Before any official race results this week, news of Luke Campbell’s tremendous, solo 100km challenge.
Luke had been due to take part in a 100k ultra event in Yorkshire taking in the famous Three Peaks. Sadly, the event was cancelled pretty late in the day. Rather than waste the hard preparation he had put in, Luke chose to tackle the 100k route of the Cotswold Way Ultra which conveniently starts and finishes in Cirencester. He set himself a pretty tight schedule and put out a plea for support and company along the way. The day dawned and Luke made his 5am start. He sums up his day.
“100km race in Yorkshire got cancelled two days ago so I decided to do this (almost) solo instead.”
“Continuous rain for the first hour which soaked everything and was made worse by it being dark. Felt stronger than I should have through 50k which was a big boost. Got about five ‘winds’ through the day which was nice. Music always helped. Changed my socks four times but my feet were continuously wet.”
“Felt really, really, really good until 90k when my body tapped out and I genuinely died which made the finish a serious struggle. Very happy to have got to 90k feeling so good. I was on for sub 13 hours until the last 10k. I’m sure I could take an hour off in the actual race with some better overall training and I think I could be ‘competitive’ over this distance in the next four years. Overall, very happy.”
Luke was very keen to emphasise that he couldn’t have completed this without support from friends and family, in particular Sam Saunders, Alex Banks, who ran with him at around halfway, and his mum and dad who met him along the way and picked him up afterwards. And his one regret……that he didn’t take at least one spare pair of shoes!
A really impressive achievement which does seem to have caught the attention of certain club members who have terrible things in store for Luke in the Lake District!
Meanwhile, there were a few Cirencester vests at the Bath Half Marathon on a bright, warm day.
Great runs across the board with Joyce Matthews finishing tenth of 276 in her FV45 age group.
16th October, Bath Half Marathon, 13.1 miles, road
1 Kadar Omar (Birchfield Harriers) 1:05:03
1310 Joyce Matthews (Cirencester AC) 1:43:39 (chip time)
2460 David Phelps 1:54:13
3478 Tanya Everett 2:02:33
3900 Jocelyn Randall 2:06:48
Approx 6800 finished
On Saturday there was a more local and low-key trail race in the picturesque surroundings of the Notgrove Estate. James Thomas and Jo Roberts both took part in the Cotswolds Trail 10k.
Jo and her daughter entered the race some weeks ago whilst James, a little like last week, only entered the day before. It’s a strategy that seems to be working for him though. Following last weeks win, this time he finished 2nd overall.
James says, "I entered on a whim on Friday night as I spotted this new race in an area I often run round. It was a great route, very hilly with some steep ups and downs. I ran in a peloton of three for most of the way, constantly leapfrogging each other, due mostly to me being fast at downhills and the other two being better at uphills. I was really glad at the finish to see Liz and Sylvester cheering me on."
Jo really enjoyed the course which she described as varied and like cross country minus the mud and water crossings.
15th October, Cotswolds Trail 10k Notgrove, 10k, trail
1 Christopher Rothwell (Unattached) 40.57 chip time
2 James Thomas (Cirencester AC) 41.23
114 Joanna Roberts 1.04.16 2nd FV 50-59
273 finished
In parkrun news this week, Gordon Jones ran well at Lydiard and was 2nd MV70, less than a minute behind the first placed in his age group. There was another win at Coventry for Ollie Campbell. Kate Sackett was 2nd lady at Workington. Brecht Grieten was 4th at Cirencester as he prepares for Stroud Half next weekend.
After a last-minute appeal from Pam, there was good club support on the volunteer squad at Cirencester. parkrun simply couldn’t happen without a team of volunteers every weekend. Volunteering is really uplifting. So, if you can spare an hour or so first thing on a Saturday morning every few weeks, think about signing up. Your help would be hugely appreciated.
15th October, parkrun, 5k trail
Lydiard parkrun
1 Nick Cairns (Unattached) 18.30
75 Gordon Jones (Cirencester AC) 25.40
297 finished
Coventry parkrun
1 Ollie Campbell (Cirencester AC) 17.52
544 finished
Chippenham parkrun
1 Roy Cooper (Unattached) 18.01
89 James Hunton (Cirencester AC) 28.25
12 finished
Workington parkrun
1 Paul Coon (Unattached) 17.26
16 Kate Sackett (Cirencester AC) 24.01 – 2nd Female
106 finished
Cirencester parkrun
1 Harry Barnes (Unattached) 18.12
4 Brecht Grieten (Cirencester AC) 20.15
33 Brian Harris 25.23
38 Gareth James 26.06
107 finished
Tetbury Goods Shed parkrun
1 Jonathan Jamieson (Unattached) 17.22
18 Paul Timms (Cirencester AC) 22.59
28 Alan McAdam 24.55
44 Samantha Timms 28.16
80 Rachel McAdam 49.07
83 finished
Send your running and racing news and photos to Rachel at rachelelisabethbarrow@hotmail.co.uk
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