Not just Bourton
- brian17harris
- Feb 23
- 3 min read
Firstly, an omission from last week - whilst some other members didnt run as planned, Keith Firkin did run the 10 mile race at Bramley last Sunday, finishing in 1:17.59. The second half of his race went well after what may have been (in hindsight?) too slow a start.
CROSS-COUNTRY
The club’s sole representative at the Nationals on Saturday, at a very muddy Parliament Hill, was Toby Conway (U13) who came 267th over the 3km course. Toby says
"It was intimidating to run with so many people, but it was a great experience. There were some monster hills and the very thick mud was a true killer!"
Well done for flying the flag Toby, and for the second consecutive weekend (Glos county finale last week).
ROAD RACING
The Bourton 10k (see below) wasn’t the only race this weekend where club colours were on show.
· Andy Duff travelled up North to Pocklington in Yorkshire for his 4th time of doing the Snake Lane 10. He finished high up in a large field and given the windy conditions was pleased with his time of 65:46 which was just outside his PB.
· Alex Banks was racing for the third consecutive weekend, this time at the Wokingham half, so “not much pep in the legs” can be forgiven. With the winner clocking 65.30 and 409 runners finishing ahead of Alex’s 1:27.30, maybe lot of good runners were using it as part of their Spring marathon build up. {Ed. from personal experience this is a fairly flat and fast course if you are interested next year for marathon warm up or a PB, although maybe take the previous 2 weekends off from racing ;-) }.
· And, perhaps explaining his 50th different parkrun location (see below), Martin Croucher took on the Tonbridge Wells HM, finishing in 1.49.24. The organisers say “The course is one of the most testing and picturesque on the racing calendar. The one-lap circuit through some of the finest countryside in Kent includes a few notable hills, among which Spring Hill on the approach to Fordcombe should be mentioned in particular.”
CLUB ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIP
A full 20 members turned out for the 2nd race in our club championships, the Bourton 10k. 13 of them made it for a group photo (credit Tommy Payne).
The standings after 2 races can be found here
Our ladies team finished 3rd, and there were age-group wins went to Kate Jacobs FV45, who ran her fastest 10k since 2015 with impressively even pacing, and Liza Darroch FV75 – congratulations both ladies.
Chairman-elect Luke Campbell was delighted with his pacing and his position, which he improved over the mile. With sub-38 minutes ticked off earlier, he has the rest of the season to break through the 37-minute barrier.
{Ed. – I didn’t have any specific contributions submitted towards a race report, and wasn’t there unfortunately, but it seems like a bit of a mixed bag of individual experiences ranging from “best time in several years” through to “feeling rough, probably shouldn’t have run”, via “if only I could have sustained that pace for the second half”. }
PARKRUNS
The first thing that I noticed in looking at this weekend’s set of results below was that there was either a weird fluke or a skilful bit of planning by Martin Croucher. Tonbridge was his 50th different Parkrun location, but he also finished in 50th place. What do you think?
In atrocious conditions at Cirencester, the club’s strong showing over recent months continued with our runners filling 1st 2ndand 4th. Rob Forbes notched up another win (and age-group win) whilst Heath Forbes in 4th was only 7s off his PB, which must surely improve when the conditions do.
Between the Forbes and dipping under 20 minutes, new teen member Ben Clarke, was running the Ciren course for the first time.
Cirencester: 1 Rob Forbes 18.39, 2 Benjamin Clarke (J) 19.54, 4 Heath Forbes (J) 20.50,30 Neil Broadley 25.20, 39 Rachel Ranger 26.07, 70 Dorian Matts 29.20, 73 Brendan McCarthy 29.30, 94 Jocelyn Randall 31.10, 185 finished.
Tetbury: 51 Paul Timms 24.09, 120 Samantha Timms 30.20, 199 finished.
Swindon, Lydiard Park: 188 David Moss 28.20, 443 finished.
Swindon, Seven Fields: 30 Wendy Nicholls 23.27, 186 finished.
Bristol, Blaise Castle: 47 Alan McAdam 26.58, 71 Rachel McAdam 28.38, 225 finished.
Oxford, Cutteslowe & Sunnymead Parks: 106 Phil Davey 24.59, 469 finished.
Poole, Upton House: 177 Richard Edwards 29.36, 354 finished.
Tonbridge: 50 Martin Croucher 24.02, 498 finished.
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