From Marathon to Mile plus our Chedworth races
- brian17harris
- May 10
- 7 min read
Updated: May 11
PLEASE CONTINUE TO KEEP FREE SATURDAY AFTERNOON/EVENING 30TH MAY FOR THE CLUB AWARDS AT THE RUGBY CLUB (YES 3 WEEKS TIME)
Watch out for whatsapp update
Milton Keynes Marathon – bank holiday Monday 3rd May
In the recent London marathon Mike Hobbs just wasn’t feeling it, so he took his foot off the gas to run in with a struggling friend, finishing in (for him) a disappointing time of 3.20.30.
However, he has form for not accepting an off-day, and keeping it under his hat, he booked a last-minute “stealth” place to run again just 8 days later at Milton Keynes.
Mike (and your editor) had done this same double in 2024 (albeit the gap between marathons then was a week longer). Mike was almost a minute slower the second time round in 2024, but has recently changed his training regime (incorporating a lot of time on his bike) which yielded a HM PB earlier this Spring.
Demonstrating a remarkable ability to recover, he not only beat his race target of 3:15 by more than 6 minutes, but he produced a great negative split - more than 3min faster over the second half (experienced marathoners will appreciate just how difficult that is).
Unsurprisingly, Mike was really happy with his faster 2nd marathon in 8 days. That may require a “don’t do this at home” type of warning for the average runner, but congratulations Mike on your determination and to your legs for “turning up” at the second time of asking.
1 Mohammed Elbayan (Luton AC) 2.25.36 (chip 2.25.35)
202 Michael Hobbs (Cirencester AC) 3.08.51 (3.08.28)
2214 finished www.mkmarathon.com
Bourton Mile and Junior Mile, Friday 8th May
The British weather turned it on (the taps that is) for Friday 8th’s annual dash down the high street in Bourton on under the water, so that instead of spectators gaily enjoying a sunny picnic on the green whilst their friends/family puffed away in the heat, it was more standing around huddling under umbrellas. The runners were all soaked before they started, which wasn’t very encouraging for the 9 juniors whose race (over the same course) set off 2 minutes after the seniors.
Whereas last year we had 17 senior members racing, this year it was only 6, although 4 others were running with their offspring or watching injured. Some braved it for a photo before the race here
However, at least 5 of the 6 who did run collected a medal. {UPDATE - all 6 medalled}. As well as counting towards points in the 12-race Glos country road race series, it was the county mile championship race, so medals were also up for grabs. In order of finishing :-
· In his last season as a V60, Brian Harris was pleasantly surprised to pick up a silver, finishing around 15 seconds faster than he was expecting given his training had been focussed towards the Newport marathon almost 3 weeks ago. His time was 9 seconds slower than 2024, which is about right for being 2 years older.
· Clare Stickney won a bronze in her first mile race for the club (possibly ever), going off faster than Brian whose experience of pacing the rarely-run distance paid off around the 1km mark when he passed her (shown below).
· Kate Kilby was relaxed in letting fellow LV65 Alice Lewis from Dursley take the gold this time, settling for the silver.
· Gordon Jones was nursing a bad knee and unsure whether to race, but he managed it. At the time of going to press because of the 5/10 year grouping its not clear whether he got a county medal or not. {UPDATE - Gordon got 9 points and therefore Silver in V75}.
· Pam Wheeler was delighted with her first, and the club’s only, county gold in the LV70. Although just missing the 9-minute gun time, she was very happy with her chip time.
· Finally, Ruth Fulford picked up silver in LV75 behind the remarkable Sharon Smith from RSE (chip time 7:12, age-graded 90% or more).
For completeness, it was honours even in the Kilby household with 2nd claim member MV65 Andy running for Dursley matching Kate’s silver.
1 Richard De Camps (Western Tempo) 4.26 (chip 4.24)
93 Brian Harris (Cirencester AC) 6.19 (6.12)
100 Clare Stickney 6.31 (6.24)
131 Kate Kilby 7.30 (7.24)
144 Gordon Jones 8.21 (8.11)
149 Pam Wheeler 9.01 (8.50)
153 Ruth Fulford 10.42 (10.30)
156 finished
In the junior mile, congratulations to all our runners (and their parents!) for persevering in the horrible conditions. Particularly to Ruaridh Wright who came 3rd in his U12 age group. The only two photos sent in that we can publish (excluding any other athletes) are here
6 Toby Conway 5.34 (chip 5.33),
20 Ruaridh Wright 6.18 (6.17),
26 Brecon Musk 6.52 (6.50),
28 Joseph Leicester 6.57 (6.54),
30 Sophi Mason 7.07 (7.04) PB
32 Alex Willis 7.16 (7.13),
40 Jessica Jacobs 8.02 (7.59)
42 Katie Leicester 8.06 (8.03)
Not included in the above official results was soon to be member U16 Emily Averies, who has just trialled with the teen group – she was delighted to place 3rd in her age group in what was her first race (6.26 chip time).
