IF YOU thought a marathon was a long distance run spare a thought for Cirencester's Richard Hurdle who has just completed an 184-mile race from the Thames Barrier at Greenwich to the source of the Thames near Cirencester.

Athletics

Cirencester Athletics Club

Richard set off at 10am on a Friday morning with 80 other ultra runners but by the finish all but 18 had dropped out of the gruelling event. Richard finished a brilliant fourth out of the

survivors, crossing the line in just under 59 hours.

He had to carry all his food, drink and equipment needed throughout the run and navigate his route alongside the Thames, his only support coming from wife Hayley and a

few club colleagues encouraging him at various points.

Severn Bridge Half Marathon

BARBARA THOMAS has probably run more miles this year than Richard but in rather easier stages.

Her latest exploits include the Severn Bridge Half Marathon featuring a crossing of the old Severn Bridge in which she finished in the top half of her age category in 2hr 11min 52sec. She was also runner-up in her class at the White Horse 5k, clocking 24.25 and won her age category again in her weekly Swindon Park Run, this time finishing 140th out of a record 440 finishers in a time of 24.58.

Also representing the club at Swindon were Howard Ewan, who ran his usual strong race to finish 12th in 19.32; Gordon Jones, who was second M60 in 22.12, while Dave Moss and Ed Morris had a gentle jog round with members of their respective families.

County Championships

CIRENCESTER AC was represented by three of the club's faster runners in the County Championships on the Cheltenham track.

In the 10,000 metres, Adrian Williams returned from holiday to finish sixth in 35.39,

followed nine seconds later by Bill Leggate in eighth and Simon Campbell 15th with 37.44 which was a very good effort by Simon who had earlier broken the five-minute barrier in the one mile race finishing fifth in 4.58.

Westonbirt Challenge Triathlon

THE club's triathletes also had a busy weekend of racing. Trudy Compton finished third in her age group in the 500m swim, 30km cycle and 8km run Westonbirt Challenge Triathlon with a

time of 2:02.06 for 36th place.

Chris Riches tackled the slightly shorter event at the same venue finishing a commendable 52nd out of 166 finishers in 1:26.33.

Oxford Sprint Triathlon

AT THE Oxford Sprint Triathlon it was Terry Ranger's turn to uphold club honours, finishing 33rd out of 129 finishers in 1:20.05.

Cotswold Classic

HOWEVER, the best performance of the

weekend came from Robert Abraham who was 10th out of over 500 competitors at the Cotswold Classic which consisted of a 1.9km swim, 56m cycle and 13m run in and around the Cotswold Water Park.

His finishing time of 4:16.43 included the second fastest bike time.