IT was all about parkruns for Cirencester AC runners last weekend with two victories and races on either side of the world.

Foremost among the events was the inaugural Cirencester parkrun which took place in the grounds of Cirencester Agriculture University. After several weeks of hard work Cirencester AC’s David Lattimore and a large team of helpers from various sources ensured a successful debut despite wet conditions.

The event’s success was capped by victory for Cirencester’s Oliver Pritchard who crossed the line together with Cheltenham’s Andy Gardiner. Not far behind in fourth place were Simon Campbell and promising junior Oliver Middleton in 4th and 17th places. Other Cirencester finishers towards the head of the 208 runners were Steve Derrick, George Masser, who was the winner of the 11 to 14 age category, and Anna Wootton.

Cirencester’s second victory of the day came at Swindon where Isaac McAdam repeated his win of the previous week improving his time by four seconds and crossing the line nearly half-a-minute ahead of any opposition. Martin Croucher was a very commendable ninth with Adam McAdam and Barbara Thomas both in the top half of the 436 finishers.

Elsewhere, in the UK Ruth Fulford was at Gloucester while Nick Holliday and Caroline Cotterell ran at Bognor Regis. Proving that racing doesn’t stop because you are on holiday in the Australian sunshine Rupert Chesmore and Liza Darroch flew the Cirencester colours in a lakeside 5k race in Canberra.

Parkrun results for Cirencester AC members :

Cirencester – 1 equal Oliver Pritchard 19m32s, 4.Simon Campbell 20.32, 17.Oliver Middleton 23.10, 20. Steve Derrick 23.38, 48. George Masser 26.39, 54. Anna Wootton 27.03.

Swindon – 1. Isaac McAdam 17m26s, 9. Martin Croucher 19.39, 89. Adam McAdam 24.14, 200. Barbara Thomas 28.01.

Gloucester North – 67. Ruth Fulford 30m45s.

Bognor Regis – 6.Nick Holliday 21m24s, 16 (2nd lady) Caroline Cotterell 22.58.

Canberra, Australia – 74. Rupert Chesmore 23m08s, 150. Liza Darroch 28.04.

The next event to be organised by Cirencester Athletics Club is the popular 10 mile multi-terrain Chedworth Roman Trail on Sunday 15 April. Last year the maximum entry of 500 was reached and with entries currently 30 per cent ahead of last year anyone planning to run should enter as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. Enter at www.cirencester-ac.org.uk.