Cirencester Athletics and Triathlon Club Report

Gloucestershire XC League, Charlton Park, Malmesbury

As we approach the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI, the wondered yet again “Where have all the young men gone?” when, for the second meet of the Gloucestershire Cross Country League, they were able to field three ladies teams while the men struggled to produce the six needed for a single team.

Everyone enjoyed a flat, dry course at Charlton Park although the quality field resulted in the ladies teams finishing in 14th, 24th and 35th positions, despite having Jo Musk and Nicola Denning (great to have them both back competing after long lay-offs with injury) and Lexi Shea in the top 50. But a certain ‘maturity’ enabled the teams to finish in 5th, 11th and 23rd places in the Masters Champs. Meanwhile the men’s team also managed to field three (Bill Leggatte, James Thomas and Oliver Pritchard) in the top 50 and so to also finish in 14th place.

Ladies

1 Heather Fell (Team Bath AC) 25.36

41 Jo Musk (Cirencester AC) 30.16

43 Nicola Denning 30.23

49 Alexis Shea 30.45

59 Kate Sackett 31.18

76 Karen Higuera 32.30

101 Jo Roberts 34.19

111 Liz Thomas 35.01

113 Sarah Whitehouse 35.05

149 Pam Wheeler 38.46

157 Helen Manners 41.00 171 finished

Teams (3 to score):

1 Cheltenham & County Harriers 14pts, 14 Cirencester AC 133pts, 24 Cirencester AC 'B' 236pts, 35 Cirencester AC 'C' 373pts, 39 closed in

Masters (3 to score):

1 Forest of Dean AC 66pts, 5 Cirencester AC 133pts, 11 Cirencester AC 'B' 236pts, 23 Cirencester AC 'C' 419pts, 26 closed in.

Men

1 Alex Lawrence (Bath University) 32.40

25 Bill Leggate (Cirencester AC) 34.42

39 James Thomas 35.36

50 Oliver Pritchard 36.21

94 Aaron Willis 39.30

198 Keith Firkin 45.14

219 Dorian Matts 47.28 249 finished

Teams (6 to score):

1 Cheltenham & County Harriers 53pts, 14 Cirencester AC 625pts, 25 closed in

It was exciting to see two junior teams finishing 6th and 7th. Sisters Millie and Izzy Chudley were helped by Eleanor Sheffield in the U11 girls and Henry Sheffield won the U13 Boys to be supported by Zac Humphries and Tom Williams. In the U15 Boys, ……Archie Sheffield was 7th and Sam Cook18th and in the U17/U20 boys Ollie Campbell was 2nd U17 and 5th overall while (young) Luke Buck was 15th.

U11 Girls

12 Millie Chudley (Cirencester AC) 11.00

28 Eleanor Sheffield 11.49

41 Izzy Chudley 12.34

Team (3 to score): 1 Cheltenham & County Harriers 10pts, 6 Cirencester AC 81pts

U13 Boys

1 Henry Sheffield (Cirencester AC) 12.49

29 Zac Humphries 15.15

35 Tom Williams 15.21

39 Henry Broadley 15.36

45 Andrew Woods 16.23

Team (3 to score): 1 Worcester AC 22pts, 7 Cirencester AC 65pts

U15 Boys

7 Archie Sheffield (Cirencester AC) 17.16

18 Sam Cook 19.00

U17/U20 Boys

5 Ollie Campbell (Cirencester AC) 24.37 - 2nd U17

15 Luke Buck (Cirencester AC) 26.19

Guy Fawkes '5', Tewkesbury, 5 miles road

At Tewkesbury, Karen Higuera did not let an unpleasant combination of bonfire smoke and a wheezy chest stop her winning her FV50 age group but it did spoil her chances of a hoped for PB.

1 Marcus England (Cheltenham & County Harriers) 26.21

88 Karen Higuera (Cirencester AC) 36.58 - 1st FV50 390 finished

Marlow 7 miles trail

At Marlow, Kate Fitton and Dave Moss both scampered round 7 wet, off road miles in little over 60 minutes to finish well up the field.

1 James Samson (Datchet Dashers) 40.07

119 Kate Fitton (Cirencester AC) 1.00.46 (chip time 59.33)

132 David Moss 1.02.25 (1.01.11)

492 finished.

Venice Marathon, Italy, 26.2 miles road

Last weekend saw Italy lashed by storm force winds and serious flooding making nearly all of the exposed course of the Venice marathon super tough and miserably wet so Sarah Whitehouse was particularly relieved (and pleased) to wade over the finish line despite ankle deep icy water.

1 Gebre Ayenew (Ethiopia) 2.13.23

3269 Sarah Whitehouse (Cirencester AC) 4.40.05 (chip time 4.37.17)

4912 finished.

parkruns, 5km trail

Run of the week to Isaac McAdam who won at Swindon although he failed to threaten his PB despite tough training at Loughborough University. Congratulations too, to Rachel McAdam who finally managed to knock 9 seconds from her “usual” time and to Simon Campbell who was 3rd at Cirencester. Good to see Jon Young having a go for the first time at Cirencester and Caroline Cotterell going well at Worcester.

Cirencester AC finishers:

Cirencester: 3 Simon Campbell 19.52, 20 Jon Young 22.51, 158 finished

Swindon: 1 Isaac McAdam 17.32, 108 Alan McAdam 24.15, 155 Rachel McAdam 26.09, 184 Barbara Thomas 26.53, 484 finished

Cambridge: 322 Thomas McNally 30.17, 498 finished

Worcester Pitchcroft: 33 Caroline Cotterell 20.52, 239 finished