CWR - breaking news 😥 😥

COTSWOLD RELAY – UPDATE

With 100 teams running 10 legs, there’s always lots of data to review in the days after the relay race and unfortunately the provisional win reported last week for our Veteran Hares turned into a 2^nd place, but still a great result – more than an hour ahead of the next vet team in 3rd.

The Racing Hares mixed team finished 5^th in their category, which was very close with less than an hour separating the first 6 teams. Our penalty on leg 4 was more than an hour.

Congratulations not only to Tash Pauck who was 2^nd fastest lady on her leg 9 (assuming “Floris” is a man’s name), but also to Aaron Willis, Brecht Grieten and Rob Brown who all took “podium” 3^rd places in their legs, with newcomer Storm Trow 4^th lady on hers.

But easily the most remarkable individual performance was Karen Higuera’s leg 3. Finishing well down the field looked a bit odd last week for such a competitive and seasoned trail runner. We now know why -

“During the relay I tripped going downhill about half-way round and landed arm outstretched. Feeling pretty shaken but determined to finish I held my arm to the finish as I couldn’t lift it oops! But sadly my pace dropped, and I became overcautious, so my time wasn’t the greatest!

After having X-rays my arm has shown a break in the upper part of the humerus, so restricted in movement and leaving me out of action for a while, but hopefully I’ll hear from the trauma team soon with a plan moving forward.”

Hard to know just what to say, but as Karen put it herself, her “do or die” attitude from years of ultra running just kicked in.

Karen Higuera before the broken arm on CWR leg 3 !

We all hope the arm mends soon Karen!

(Cirencester AC unless stated. Teams: R = Racing, V = Veteran)

Stage 1: Chipping Campden to Stanway, 19.4km, 1 Alister Liscott (Stroud AC) 1.19.23  3 Aaron Willis (V) 1.25.41, 33 Simon Campbell (R) 1.46.38;

Stage 2: to Cleeve Common, 19km, 1 Nic Coyle (Stroud AC) 1.21.52  3 Rob Brown (V) 1.31.23, 6 Jonathan Jaimeson (R) 1.36.07;

Stage 3: to Hartley House, 17.5km, 1 Ian Newns (Stroud AC) 1.12.20  39 Clare Stickney (R) 1.38.49, 71 Karen Higuera (V) 1.52.57;

Stage 4: to Painswick Beacon, 19.8km, 1 Steve Kenyon (Severn AC) 1.21.35  13 Sam Hartfield (V) 1.33.48; no Racing Hares runner, thus DNF time applied 2.35.00 

Stage 5: to Ebley Mill, Stroud, 14.8km; 1 Martin Wood (Stroud AC) 58.25  5 James Hinga (V) 1.04.41, 19 Storm Trow (R) 1.13.08;

Stage 6: to Dursley, 14km, 1 Ra Twilley (Stroud AC) 1.00.52  3 Brecht Grieten (R) 1.05.57, 17 Dave Musgrove (V) 1.17.13;

Stage 7: to Wotton-u-Edge, 12.0km, 1 Hugh Smith (Stroud AC) 51.34  41 Annie Campbell (R) 1.10.36, 43 Andy Hindson (V) 1.11.27;

Stage 8: to Old Sodbury, 19.4km, 1 Aidan Daniel (Team Bath AC) 1.19.48  12 Alex Banks (R) 1.36.23, 8 Tim Francis (V) 1.34.36; 

Stage 9: to Cold Ashton, 14.8km, 1 Tom Brook (Team Bath AC) 58.05  21 Ian Barrett (V) 1.13.18, 32 Tash Pauck (R) 1.18.18;

Stage 10: to Bath Abbey, 15.7km, 1 Lester James (Team Bath AC) 1.00.36  48 Paul Timms (R) 1.30.45, 75 Phil Davey (V) 1.44.39.

Team results:

1 Stroud AC 11.35.46

8 Cirencester AC - Veteran Hares 14.29.43 – 2nd veteran team

21 Cirencester AC Racing Hares 15.31.41 – 5th mixed team (inc. minimum four ladies)

99 teams closed in.  www.cotswoldwayrelay.co.uk

LATE RESULT FROM LAST WEEK

Gareth James ran the Ham & Lyme 50k last week coming 186^th from 418 in 6:38:41. He deferred his from place last year and then wasn’t sure he'd make the start this year but did. “ Had no legs from 10k apart from downhill where I was completely bombproof, which was the other way round to usual but dragged myself to the end ..... For the medal!”

Monday 7^th July – Frampton 10k

One of several races put on by Stroud AC, this popular event starts on the village green and is run on country lanes in a lovely setting overlooking the Severn. Times were announced on the night as being chip only, to enable a relaxed rolling start broadly in separated waves by self-assessed ;-) expected finish time. {Thus some big differences below between gun/chip}.

Kate Kilby was resting a sore hip so was able to provide very welcome support on the course and also some great photos – see group shot below before we all got sweaty in the sunny and rather warm conditions. (And before any free cider at the end was consumed).

Frampton 10k 2025 L-R G Jones, R Edwards, P&S Timms, R Tuttle, R Fulford, A Naylor, J Thomas, K Jacobs, B Harris

The only club prize on the night went to Kate Jacobs who finished 2^nd lady in 38.41, particularly pleased to overtake her county road race competitor Steph Lane in the final stages.

James Thomas also finished well up the large field in 36.52.

