Jo Roberts and Lara Tompson had a grand day out on Sunday when they tackled the South Downs Way 100k Ultra. Neither of them is a stranger to long distance or trails, but this was Jo’s biggest challenge to date, exceeding her previous 40 mile record by a huge margin.
The point to point course begins in the town of Arundel, winds its way through the South Downs National Park before finishing over the white cliffs of Beachy Head in the seaside town of Eastbourne and challenges participants with 8000 feet of climbing.
Jo says “After a 3am start the sun came out and the weather couldn’t have been better. The route was lovely, and hilly, and the views were amazing. We tackled it checkpoint by checkpoint as the food was great at each one! We met all sorts of interesting people along the way. I still can’t quite believe I made it to the end, but Lara wasn’t going to let me stop.”
Lara added “We had an amazing day out and laughed so much!” The following morning they were both feeling very pleased although finding walking a bit painful!
Congratulations to both of them on a huge achievement. And what a fantastic example of how running with friends can help us to achieve great things.
29th May, South Downs Ultra, 100k, trail
1 Owen Davies (Unattached) 08:17:11
105= Lara Tompson (Cirencester AC) 16:30:50
105= Jo Roberts 16:30:50
111 finished, 7 DNF
Earlier in the week Brecht Grieten raced in Belgium whilst visiting his family. He took part in the popular Abbey run, the route of which follows a path historically used by monks to travel between the abbey at Tongerlo and the abbey at Averbode.
Regular readers of the news report will know how well Brecht has been running recently at his preferred 5k/10k distance. So this 16k race took him a little out of his comfort zone! He was very pleased with his fantastic 61 minute finish time and 25th place overall. A bonus on the day was running the same race as his younger sister who was proud to run this distance for the first time. Finishers were rewarded with medals and a bottle of the beer traditionally brewed at Tongerlo Abbey.
Well done Brecht. A half marathon next maybe?
26th May 2022, Keytrade Bank Abdijentocht, Averbode, Belgium, 16km, road
1 Tom ROBBEN 53:05
25 Brecht GRIETEN (Cirencester AC) 1:01:01
1261 finished
In parkrun news this week, the club was represented in Cornwall where Isabella Stickney ran very well at Eden Project and Luke Campbell finished 2nd overall at Lanhydrock, officially one of the toughest parkruns in the country, 699th of 706 when measured according to average finish times.
At Tetbury Goods Shed Ollie Campbell finished first and Rachel and Alan McAdam also enjoyed the challenge of the Route A course there.
Kate Sackett is back on form after a long injury and was third lady at Stonehouse. Nea Sneddon-Jenkins ran her best time at Cardiff. Paul Timms tried the Gloucester City event for the first time.
At Cirencester there was a good club turnout. Rob Forbes appears to have caught the parkrun bug and finished 2nd. Great to see Jo Musk having a cracking run so soon after the recent arrival of the newest member of the family. Gordon Jones ran well inside 25 minutes yet again.
28th May, parkrun, 5k, trail
Cardiff parkrun
1 Matthew Edwards (Unattached) 15.23
76 Nea Sneddon-Jenkins (Cirencester AC) 20.51
662 finished
Lydiard parkrun
1 Courtenay Chessell (unattached) 16.21
138 James Hunton 28.22
279 finished
Eden Project parkrun
1 Tom Morton (Unattached) 17.08
73 Isabella Stickney (Cirencester AC) 25.21
215 finished
Stonehouse parkrun
1 Richard Frape (Unattached) 19.22
14 Kate Sackett 23.41 – 3rd Female
66 finished
Lanhydrock parkrun
1 Chris Mckeown (Unattached) 19.26
2 Luke Campbell (Cirencester AC) 19.58
135 finished
Cirencester parkrun
1 Phil Marsden (Unattached) 16.55
2 Rob Forbes (Cirencester AC) 18.32
17 Howard Ewan 22.35
27 Jo Musk 24.06
30 Gordon Jones 24.38
49 Brendan Mccarthy 27.37
73 Pamela Wheeler 30.16
91 Brian Harris 33.48
115 finished
Gloucester City parkrun
1 Mark James (Unattached) 17.43
28 Paul Timms (Cirencester AC) 22.35
147 finished
Tetbury Goods Shed parkrun
1 Ollie Campbell (Cirencester AC) 17.41
26 Alan Mcadam 25.48
32 Rachel Mcadam 27.32
81 finished