On Saturday Martin Croucher took on his latest big challenge when he completed the London Brighton race. Its not the first time Martin has tackled this one. He tells us a bit about his day.
“I decided to take on the London 2 Brighton challenge at the weekend. Advertised as a 100k, in reality 106km, so a few free extra km’s to negotiate, but hey, what does it matter. It just means you get better value for money.”
“On what was the hottest day of the year so far, the race starts in Old Deer Park in Richmond, spends a few miles along the Thames path before we run through Kingston and the suburbs to find the trails. Along the way we meander through neighbourhoods, through a train station and even hooked up with part of the Non Such Park parkrun around 9am!! Encouraging words were given from everyone.”
“Up and over the North Downs before a descent underneath the M25. Through fields and trails until the welcome halfway point just before Crawley. Plenty of food was consumed before I continued on through the challenging heat of the day. Real respite only came around 7pm when it finally started to cool and coupled with a rather yummy cheese and ham toastie at 80km, my legs started to work again over the final 20km or so as we neared Brighton. One final hill at Ditchling Beacon was walked up although not as bad as I had feared since it was dark and couldn’t see the top.”
“A great finish at Brighton racecourse ensued after nearly 17 hours on my feet, although looking at my stats, my watch said I wasn’t moving for nearly 3 hours 20 minutes of that time (sitting and refuelling instead!)” “The race is great encompassing runners and walkers alike. Various distances can be completed and the course signage is simply incredible for a race of that distance.” “All in all, a fun and epic journey with amazing views of the countryside.”
Another brilliant run from Martin and marathon number 125 in the bag!
David Wright was in 5K action again last week, this time at the second of five races in the Lakeside 5k series in Portsmouth. His blistering 20.04 finish not only took 1st MV65 spot but is also a new club MV65 record for the distance.
Amongst many others, David now holds the club 5k records from MV45 to MV65. Congratulations to him. There are three more races in the series over the coming months so we should watch this space.
24th May, Lakeside 5K Series (Race 2), 5k road
1 Joe Walton (Southampton AC) 15.48
82 David Wright (Cirencester AC) 20.04 – 1st MV65
156 finished
Conditions on Minchinhampton Common yesterday evening were decidedly cold and windy and made the undulating, three lap route of the Stroud Beer Race pretty tough going.
The 7.2 mile road race was the latest in the County Road Race series for 2023 and there were plenty of points earned with some great age group placings from club members.
For somebody who says he only likes flat courses, Brecht Grieten put in another fine performance to finish 9th overall. He says he may have gone out a little quick but settled into the right pace and rhythm and found he was passing people in the second half of the race.
Brian Harris found it a challenging course and so was really pleased to finish 2nd MV60 and place ahead of two gentlemen in his age group who regularly run faster than him. Brian also pointed out that the 1st placed MV60 appears to have set a new age group course record, taking 20 seconds off the one set in 2008 by our own Tony Shelbourn.
Kate Sackett placed 1st FV60 ***(Kate advised that results aren’t correct due to a mix up with her and partner Andys numbers). Nicola Denning and Carole Rayner worked hard together to finish under the hour and place 2nd FV50 and 1st FV55 respectively.
Andy Hindson has never done Stroud Beer Race before and declared that he never wants to do it again and Rupert Chesmore definitely looked to be in agreement with that! He thanked Liza very much for entering him in the race........at least we think that's what he said.....
Ruth Fulford brought home the Cirencester team with yet another FV75 1st place to add to her growing collection. Ruth also found out this week that her excellent run in the recent Bristol 10k has officially earned her a place in the Age Group Masters Championship event in Birmingham next May.
Well done to all who gritted their teeth to finish a tough race in less than ideal conditions. And a mention for Dave Witnall who had a great run in his RSE vest finishing 39th overall. We are his second claim club but he is an active member of our coaching team.
31st May, Stroud Beer Race, 7.2 miles, road
1 Lee Stopford (Stroud and District AC) 38.49 - chip time
9 Brecht Grieten (Cirencester AC) 43.28
36 Brian Harris 50.29 – 2nd MV60
*** 81 Kate Sackett 58.33 – 1st FV60 ***
103 Nicola Denning 59.46 – 2nd FV50
105 Carole Rayner 59.48 – 1st FV55
113 Andy Hindson 1.01.03
129 Rupert Chesmore 1.04.23
160 Ruth Fulford 1.18.01 – 1st FV75
165 finished
Loads of the usual fantastic parkrunning this week.
There was a great bit of friendly competition between Gordon and Alan at Lydiard this week. New club member Jake Yeo ran at Worcester for the first time. Dave Bell and Ollie Campbell found holiday parkruns and finished 1st and 2nd respectively at their chosen venues. MUCH further afield was Luke Campbell in South Africa.
There was a big club turnout at Cirencester where Rob Forbes was second with a new course PB. Junior Rory Brown also ran a new PB. Rachel Ranger was 3rd lady. Brendan McCarthy is fast approaching his 100th parkrun. Pam Wheeler exactly matched her time from last week, her best since 2019.
Kate Sackett ran at Ross-on-Wye for the first time with an impressive 81.55% age graded time.
Thanks to Brian for pointing out that last week at Cirencester Ian Barrett set a new MV50 age group course record with his 18.23 finish.
27th May, parkrun, 5k, trail
Lydiard parkrun
1 Simon Nott 15.07
95 Gordon Jones (Cirencester AC) 24.36
96 Alan McAdam 24.39
115 Rachel McAdam 25.32
388 finished
Worcester parkrun
1 Luke Jones
104 Jake Yeo (Cirencester AC) 25.34
427 finished
Lymington Woodside parkrun
1 Dave Bell (Cirencester AC)
170 finished
Eden Project parkrun
1 Jon Like 16.13
2 Ollie Campbell (Cirencester AC) 16.52
354 finished
Harcourt Hill parkrun
1 George Roberts 17.01
100 Colin Tapley (Cirencester AC) 34.56
113 finished
Thousand Hills parkrun
1 Lindo Ntuli 22.42
5 Luke Campbell (Cirencester AC) 26.22
57 finished
Cirencester parkrun
1 Michael Gilbert 17.23
2 Rob Forbes (Cirencester AC) 17.28
10 Brian Harris 21.06
26 Paul Timms 22.56
27 Benjamin Conway 22.57
41 Rory Brown 23.51
42 Rob Brown 23.52
43 Rachel Ranger 24.10 – 3rd lady
55 Dorian Matts 25.19
58 Gary Wood 25.23
80 Jocelyn Randall 26.58
92 Brendan McCarthy 27.44
102 Pamela Wheeler 28.54
152 Lorna Harris 34.04
200 finished
Tetbury Goods Shed parkrun
1 Ed Bailey 18.36
99 Helen Cue (Cirencester AC) 36.53
117 finished
Ross-on-Wye parkrun
1 Danny Knight 18.14
28 Kate Sackett (Cirencester AC) 24.29
The Cinder Track parkrun, Whitby
1 Tom Calvert 16.52
17 Neil Morrissey (Cirencester AC) 21.10
170 finished
Please send your news to Rachel at rachelelisabethbarrow@hotmail.co.uk and more importantly a link to your race results to Martin at cirenacresults@gmail.com