Club Championship Update
The Bourton mile was the 4th race in the Club Championship, and after adding in the points from it, the no. 1 spot in the rankings for both men and ladies are occupied by residents of the same street – Brian Harris and Pam Wheeler respectively. There’s still plenty of chances for any younger members reading this report to correct this anomaly – just turn up to some of the remaining fixtures shown here https://www.cirencesterac.com/road-racing-fixtures
Chedworth Roman Trail races on Sunday 10th May
It seemed like half the club’s senior members were out to support race RD Kate Jacobs (by volunteering to help in the kitchen, in the hall, the car park and of course around the course) for the club’s annual 5 and 10 mile trail races, this year held in May rather than September.
The courses were skilfully modified, and more signage was put up by Rupert and Tim allowing for fewer marshals than last year. The request for dry weather was also successful, although all but one competitor (subjected to some friendly booing from the Editor for using a nearby footbridge) did get wet to some degree at the water crossing (helpfully recorded by unofficial photographer Ian Barrett).
We were fortunate that at least some clubs had included the races in their championships, ensuring a great turnout from RSE and Tewkesbury in particular.
Congratulations to Annie Campbell who was 2nd lady home in the 10 miles, and to Gerald Billis for being the oldest finisher on the day.
Check out the club’s facebook page for photos.
There was some great feedback from runners after the race, so once again many congratulations to Kate for leading and to all our members who made it possible.
c10 miles trail
1 Jack Mundinano (Cheltenham Harriers) 1.09.37
5 Laura Parsonage (Team Bath AC) 1.13.47 - 1st lady
19 Annie Campbell (Cirencester AC) 1.21.15 – 2nd lady
114 finished www.cirencesterac.com
c5 miles trail
1 James Ball (Running Somewhere Else) 36.05
24 Jonathan Higgs (Cirencester AC) 50.07 – 1st V60
66 Gerald Billis 1.36.37 – 1st V85
66 finished www.cirencesterac.com
Mainz Half Marathon, Germany
Phil Davey skipped a Saturday parkrun to run this low-key road event in Germany on Sunday, although with a winner inside the hour not sure if "low-key" is right!
1 Dennis Kipkogei (Kenya) 59.14 (chip 59.14)
3796 Phil Davey (Cirencester AC) 2.12.31 (2.11.58)
5169 finished www.halbmarathon-mainz.de
Bristol Half Marathon and 10k
Clare Stickney loved the atmosphere in the HM, and finished in a very respectable 1:37:49, raising money for Cirencester Foodbank in the process.
Jake Yeo who has had some time off from running eased back into it with a 55:38 in the 10k event.
PARK RUNS
We had one “winner” this week with Wendy Nicholls finishing first lady at “brutal” Stratford Park course in Stroud. The hills will have been useful training if rumours that Wendy is running in a ladies club team at the “man v horse” event next month. Watch this space.
Fastest time by some way was Rob Forbes at Cirencester – great to see him running well (and long) again after some injury problems.
Congratulations to Edward Knight for improving his course PB again this week by another 15 seconds. The Ciren course is slower than where he set his absolute PB last year, so that looks under threat if he does some parkrun tourism.
Karen Higuera managed to fit a warm-up in this week which may have helped her to an impressive age graded time just a whisker under the magic 80%, and also a whisker below Rob’s age-graded score which was the best in the field.
Ian Barrett’s Saturday streak of new parkrun locations within a longer run continued. In a very large field (of people!) in Oxford his just >80% age-graded score was only good enough for 4th.
Missing a “royal” visit from club parkrun legends the McAdams to his home turf of Kilkenny Lane, Parkrun super-fan Phil Davey was away in Germany (disgracefully omitting to do their parkrun on the pretence that he had a half-marathon the next day). His friend Paul Timms was however flying the flag albeit elsewhere in Germany.
Cirencester: 2 Rob Forbes 17.41, 7 Edward Knight (J) 20.16, 15 Dave Wright 21.34,16 Casey Vatcher 21.35, 44 Karen Higuera 24.19, 76 Susanna Austin 26.13,126 Bill Leggate 28.42, 171 Pam Wheeler 30.33, 184 Kirsty Leggate 31.28,227 Lorna Harris 34.00, 313 finished.
Stroud, Stratford Park: 19 Wendy Nicholls (1st lady) 23.46, 148 finished.
Carterton, Kilkenny Lane: 58 Alan McAdam 25.36, 71 Rachel McAdam 26.23,129 Gordon Jones 30.26, 210 finished.
Oxford, University Parks: 12 Ian Barrett 19.01, 709 finished.
Newbury, Victoria Park: 181 Richard Edwards 28.08, 413 finished.
Hasenheide, Berlin, Germany: 67 Paul Timms 23.32, 306 finished.
Ruimsig, Johannesburg, South Africa: 71 Samantha Timms 35.07, 292 finished.
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