Cross-country time, Autumn marathons and 2 more club records
October’s Strava segment challenge
We’ve not reported on him in action for a while, but our new Strava segment challenge tempted Jack Bonnick into town, and he blasted another 3 seconds off the record set by Rich Allen last week. The record had stood at 39 seconds since 2018, but Bill, Rich and now Jack have moved it to 31 seconds. Two weeks left!
Langdale Marathon, Saturday 17th
Mike Hobbs continued to add to his marathon tally, but this time in radically more scenic surroundings than the Phoenix running course beside the Thames.
His time of 3.37.49 placed him a very creditable 19th out of the 160 finishers on an anything but flat course – here’s Mike account
“I’ve been struggling with the after effects of a virus. Yesterday, I was pretty certain I wouldn't run. Today, I was a little better, even though I slept poorly.This course is absolutely brutal even when you’re feeling your best, over 1000m of elevation with some climbs hitting 25%. The first mile is flattish, and even though I was jogging my heartrate hit 150. I knew I was in for a tough day. I went through halfway in around 1.45, but knew that was going to be tough to maintain. From 20 miles my legs were cramping up all over the place! To be honest, I’m glad I finished in a half respectable time! Av hr 151. Max 170! I never held that heart rate for a marathon.Stunning scenery and thankfully the weather was perfect, sunny, slight breeze, cool”
PARKRUNS 17th October
MV80 supervet Tony Shelbourn has only recently restarted parkrunning after a break of just over 10 years, now running at Cirencester rather than his former Lydiard Park. In his first parkrunning era 2011-2016 he never ran slower than 81% age-graded, understandable given he set arguably some of the toughest club age-group records (alongside from DW’s V50 era).
Tony was one of three club runners in the top 7 by age-graded score at Ciren this week, the others being Dave Wright (only 13 seconds off his PB) and Pam Wheeler. Well done to all three.
Fastest age-graded runner on the day was actually celebrity “tourist” Sophie Raworth (79.6%), in her first run at Cirencester. News of her possible attendance (whilst she is in the area for the Cheltenham Literary Festival) meant phone cameras were to hand, and Nicola Wood kindly sent in this pic
Congratulations also to Isla Wright who improved her PB by more than a minute. Brother Ruaridh was also not far off his PB.
At the Tetbury event, nobody appeared to run faster than 25 minutes - Steve Hale kindly explained
"Before anyone ponders the Parkrun times from Tetbury yesterday just to mention there was a small routing mishap resulting in a 5.73k run for the first 40 or so runners 🙄 including me …"
Cirencester: 6 Luke Campbell 19.41, 16 Dave Wright 20.58, 24 Ruaridh Wright (J) 21.59,48 Isla Wright (J) (PB) 24.22, 85 Alan McAdam 26.19, 87 Ben Hilditch 26.28,89 Susanna Austin 26.30, 93 Nicola Wood 26.44, 113 Jonathan Higgs 27.40,116 Tony Shelbourn 27.44, 163 Rachel McAdam 29.51, 169 Pam Wheeler 30.10,182 Angela Hilditch 30.34, 293 finished.
Tetbury: 35 Stephen Hale 28.24, 83 Blair Thomson 30.14, 210 finished.
Swindon, Lydiard Park: 45 Corinne Clark 22.55, 52 David Moss 23.15, 476 finished.
Carterton, Kilkenny Lane: 15 Colin Tapley 21.58, 29 Paul Timms 23.55,113 Samantha Timms 31.10, 125 Gordon Jones 33.14, 152 Clare Tapley 38.22 181 finished.
Berkeley Green: 30 Casey Vatcher 21.03, 161 finished.
Three Brooks, Bradley Stoke, Bristol: 298 Ruth Fulford 37.13, 345 finished.
Jeskyns Community Woodland, nr. Gravesend: 65 Martin Croucher 26.27, 228 finished.
Panshangar, nr. Hertford: 190 Kirsty Leggate 31.05, 324 finished.
Bramley, Leeds: 29 Ben Francis 23.25, 223 finished.
