Flying at Fleet and Taff Twenty Tourism
- brian17harris
- 4 hours ago
- 6 min read
***********************POLITE REMINDERS********************
Club Secretary Rich Allen has asked us to remind you all of the following
Your nominations are invited BY WEDNESDAY for the committee to consider in deciding on the club awards for 2025. There is a handy form you can fill in here
Can you also please let us know ASAP if you are coming to the AGM after training on 28th April (so we can sort the catering) by clicking here and filling in the form.
If you absolutely cannot get the links above to work please contact a committee member instead.
***************************RESULTS******************************
All this weekend’s races were on Sunday 29th March.
Fleet Half Marathon
Helena Sexton, one of the club runners training for the London M in 4 weeks time, already has an impressive marathon PB of around 3:01.
She raced at half that distance at Fleet on Sunday and in a very fast field did brilliantly
“Chip time: 1:24:07 Big PB! 🤩 and the confidence boost I really needed - chuffed ☺️”
That makes Helena the 6th fastest lady in the club’s history over the HM. And several of those ahead of her were international level runners. Many congratulations Helena !!
{Ed. - we all know anything can happen before we actually get to the marathon start line, so we’re particularly keeping fingers crossed for Helena as she is in such great form.}
1 Adam Clarke (Aldershot Farnham & District) 1.05.44 (chip 1.05.43)
269 Helena Sexton (Cirencester AC) 1.24.13 (1.24.07) – 17th lady
2501 finished www.fleethalfmarathon.com
{ED - APOLOGIES TO HELENA - HER PHOTO NOT MINE SHOULD HAVE STAR BILLING BUT I DIDN'T HAVE ONE....}
“Taff Twenty”
Brian Harris ventured “abroad” for his last training race before he attempts the Newport marathon on April 19th. The San Domenico 10/20 mile races (named after the running club that organises them) start behind a leisure centre on the outskirts of Merthyr Tydfil and follow an out and back route almost entirely along the “Taff Trail” which is fairly close to the eponymous river - 5 miles of it to a turn around point.
The organisers refer to “undulations” in their brief course description , which is about right for the bits of the trail (well-paved) that rise up and then drop down to cross over various roads. However, there are a couple of 11% hill climbs close to the turn round point which definitely rule the event out as a likely PB setting. Obviously the 20-milers had the pleasure of tackling those hills twice.
Brian abandoned/adapted his pre-race plan of even 7:55 mile pace fairly quickly, instead settling in after 4 miles to an unmonitored pace – just concentrating on keeping his effort (i.e. HR) to a level that matched what he’d run in the first 20 miles in his last marathon (apart from up the hills). This was working well to mile 16, when the effort of the hills the second time round seemed to stay in his legs. Miles 17 and 18 were a bit steadier and then a sudden unexplained increase in his measured HR caused some alarm so he eased off and walked for a short distance. So the last 2 miles were considerably slower, but his HR happily reverted to a more normal level.
With his finish time more than 5 minutes faster than the Fission race 2 weeks ago, he was happy with the progress and is looking forward to tapering, albeit not next week but the week after.
In terms of recommending the event, it took around 1hr50 to drive there from Ciren (as one of the marshals said “well done Cirencester – that’s a long way to come”). You’d be hard pushed to call the views scenic, certainly if you’re used to the Cotswolds, and in the light drizzle the occasional waft of fumes from coal fires evoked memories from times gone by. The timing was ideal though if you’re doing a Spring marathon 3 weeks later. As mentioned, don’t expect a PB. Oh, the t-shirt afterwards was red, long-sleeved, and a very nice light technical material, so that was a great bonus – see photo below.
San Domenico ’20’, Merthyr Tydfil, 20 miles trail
1 Matthew Verran (Swansea Harriers) 1.55.32 (chip 1.55.31)
93 Brian Harris (Cirencester AC) 2.36.10 (2.36.04)
216 finished www.sandomenicorc.com
White Horse Half Marathon, Grove, Wantage, 13.1 miles road
Another club member travelling (out of county) for a training race ahead of a Spring marathon was Rob Tuttle who was pleased to report that he had
“a very disciplined training run in preparation for Shakespeare marathon in 4 weeks. Chip time today was 1:57:03 and all miles within a 13 second band so pretty consistent.”
1 James Ellis (Abingdon AC) 1.09.11 (chip 1.09.11)
373 Rob Tuttle (Cirencester AC) 1.57.40 (1.57.03)
512 finished www.whitehorseharriers.uk
Cleevewold Trail Race
“The Cleevewold is a tough and hilly 13 mile multi-terrain race. The race starts near to race HQ at the medieval Postlip tithe barn and covers the highest points of the Cotswold hills on Cleeve common, before heading into the countryside and returning to Postlip via the Belas Knap neolithic burial mound.”
So says the organising club, Cheltenham & County Harriers.
At the time of going to press we are awaiting results publication, but trail-fan Karen Higuera sent in this report – she ran with Andy Hindson.
“Andy and I did the annual Cleevewold hilly trail race 🏃♂️ 🏃♀️ - apart from the cold 🥶 & wind 💨 we thoroughly enjoyed the ups and downs.
I’m still nursing an ongoing hamstring injury that doesn’t like speed! So was over the moon to make it round the tough course and even pick up the pace for the last few miles. Picked up the L55 prize -1st L60 Rosemary had 6th Lady prize so she couldn’t claim it. I won wild blossom honey and cider 👌 - all finishers received a bottle of local beer.
Very low-key local race with sadly a very small field of runners year after year - such a shame they don’t know what they’re missing.. Well organised, well sign posted along with an abundance of helpful smiling marshals helping with directions as well as two water aid stations.”
Well done Karen, really glad you got round in one piece :-) And Andy too of course!
One for your diaries next year all you trail runners?
*********28 March 2026 Parkruns********
At our home course, Luke Campbell was of 4 club runners in the top 10 this week with his fastest time for almost 3 years, going under 20 minutes again. Great to see the improvement this year after time off – long may it continue.
Congratulations also to Kate Jacobs for being 1st lady and also fastest age-graded athlete on the day.
It was also good to see former club captain Simon Campbell back running on his own (rather than with family). Could this be some not last minute prep for the Fairford 10k?
Although he isn’t yet back to last year’s form after some time off ill, Richards Edwards continued to improve, turning in his fastest parkrun this year at one of his regular away from home venues in Bridport. Keep up the good work Richard!
Cirencester: 2 Luke Campbell 19.32, 7 Kate Jacobs (1st lady) 21.19, 9 Casey Vatcher 21.24,10 Toby Conway (J) 21.36, 17 Dave Wright 22.16, 19 Simon Campbell 22.28,35 Paul Timms 24.17, 40 Annabel Campbell (J) 24.44, 59 Karen Higuera 25.50,72 Jonathan Higgs 26.25, 75 Susanna Austin 26.31, 76 Alan McAdam 26.38,96 Brendan McCarthy 28.05, 112 Rachel McAdam 28.44, 134 Pam Wheeler 29.28,165 Gordon Jones 31.46, 177 Samantha Timms 33.03, 253 finished.
Tetbury: 101 Martin Croucher 30.53, 174 finished.
Carterton, Kilkenny Lane: 21 Colin Tapley 23.40, 177 finished.
Oxford, Horspath: 52 David Moss 24.56, 195 finished.
Bridport, St Mary’s: 79 Richard Edwards 29.12, 146 finished.
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