Exactly 5 months to the day after the 20-mile training run that forced him to stop running (with an injured pelvic bone as it turned out) Brian Harris lined up determined to give his club aero shirt its first outing. He last ran Frampton in 1998 in 41.43, but 27 years later and with only a couple of runs in the last few weeks under his belt, his main priority was just to finish without the injury site hurting. Anything under 50 minutes would be a bonus, but he was under strict instructions from multiple concerned parties to go carefully.  Soon after the start he joined up with a tired Paul Timms, who had run leg 10 of the CWR only two days earlier. Breathing started to get a whole lot harder from 3 miles, although the legs were holding up. After easing off for the 5^th mile with a slight hamstring niggle, seeing photographer Kate in the last gave a welcome boost and he managed to pick up the pace to overtake a fellow V60 in the last 200m. Very relieved that the injury seems to have cleared, but slightly daunted that 4 minutes slower than last Autumn’s 10k pace felt so hard.

Also feeling the hot conditions, Rob Tuttle and Gordon Jones were pleased to finish inside 50/60 minutes respectively.

1 Alex Lee (Western Tempo) 32.26 (chip 32.26)

20 James Thomas (Cirencester AC) 36.53 (36.52)

32 Kate Jacobs 38 43 (38.41) – 2nd lady / 1st FV45

145 Brian Harris 46.58 (46.38)

170 Paul Timms 48.22 (48.03)

199 Rob Tuttle 50.00 (49.38)

337 Gordon Jones 59.42 (58.53)

382 Richard Edwards 1.03.23 (1.02.06)

407 Samantha Timms 1.05.36 (1.04.18)

463 Ruth Fulford 1.12.01 (1.10.42)

506 finished www.stroudac.co.uk

WESTONBIRT HOUSE 10K – 11^th July

On Friday evening Gareth James ran as the 62-minute pace maker for the Westonbirt House 10k

“That was silly hot, but good fun pacing a race. 2 seconds under time which I'm pleased with, had a lovely chat with a lady the whole way round till her sprint finish. Loved it.”

TRAIL RACING

Notching up his 162^nd marathon-or-longer race, on Saturday 12^th Martin Croucher completed the 100km Race to the Stones from Lewknor to Avebury.

Having run the Comrades Marathon and worn 35 items of kit for the club’s 35^th anniversary, Martin’s verdict on the weather was “a tad warm”.

{Ed. I’m guessing Martin will have enjoyed finishing in the dark.}

1 Hugh Tibbs (unattached) 7.41.56

434 Martin Croucher (Cirencester AC) 17.58.47

830 finished www.thresholdtrailseries.com

TRIATHLON

Ian Barrett took part in the Cotswold Classic Middle Distance Tri on Sunday 13th, and kindly sent this report

“In many ways the recent heatwave took the pressure off. Non wetsuit swim and a hot run meant fast times were out the window. The wetsuit ban was the right call, I've never known the lake to feel that warm and in a wetsuit it would have been unbearable. I just settled into a group and drafted as much as possible to save energy for the rest of the day, out of the water under 40 minutes. Local roads for the bike should be a big advantage, but someone the potholes just can't be avoided. Lost a bottle of energy drink early on so decided to go back for it. Halfway around the 2nd lap I noticed my handlebars had bounced their way to pointing more down than forwards. Queue a slightly uncomfortable last few miles to transition.

Having not run further than 10 miles for several months I started the run cautiously. Even that became a struggle, especially over the roots and fallen logs, but when I hit the final stretch of tarmac I calculated a sub-5 hour finish time might still be possible, so I picked up as much as I could and crossed the line in 4:58.

Great organisation by 113 events as ever, very accommodating to the fast guys and novices alike. Lots of encouragement from the marshals at every turn!”

13 July 2025, Cotswold Classic Triathlon,1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run

1 Andrew Grenville (Thames Valley Tri.) (34.40; 2.10.19; 1.22.18) 4.10.34

80 Ian Barrett (Cirencester AC) (39.18; 2.34.07; 1.41.07) 4.58.47

465 finished www.113events.com

PARKRUNS

Fastest parkrunner this week was former captain James Thomas, perhaps race-sharpened by his run at Frampton on Monday (see above)? His 17.39 saw him finish 2^nd at Horspath in Oxford, and moreover was one his fastest parkruns since a string of low 17’s and one sub-17 in the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Congratulations James.

At Cirencester Oli Campbell and Rich Allen completed a comfortable 1-2 for the club, more than 30 seconds ahead of 3^rd place. Congratulations also to Annabel Campbell and Jonathan Higgs for their PB’s.

Elsewhere, Steve Hale returned to the fast ? Stonehouse course and ran his 3^rd best parkrun time

Cirencester: 1 Oli Campbell 18.05, 2 Rich Allen 18.12, 57 Paul Timms 23.33, 78 Annabel Campbell (J)(PB)24.39, 88 Colin Tapley 25.06, 93 Jonathan Higgs 25.19(PB), 127 Susanna Austin 26.51, 141 Bill Leggate 28.00, 156 Gordon Jones 28.54, 198 Tom Morgan 30.24, 206 Samantha Timms 30.54, 208 Richard Edwards 31.01, 240 Alan Tompson 32.16, 254 Amanda Naylor 33.07, 259 Kirsty Leggate 33.41, 277 Ruth Fulford 36.19, 303 Simon Campbell 40.42, 338 finished.

Swindon, Lydiard Park: 47 Ben Hilditch 22.52, 381 finished.

Stonehouse: 20 Stephen Hale 24.28, 70 finished.

Oxford, Horspath: 2 James Thomas 17.39, 130 finished.