian Barrett, who won his age group. We didn’t have sufficient runners for a seniors team, but our masters team finished a good 4th out of 14.”
And here are Ian’s reflections on his own race.
“The wet and windy forecast and the fact it hadn’t stopped raining all week, I was expecting a mud bath, but Adam Henson obviously keeps his fields in pretty good nick so no ankle-deep mud, just a few sketchy corners. No big hills to speak of either, but lots of bumps, like a badly maintained golf course, difficult to get a good rhythm."
"I actually had quite a lonely race, after the initial mad mile I was distanced ahead and behind. Think I overtook 3 people all race, and the only one to come past me was sprinting back after stopping to put his shoe back on! Cruelly they made you run past the finish and around ‘the bumpy field’ one more time and the specified 8.7k measured over 10 on most watches, but I managed to hold position, though at the time I had no idea what that position was."
"Only later did I discover I had won the age group. It was close, with the top 3 covered by just 13sec.”
Thank you Dorian and Ian and well done to all who took part. For anyone else who fancies having a go at cross country, the next meet is on Sunday 13th February at Pittville Park in Cheltenham.
8th January, Gloucestershire Cross Country Championship, various distances
U20, Senior Men, and Vet Men U65, 8.75km
1 Ben Robinson (Gloucester AC) 34.58
14 Aaron Willis (Cirencester AC) 39.16 – 3rd MV40
27 Tom Purnell 40.57
30 Ian Barrett 41.34 – 1st MV50
79 Graham Blackburn 50.42
91 Dorian Matts 58.05
96 finished
Standings – Team Masters Men
1 Western Tempo 23
4 Cirencester AC 135
14 finished
U11 Boys
1 Isaac Stringer Stroud & District AC) 10.01
7 Sebastian Compton-Evans (Cirencester AC) 10.53
19 finished
In parkrun news, Richard Edwards tried out the relatively new Berkeley Green event. Luke Campbell continued his South African adventure with a resounding win at Westville parkrun, finishing over five minutes ahead of the gentleman in second place. The whole Mcadam family were back at Tetbury this week where the junior members took first and fourth places and Rachel ran her very special 401st parkrun.
At Cirencester Sam Timms and Pam Wheeler represented the club amongst the runners and there was a good show of CAC faces on the volunteer squad too.
8th January, parkrun, 5k, trail
Lydiard parkrun
1 Chris Reade (Unattached) 15.19
43 Neil Morrissey (Cirencester AC) 23.23
47 Wendy Nicholls (Cirencester AC) 23.35
243 finished
Buckingham parkrun
1 Andrew Johnson (Unattached) 18.30
152 Bryan Reid (Cirencester AC) 28.41
273 finished
Cirencester parkrun
1 Andy Gardiner (Unattached) 19.01
51 Samantha Timms (Cirencester AC) 32.28
55 Pam Wheeler 32.57
84 finished
Westville parkrun
1 Luke Campbell (Cirencester AC) 24.42
71 finished
Tetbury Goods Shed parkrun
1 Isaac Mcadam (Unattached) 17.19
27 Alan Mcadam (Cirencester AC) 25.02
37 Rachel Mcadam 26.35
100 finished
Berkeley Green parkrun
1 Jason Tilley (Unattached) 18.27
83 Richard Edwards (Cirencester AC) 26.22
208 finished