Men's team win at Fairford
- brian17harris
- Jun 9
- 4 min read
40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS – SATURDAY 28TH JUNE, RAU
PLEASE CONTINUE TO KEEP THIS DATE FREE AND LOOK OUT FOR MORE DETAILS VERY SOON
The racing week kicked off with the “Hogweed Trot”, a 10k road race just outside of Yate, organised by the Hogweed Trotters Running Club, and forming part of the Avon county road champs. Over the “flat, fast course on quiet rural roads” club triathlete Jack Bonnick finished in a creditable 9th place in a field of 335. His time of 37.31 was his fastest so far recorded on either Strava or poweroften but not apparently a PB, although Jack enjoyed the run and some fast food afterwards.
But the main event of the week was the keenly awaited Fairford 10k on Sunday 8th June, this year in our club championship series but not in the Glos AAA series (because it’s the Sizzler’s turn). With a lot of members living in the Fairford area it was no surprise the club had plenty of runners in action, and also plenty supporting along the way (including Martin, Rupert, Bob, Colin, Nicola, Rachel J, and Clare).
After the Ladies successes last season on the roads, this time it was the men’s team’s turn to win something. {Ed. I suspect our ladies team may have been keeping their powder dry for the Sizzler a few days later).
Dave Bell (in his last season before V40) took a podium place in 3rd, just holding off oldie team mate Rob Forbes in 4th (their Strava times of 35.08 were identical). Completing the winning team was men’s captain Aaron Willis in 10th.
Dave reckoned he had
“a decent run on that course today and managed to keep effort fairly consistent even with hills. Had to work hard to keep Mr Forbes from hunting me down! - it felt a bit like I was being chased down similar to that scene in Jurassic Park with the T-Rex in the wing mirror 😅 https://youtu.be/d1px_dl5t5E?si=hzDSb3Oim3sxbKRW ”.
As an ultra specialist, it was only Rob Forbes’ 3rd 10k, at least recorded on poweroften, where his official PB stood at 34:56 from way back in 2017. So his Strava comment
“Happy with that given not the fastest course”
looks more than a bit modest given he was so close to breaking 35 minutes, and was almsot a minute ahead of the 2nd placed MV40.
Aaron was a bit disappointed not to break 37 minutes, but it was his first race since his record-breaking marathon debut, so hopefully the speed will return to his legs over the course of the season.
Another local, Simon Campbell was a tad slower than in previous years, but not many could run inside 43 minutes after just a few weeks of training.
None of the faster men were in the group photo below
James Widdowson was pleased to return to the sub-50 club with his 48:28 chip time, firmly putting behind him an injury that knocked him out of the Stroud Half last October. He had hoped to go faster on the downhill sections but was overall happy to keep every km time under 5 minutes.
Club President Pam Wheeler was over the moon to be able to run her first proper race in over 5 years (her regular Parkrunning aside) and particularly appreciated the support from club members around the course.
Liza Darroch reports that the club members mood was upbeat, and most had survived the hilly first half well enough to really enjoy the downhill miles that follow - especially as the sun shone and the Ridgeway made a blue line along the horizon.
For herself Liza ran significantly better than last time (2023) and almost as well as 2022 which feels like something to celebrate {Ed – Agreed!}. “To average 10.31 minute miles counts as a real achievement these days.”
8 June 2025, Fairford 10km, road
1 Matthew Lock (Witney RR) 32.13
3 David Bell (Cirencester AC) 35.07
4 Rob Forbes 35.08 – 1st V40
10 Aaron Willis 37.19
42 Simon Campbell 42.58
89 James Widdowson 48.41
110 Phil Davey 51.04
136 Jonathan Higgs 53.14
185 Jocelyn Randall 57.38
214 Pam Wheeler 1.00.30
233 Gordon Jones 1.02.59
259 Liza Darroch 1.05.38
304 finished
Team: Men; 1st Cirencester AC (Bell, Forbes, Willis)
PARKRUNS
We had fewer parkrunners than usual at fewer events this week, but the club was well represented on the volunteering side at Cirencester – Helen Manners, Brendan Mccarthy, Phil Davey, and Rob Tuttle.
On the course, Rich Allen bagged another win and with sub-6 minute average pace was comfortably ahead of the 2nd placed runner.
Karen Higuera was best athlete on an age-graded basis (81.8%).
Cirencester: 1 Rich Allen 18.32, 22 Jon Young 22.53, 29 Karen Higuera 23.24,32 Paul Timms 23.32, 140 Jocelyn Randall 29.00, 169 Samantha Timms 30.11,230 Bill Leggate 33.27, 245 Ruth Fulford 35.20, 305 finished.
Tetbury: 35 Stephen Hale 25.26, 159 finished.
Southwick Country Park, Trowbridge: 14 Martin Croucher 21.17, 222 finished.
NEXT NEWSLETTER
Your editor will be abroad next weekend – if he can’t produce the newsletter from an ipad, it will be published by Wednesday 18th. Before then you should be able to find results on our website at https://www.cirencesterac.com/results
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