SUNDAY 18TH - CROSS COUNTRY – TINKLEY GATE (STROUD)
It was the first meeting of the Glos AAA series this weekend, and there were some star performances from our senior runners – 3 of the 4 winning their age groups and getting their campaigns off to a flying start – congratulations to Bill Leggate, Rachel Ranger and Kate Kilby.
A number of juniors were also competing which was great to see, along with newcomer Richard Edwards - well done to him for trying a new discipline.
Whilst a number of our potential runners were injured or otherwise engaged for this first fixture, we’re hopeful of a bigger turnout for the later ones.
Bill – “Felt like a solid run. Was able to find a reasonable rhythm despite the twists and turns, undulations and rough underfoot conditions!”
Kate also shared some observations
“A great venue with a dry course, lots of twists and turns. Poor Richard arrived an hour early but was supported on his first x country by wife Sharon and dog Mojo. And Rachel was collecting her number as the start gun was fired, but the ref let her start and despite being at the back managed to come through the pack eventually for a good run.”
Also with thanks to Bill and Kate, here are some action shots
Men (9km)
1 Jacob Pickering (Cheltenham & County Harriers) 31.01
20 Bill Leggate (Cirencester AC) 34.44 – 1st V50
139 finished
Ladies and MV65 (6.4km)
1 Frida Rocha (University of Bath) 25.25
59 Rachel Ranger (Cirencester AC) 34.42 – 1st FV55
66 Kate Kilby 35.10 – 1st FV65
120 Richard Edwards 44.13
106 finished
U12 Boys (1.8km)
28 Brecon Musk 8.11
U14 Girls (3km)
17 Clari Wallis 16.28,
22 Sophi Mason 17.08
U16 Boys (5km)
7 Toby Conway 20.27,
8 Henry Woodfine 20.32
U18 Girls (6.4km)
8 Emily Averies 34.32
Abingdon Marathon
One of the oldest marathons in the UK is always popular, attracting athletes from far away, with a reputation as quite a fast course. It’s valid for logging a London 2028(?) GFA time (and also an Abbotts World Masters qualifying event).
Having run several marathons at the end of Ironman events, Rich Allen was hoping to join the sub-3 hour club on a standalone run basis. With a swift HM under his belt this was looking a fairly safe bet, and fortunately that indeed proved to be the case, with a massive 11 minutes chipped off his PB to finish in 2:52:58 chip time - 66th/800 male, 11th MV45 .
"Went out too hard, paid for it in the last 10k… classic 😂😵💫"
{Ed. - Rich’s Strava data tells the tale – HR and pace showing that the going got tougher over the last 7 miles – a lot of us have been there! But sustaining 180 HR there’s no doubt he was all-in to the finish line.}
Amsterdam Marathon
Further afield, Stuart Fitzgerald was also looking for a good marathon time in Amsterdam (presumably a flat course). He had a fantastic run, breaking not only his PB by around 5 minutes but also taking exactly 5 minutes off Aaron Willis’s V40 club record set only last year of 2.53.15. (But V45 Aaron has since run 2.48.44 in Newport earlier this year).
Stuart was really pleased with his race, but reckons with more mileage he may have another minute or two to come, perhaps with less windy conditions, but his pacing doesn’t leave much room for improvement – it only slowed slightly for the last 4km or so – great job Stuart.
{Fingers crossed, after recovering, Stuart may be tempted to give the XC series a go}.
1 Lemi Berhanu (Ethiopia) 2.03.33 (chip 2.03.33)
760 Stuart Fitzgerald (Cirencester AC) 2.50.03 (2.48.15) – club V40 record
22999 finished
Skechers Performance Series, nr. Abu Dhabi, UAE, 5km
And last for this weekedn but definitely not least, Charlotte Wilton was also in action overseas on Sunday with a quick time in mind. Making the most of her first year in the V50 category (before Kate Jacobs and Jo Musk join her), she had been sharpening up with some quicker parkruns over the last few weeks,
In very warm conditions her time of 21.38 comfortably beat Caroline Buck’s age group record of 22.59 set back in 2019. As a bonus she was also 1st V50. Great job Charlotte!
1 Davis Mwailongo (unknown) 17.03 (chip 17.01)
35 Charlotte Wilton (Cirencester AC) 21.44 (21.38) – 1st FV50, club FV50 record
153 finished
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