Cirencester Athletics Club

Henry Sheffield capped his cross country season with a superb triumph at national level by finishing a fantastic 13th in the Inter-County Cross Country Champs. Competition was at its highest level at Loughborough with entrants fighting for places in the World Cross Country Champs after qualifying with top level performances at County Level.

With a maximum of ten selected to represent Gloucestershire in each event, our small club was proudly represented by four of our fastest.

Luke Buck battled bravely against bigger lads in the U17s and James Thomas had to reattach his spike after being clipped from behind but put best foot forward to finish 3rd home for the county with Oli Pritchard coming in two minutes later.

Inter-County Cross Country Champs, Prestwold Hall, Loughborough

U13 Boys (3km):

1 Ben Peck (Suffolk) 11.46

13 Henry Sheffield (Gloucestershire / Cirencester AC) 12.27 300 finished

U17 Men (6km):

1 Sam Charlton (North East Counties) 18.48

268 Luke Buck (Wiltshire / Cirencester AC) 23.53 283 finished

Men (10km):

1 Adam Hickey (Essex) 32.44

238 James Thomas (Gloucestershire / Cirencester AC) 39.31

283 Oliver Pritchard 41.44 293 finished.

Grizzly 20 miles multi terrain with over 3000’ ascent

Richard Hurdle finished in the top 200 of the old and famous Grizzly.

Despite injury he was unable to resist a late place in this event which has attracted those in search of “super tough” for many years.

Add winds gusting up to 60mph and deep mud to the leg chewing shingle and they had TOUGH this year. Making Paul Edrich‘s time, a massive 15 minute quicker than his last, very impressive but not so surprising given his increased weekly mileage in pursuit of a target of 2019 miles to be run by the end of the year.

1 Ceri Rees 2.19.37

184 Richard Hurdle (Cirencester A C) 3.08.59

546 Paul Edrich – 3:41:24 1589 finished

Grizzly Cub 10 miles multi terrain

Paul’s partner, Nicola Wood found the Cub race over crowed with stationary queues and single file running proving frustrating.

326 Nicola Wood 2:01:55 590 finished

Larmer Tree Marathon, nr Salisbury, 26.2 miles trail

James Widdowson was happy, but well out of his comfort zone, running in ice, hail and bitter winds near Salisbury.

The second half of the Larmer Tree marathon forced him to dig deep and ignore aching legs as he battled his way to the infamous “Love Station” where shots of schnapps and lipstick leaving kisses from the marshals helped to complete the steep hills of the last six miles.

With winds gusting up to gale force the final 400m proved the toughest (and slowest?) of them all.

1 Roger Hayes (Teignmouth Trotters) 3.34.22

135 James Widdowson (Cirencester AC) 5.13.20 317 finished.

March 10, 2019, Minchinhampton 10km, road

Mark Sysum finished 15th in the Minchinhampton 10k on a course which involved plunging downhill for 5k only to toil back up it, metre by metre, to the finish. He was followed by Rachel Barrow who, like Mark, did well to add only minutes to her recent 10k time at Bourton.

Barbara Thomas found the going harder and Paul Barrow was just thrilled to be competing.

1 Neil Kennedy (Bristol & West AC) 36.13

15 Mark Sysum (Cirencester AC) 42.13

231 Rachel Barrow 59.48

285 Barbara Thomas 1.03.41

384 Paul Barrow 1.15.27 409 finished.

Amersham Ultra, 29 miles trail

Martin Croucher went to Amersham looking only for “time on his feet” and so was satisfied with a controlled marathon over Chilterns trails followed by final four mile push.

1 David Alson 3.48.56

41 Martin Croucher (Cirencester AC) 5.08.53 184 finished.

parkruns, 5km trail

Cirencester saw success with Ian Barrett winning, Nicola Denning finishing 1st lady and Simon Campbell celebrating his 50th parkrun by taking baby Hugo on his very first buggy race. Kate Sackett went well in Workington and Thomas McNally popped up in Auckland.

Cirencester AC finishers:

Cirencester: 1 Ian Barrett 19.05, 11 Nicola Denning (1st lady) 23.14,

39 Simon Campbell 25.17, 43 Alan McAdam 25.32, 73 Rachel McAdam 27.49,

80 Pam Wheeler 28.42, 104 Ruth Fulford 31.49, 158 finished

Swindon: 147 Chris Prevett 26.15, 238 Barbara Thomas 29.20, 515 finished

Worcester Pitchcroft: 140 Liz Thomas 26.39, 357 finished

Workington: 16 Kate Sackett 21.55, 91 finished

Western Springs, Auckland, New Zealand: 66 Thomas McNally 28.32, 120 finished.