Cirencester Athletics and Triathlon Club

Dave Bell led a quality team of 26 Ciren A C runners around the roads above Fairford including the infamous halfway hill. His time of 33.34 earned him third place only to be followed in by Bill Leggate, winning his age group, in 34.54. Rob Brown, Simon Campbell and Mark Sysum also managed the top 25 and Aaron Willis and Alex Chudley were not far behind. Wendy Nicholls was pipped into 2nd place lady with Joyce Matthews 6th lady and first FV35. A speedy seven members crossed the line in the following 3 minutes, another seven were in under 60 minutes and Paul Barrow’s 1.10.45 was certainly not the slowest.

Fairford 10km, road

1 James Bellward (RAF) 31.43 – course record

3 David Bell (Cirencester AC) 33.34

4 Bill Leggate 34.54 – 1st V40

10 Rob Brown 37.36

16 Simon Campbell 38.40

21 Mark Sysum 39.19

33 Aaron Willis 40.54

37 Alex Chudley 41.22

39 Howard Ewan 41.45

40 Wendy Nicholls 41.56 – 2nd lady

45 Ross Swain 42.34

56 Joyce Matthews 44.32 – 6th lady / 1st FV35

57 Ionel Iancu 44.45

65 Tom Renton-Rose 45.26

74 Lara Tompson 45.52

75 David Moss 45.53

84 Jill Hadland 46.30

93 Gordon Jones 47.12

98 Neil Morrissey 47.36

148 Chris Prevett 51.48

181 Pam Wheeler 54.18

191 Tracey Seville 54.56

209 Rachel Barrow 56.18

225 Rachel Jones 57.59

238 Barbara Thomas 58.40

246 Ruth Fulford 59.44

322 Paul Barrow 1.10.45 346 finished.

Cotswold 113 ½ Ironman, 1.2 miles swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run

Adrian Williams demonstrated his triathlon prowess by storming through The Cotswold 113 ½ Ironman to finish in 6th place and first in his V40 age group. After swimming 1.2 miles and cycling 56 miles in less than two and half hours, Adrian was still able to end the event with a 1.24.45 half marathon. The good running continued with Ian Barrett in 33rd place (1.32.20) and Sophie Chudley (1.35.22) and 3rd in age group. Neil Broadley and Kate Sackett also managed to complete sub 6 hours with Kate’s 1.45.32 half marathon more than making up for a ‘relatively slow’ swim to give her first in her new age group.

1 David Bartlett (Giant Helston) (24.24; 2.15.51; 1.26.01) 4.09.29

6 Adrian Williams (Cirencester AC) (29.29; 2.23.52; 1.24.45) 4.21.46 – 1st V40

33 Ian Barrett (31.12; 2.29.30; 1.32.20) 4.37.21

156 Sophie Chudley (36.42; 2.47.12; 1.35.22) 5.08.00 3rd FV 40-44

317 Neil Broadley (40.32; 3.03.53; 1.57.51) 5.51.05

494 Kate Sackett (46.33; 3.16.51; 1.45.32) 5.55.12 1st FV 60-64 880 finished.

Comrades Marathon, Durban to Pietermaritzburg, S Africa, 87km road

Martin Croucher’s running year reached its pinnacle as he completed the Comrades Marathon in 9.49.10 – five minutes faster than his PB for the “up” route and 10 minutes faster than he last ran it in 2017. This triumph earns Martin his seventh, much coveted, bronze medal which is awarded to all those who cross the line in under 10 hours and is the result of month after month of meticulous training. Martin admitted to struggling around the 76th km when he fell off the 10 hour pacing group but is determined that it was hard hill training that helped him to rejoin (and overtake ?) the group some 4 kms later and enabled him to finish feeling “the freshest ever”.

1 Edward Mothibi (South Africa) 5.31.33

4944 Martin Croucher (Cirencester AC) 9.49.10 16512 finished.

Race to the Tower, Broadway, 54 miles trail

Lee Lawrence tackled the middle section of the Cotswold Way to complete 54 miles in 12.31.39. Lee, happy to run without his usual army pack, admitted that his legs felt like jelly for the last few miles but is a welcome addition to our growing Ultra running team.

1 Thomas Kingham (club unknown) 8.05.06

165 Lee Lawrence (Cirencester AC) 12.31.39 676 finished.

Lacock ½ Marathon, 13.1 miles road

Louise Horner-Baggs enjoyed a scenic run around Lacock to complete the half marathon in 77th place finishing in1.51.

1 Rob Abraham (unattached) 1.18.19

77 Louise Horner-Baggs (Cirencester AC) 1.51.52 206 finished.

Stroud Beer Race, Minchinhampton Common, 7.2 mile road

Earlier in the week Nicola Denning led another quality team around the Stroud Beer Race to finish 3rd lady and first in her age group. Dave Moss finished just over a minute later with Tim Ingham and Lara Thompson hot on his heels. Alan Tompson and Barbara Thomas followed.

1 Lee Stopford (Stroud & District AC) 38.25

28 Nicola Denning (Cirencester AC) 52.53 – 3rd lady / 1st FV45

38 David Moss 54.07

44 Tim Ingham 54.36

45 Lara Tompson 54.37

81 Alan Tompson 1.01.32

117 Barbara Thomas 1.14.36 129 finished.

parkruns, 5km trail

A first for Ollie Pritchard, in May Ball costume, at Cirencester and a fine 3rd from junior Daniel Winfield. The McAdams were in Exeter where Rachel managed the coveted sub 26 target, while Paul Timms was in San Francisco and Martin Croucher joined in the mega pre Comrades event, held this year in Durban,

Cirencester AC finishers:

Cirencester: 1 Oliver Pritchard 17.42, 3 Daniel Winfield (J) 19.50, 42 Rachel Ranger 26.43, 44 Jocelyn Randall 26.53, 152 Jenny Brewin 46.20, 154 Cathie Cowell (sweeper) 50.36, 154 finished

Swindon: 84 David Moss 24.25, 186 Barbara Thomas 28.17, 334 Chris Prevett 34.51, 437 finished

Exeter Riverside: 112 Alan McAdam 24.15, 152 Rachel McAdam 25.41, 370 finished

Crissy Field, San Francisco, USA: 32 Paul Timms 23.40, 125 finished

North Beach, Durban, South Africa: 711 Martin Croucher 35.56, 1398 finished