Our Fab Four !
Club News
The Strava Segment challenge has now gone live (see club whatsapp). Competition is already hotting up.
Ian Barret equalled the precourse record of 39 seconds on Friday as part of a hill session. Casey Vatcher also ran the segment that day.
However, on Sunday, on the pretext that he "was in the vicinity" Bill Leggate stepped up whilst some of his potential challengers were off at Sharpness (see below) and knocked 1 second off Ian's time to become the undispured (for now) CR holder with an awesome uphill speed of 5.06 min/mile! (GAP 4.37 - gradient adjusted pace).
If you are also in the area do give it a go, although I'm not sure the locals would appreciate the club switching a hill session to there ;-)
{Ed. Pending our chairman’s steer, I’m not mentioning the segment identity on here in case Rob Carmichael is reading this ;-)) }
Cross country
Don’t forget the Glos AAA XC series starts soon – after some very thin turnouts in prior years it would be great to see more normal numbers of members running – you don’t have to be “elite”, just take part! Quiet a few of our ladies have said they'll do it...
Here is the website – note some traffic news relating to the first fixture on 18th October – entries ofr that one close at midnight on 11th October.
Parkruns
No PB’s or milestones spotted this week. Well done to Colin Tapley for the club’s best age-graded score 74% at Cirencester, and good to see Gordon Jones back running.
Bothe welcome and commiserations to very recently re-joined member Chris Goldie, who after enjoying running with the club on both Tuesday and Thursday (an away-day social run from Fire & Flow) unfortunately turned an ankle in the wooded section of the Lydney parkrun course. Hoping its no worse than a sprain Chris.
Cirencester: 5 Toby Conway (J) 20.22, 17 Colin Tapley 21.58, 100 Alan McAdam 26.46,121 Dorian Matts 27.38, 126 Brendan McCarthy 27.44, 171 Amanda Naylor 30.02,205 Jonathan Higgs 32.23, 217 Rachel McAdam 33.41, 233 Gareth James 34.32,278 Clare Tapley 40.07, 318 finished.
Tetbury: 33 Stephen Hale 25.34, 95 Richard Edwards 30.50, 212 finished.
Carterton, Kilkenny Lane: 95 Gordon Jones 33.08, 101 Rachel Jones 33.54, 101 finished.
Newbury, Victoria Park: 203 David Moss 30.03, 333 finished.
Highcliffe Beach, nr. Bournemouth: 48 Ben Francis 23.43, 252 finished.
Belfast, Ormeau: 41 Martin Croucher 21.02, 714 finished.
3rd October Isle of Wight 5km
Rob Tuttle did a fun-sounding race, although we haven’t found results for it -
“On the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, an absolutely lovely 5km run with about 40 other runners, with a short steam train journey from Havenstreet to Wootton stations and a 'race the train' back to Havenstreet.”
4 October 2026, Sharpness ‘4’
Cirencester AC fielded a team of 8 for the second year of the Sharpness 4-mile road race.
Dave Wright reported it was a foggy morning at the Docks meaning a cool start, but things soon warmed up on a "nicely undulating course".
Aaron Willis went out hard and felt good.
“Last hill was tough but very happy. Calves in pieces at the end. Great race!"
Rich Allen fills in some more detail (thanks a lot Rich)
“A great little 4-mile race, organised by Dursley Running Club, located in the historic Sharpness Docks. This year it featured as a Glos AAA fixture as well as a Club fixture (see below), so plenty of points on offer for those chasing some end-of-season bling. Having raced the inaugural event last year, I had a slightly better idea of how I wanted to pace it (essentially 5k pace then cling on for dear life for the final mile or so!). It’s a relatively fast course on quiet roads with a couple of cheeky little hills to keep things interesting. I set off at a controlled pace for the first mile in a group with a couple of Western Tempo runners and Club Captain Aaron, who is in fine form this season. Unsurprisingly, Aaron soon pushed ahead and continued to grow the gap. I stuck with the Western Tempo guys, overtaking them at mile two, then had the joy of them breathing down my neck for the next mile before I finally managed to drop them on the last hill. Thankfully, the last half mile is mostly downhill so I was able to finish strong in 5th position overall and 1st MV45, just a few seconds slower than my time last year (luckily for me Aaron, who is also MV45, finished 3rd overall, so I probably owe him some of my liquorice allsorts). Winning the mixed team award with Kate and Charlotte was a nice surprise and the cherry on top!
Well done to all the other club runners.”
Both captains made their respective podium, there were 4 age group prizes but best of all the club won the team prize thanks to Aaron, Rich, Kate J and Charlotte pictured below
Well done guys, must be a contender for the Team of the Year award.
After struggling with some hot summer evening races this year, Pam Wheeler was very happy to run what she judged to be her best race for 18 months, appreciating perfect weather conditions as the sun broke through the heavy mist just prior to start. She also mentioned the course was "undulating" (Ed. - but not “nicely” so like Dave Wright 🤣).
3 Aaron Willis (Cirencester AC) 21.57 – 1st V45
5 Rich Allen 22.41
20 Kate Jacobs 24.39 – 2nd lady / 1st FV45
30 Dave Wright 26.08
43 Charlotte Wilton 28.00 – 7th lady / 1st FV50
78 Kate Kilby 31.17 – 1st FV65
134 Pam Wheeler 39.41
154 Ruth Fulford 46.11
158 finished
Club Championship standings
With only one fixture left, the Cirencester HM, or any marathon by the same date, Brian Harris looks set to lose the lead he had held since the Bourton mile to Aaron Willis assuming he runs the Ciren HM. On the ladies side, Charlotte Wilton’s late push looks like it will pay off, unless Kate Jacobs has a quick marathon up her sleeve (as well as the Ciren HM).
Here are the top 5 men and ladies with one race to go.
106 Brian Harris 117 Charlotte Wilton
97 Aaron Willis 103 Pam Wheeler
74 Rich Allen 91 Kate Kilby
62 Dave Wright 80 Kate Jacobs
56 Mike Hobbs 63 Ruth Fulford
County Road Race standings
The official tables haven't been updated yet, but most of our runners at Sharpness are in the running (sorry) for a medal of some colour. Update nearer the last fixture (Guy Fawkes 5 miles on 1st November).
Finally, two race results which we know no more about :-
On Saturday 3rd Barbara Thomas ran the 6.5 mile trail “quarter marathon at Apperley near Tewkesbury.
On Sunday 4th Joyce Matthews clocked up another HM, this time Manchester, in 1.37.04.
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