Hoping its ok with the readership, going forwards we plan to include some club-related non-results news in this weekly “report” from time to time. However, do please still look out for other newsfeed items. {Ed. This post is from Brian, even though it says from Pam!}
As it seems to have been an unusually quiet week for racing, let’s start with two pieces of non-results news, before covering Parkrun.
Changes at the top
The committee is delighted to let members know that they have identified a successor, Luke Campbell, to take over as chair from Pam Wheeler. Whilst the formal handover will be at next year’s AGM, Luke (who is already on the committee) and Pam will work together in the meantime to ensure that Luke will “hit the ground running”.
The committee would still be keen to hear from volunteers potentially interested in becoming Secretary – please contact Ruth Fulford to find out in confidence what that might entail.
{Ed. expect a proper tribute to what Pam and Ruth have done for the club around the time of the AGM.}
Coaching update and 2025 County road race series
The coaches are thinking about aiming for next year’s series of Gloucestershire County road races to give an added purpose to the winter/spring training sessions. Whereas our ladies have been extremely successful this season, our men have been less well represented. The Tuesday sessions won’t necessarily change that much, but the coaches hope that having some shared target races to train for will encourage more of you to come along and rekindle that competitive spirit.
For those of you not familiar with the county competition, a club can register a team score at any race with just 3 finishers, but they don’t have to be the same runners from race to race. So, if enough of our faster runners were up for it, and with some co-ordination (and luck getting entries), each of them might only have to run say 4-6 races across the season.
{Note from Ed. – whilst success on a team basis would probably need our fastest runners to be participating regularly, on an individual basis it's worth noting that recently (for veterans) you definitely didn’t have to be a Kate Jacobs or Dave Bell to do well. You do need to finish a minimum of 5 of the 12 races, with up to 8 counting towards your total score for the series. But, depending on how competitive the 5-year age-group you’re in is (which can vary a lot), runners with moderate ability who are consistent can finish ahead of brilliant but inconsistent or injury-prone runners over the course of the season. This year, athletes in some age-groups will certainly be collecting some bling after running less than the full 8 races.}
As you start to think about next season’s running goals, maybe in a team context as well as individual, you can find more details about the series at https://www.athletics4u.co.uk/road-running/
The draft county fixture list is as follows, and most but not quite all of the county races will also count towards the club championship (more about that in a few weeks time).
Jan 26th Boddington 10 (not yet open, but expected soon)
Mar 23rd Berkeley Fission 20 (entries already open, google Rogue Racers)
May 9th Bourton One Mile
May/Jun Stroud Beer Race
Jun 11th Cirencester 10k (our home fixture)
Jul Blaisdon 10k
Aug Bugatti 10k
Aug Haresfield 5k
Sep Angels 10k Club
Sep Bourton Hilly Half
Oct Sharpness 4
Nov Guy Fawkes 5
On the road
Whilst the bad weather cancellation of the Great South Run, a very large 10 miler on the coast at Portsea/Southsea made the national news, more locally Abingdon marathon did go ahead, albeit without any club members this year.
Off-road
Again, no races that we spotted, but various reports on Strava this week of members involuntarily involved more in watersports than running due to the weather ;-) my favourite being Dave Musgrove’s “Runderwater” in and around the Cotswold Water Parks
Parkrun
Furthest afield this week by some way (has anyone got further away, but still within the UK?) was Charles Woodd up in the Isle of Bute.
Nearer to home, and in rather wet conditions, all three of the Forbes clan finished ahead of their clubmates at Cirencester, although first home Heath was just behind Pam Wheeler and Ruth Fulford, all three in the top 10 on an age-graded basis. Not to forget the unsung heroes - volunteering credits went to Helen Manners, Ann Sherrington and Neil Broadley this week.
Lastly, across the county border in Lydiard Park, new triathlete member Andy Duff set another course PB of 20:15, hoping to get closer to his Parkrun PB of 19:36 set at Seven Fields earlier this year.
Cirencester: 13 Heath Forbes (J) 22.25, 14 Rob Forbes 22.26, 25 Otis Forbes (J) 23.54,35 Ben Hilditch 25.19, 44 Neil Broadley 26.12, 46 Rachel Ranger 26.20, 73 Pam Wheeler 29.50, 92 Kirsty Leggate 31.55, 112 Ruth Fulford 34.48, 150 finished.
Tetbury: 31 Alan McAdam 27.12, 140 Rachel McAdam 48.15, 146 finished.
Lydiard Park, Swindon: 17 Andy Duff 20:15, 106 Gordon Jones 25.47, 366 finished.
Chippenham: 145 James Hunton 34.08, 177 finished.
Dinton Pastures, Wokingham: 19 Martin Croucher 22.21, 232 finished.
Prospect Park, Reading: 72 Jocelyn Randall 31.06, 122 finished.
Fulham Palace: 91 Paul Timms 24.32, 286 Samantha Timms 31.12, 429 finished.
Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute, Scotland: 17 Charles Woodd 28.20, 56 finished.
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