Cirencester Athletics Club

Druids Challenge

AFTER a large turn-out of Cirencester AC club members for last week's opening of the cross country season this week saw a more selective but varied participation in races.

Howard Ewan took on the 85-mile long Druids Challenge which occupies three whole days along The Ridgeway.

Although Howard is relatively new to ultra running he acclimatised well after some early nutritional problems and battled against wet and windy weather to finish an excellent 18th out of the 190 starters.

Sodbury Slog

ANOTHER to take on a stern challenge was Jill Hadland who made her regular entry into the Sodbury Slog which she claims is her favourite race despite it being many miles of gruelling bogs, rough fields and deep mud.

Despite the conditions she knocked four minutes off last year's time to finish in a creditable 1hr 23min.

Coventry 5k

LADIES' team captain Jo Musk showed that she is getting back to full fitness by finishing first lady and 20th overall in the Coventry 5k in a time of 20min 22sec.

Parkruns

ALSO racing over 5k were three of Cirencester's regular Parkrun competitors.

Colin Tapley and Barbara Thomas stayed close to home but Martin Croucher took the opportunity to fit in the Sydney Parkrun before ending his Australian holiday.

He upheld British honour with an fine run into 26th place in 20.30 despite a steep hill and the summer heat.

Colin did well to finish 13th at Banbury in 21.38 while Barbara made a change from her usual Swindon Parkrun to race at Cheltenham where she won her age category in 27.14.

Gloucestershire Cross Country League

Although many club members were competing at the opening round of the Oxford Cross Country League the previous week two of the club's outstanding performances came at the second round of the Gloucestershire League at Malvern.

The Izod sisters, Lauren and Sophie, had superb runs to finish third in their respective races against the best youngsters in the county.

Lauren was in the U15 race clocking 21.02 while her younger sister took just 7.22 to complete the U11 race.