HEADLINES

• Martin Pitts qualifies for World Sprint Triathlon Championships
• 28 club runners toe line at Fairford 10k with team wins for men & women
• Chris Illman wins Bexhill 5k and finishes second at Fairford
• Jane Wassell manages two overall second places and one win within seven days!
• Club V50 marathon record for Andy Bradley
• Help required for club’s next race promotion at Westonbirt Arboretum

ROAD / MULTI-TERRAIN RESULTS

29 April, Shakespeare ½ Marathon , Stratford Apologies to Cathy Cook, whose fine second place was missed in printing this result in the last newsletter. Cook has been trying to catch out the eagle eyed editor for a couple of years and has now succeeded! In ed’s defence, however, it should be stated that the club name was missing against Cook’s name in the official results.

30 Cathy Cook (Cirencester, 2nd lady / FV35) 1.26.11. www.shakespearemarathon.org.uk

19 May, White Peak Marathon , Derbyshire The club’s new V50 marathon record holder, Andy Bradley, reflects on how he beat his London Marathon effort by over two hours:

“Having bombed out big time at the 17mile point of the London Marathon (FLM) and finished in a time of 5hr 23m, I decided to look for another marathon quick, to get the benefit from all the long runs during the winter months. The White Peaks full & half marathon is based around the scenic area of the Peak District in Derbyshire, just south-east of Matlock. I got an entry on the Tuesday before the race, checked the forecast to make sure we weren’t in for another scorcher of a day & planned out what I needed to do to erase the nightmare of the FLM. Firstly, get round without cramping up, so a steady pace of 8mpm seemed sensible. Secondly, don’t tell anyone, that way if I bomb out no one will know. Thirdly, get to 20 miles without being too knackered; the last 6 are downhill & should be easier.

The race was very well organised, arrive at the finish & get on the bus to take you to the start. I had to make sure I didn’t get on the wrong bus otherwise I’d be doing the Half. Approx 180 people gathered on the start line at Tissington Trail, Thorpe at 11am on a breezy Sat morning, sunny but much cooler than London . First 5 or 6 miles were comfortable, just inside 8min mile pace and slightly uphill, but felt good. I ran the next 4m with some guy from Yorkshire (or Lancs) who was looking for 3hr 30m, and had a fancy watch that bleeped 10 yds before the mile markers (impressed). Still slightly uphill, but lovely scenery & no sign of steel bands, thousands of people cheering you to go faster and inner city concrete tower blocks or burnt out ships! Just peaceful & relaxing, loads of cyclists, couples in their 70s out walking, sheep and limestone walls.

Not sure what happened to the Northerner but at the 11m point you double back and fork left towards Cromford, and I appeared to have left him behind. At the 13m point, I had banked 6 minutes on my 8mpm average, so I slowed down a bit. Next 7 miles came and went, I felt really good. At 20m I knew it was mainly downhill, and so long as I didn’t do anything stupid I would banish London for good. First big decline was fine, second one was ok, third one at 25mile was hard work. It must have been a mile in length and very steep. Some guy came flying past me at about 30mph, but one slip and he’d have been down the DRI (local hospital). Then we had a downpour, which was welcome. At the bottom of the last hill, the course went along the canal, past the 26m point. 3hr 20m with just the 0.2 left. Sharp turn into the finish area and loads of cheering folk (well 6 or 7 and a couple of sheep). 3hr 22m – did it and a PB by 2 hours and 1 minute, could be in for 480 odd bonus points here. Goodie bag & a mug. Quick chat to a few of the Long Eaton (my other club) runners and it was get home to watch the cup final. Job accomplished. I won’t report on what happened on the A610 between Eastwood & J26 of the M1, but the car is being valeted this week.

I would recommend this race to anyone at the club. The start time means you can drive up in the morning. The course is just wonderful. You can choose between the Half & Full (the half misses out the 13miles of incline, so a good time is likely) and you can spend the rest of the day in one of the most beautiful areas in the UK . Now where’s the mobile ‘Hello Mika, can I speak to Paul please,,,,,,,,,,,,’ ”

1 Rob Downs (Wilmslow) 2.48.30

29 Andy Bradley (Cirencester) 3.22.18 – club V50 record. 182 finished. www.matlockac.org.uk

20 May, Pewsey Vale 10k

1 Phil Kibble (Wiltshire Police) 33.46

16 Bryan Reid (Cirencester) 38.56. 180 finished. www.pewseyvalerunningclub.com

28 May, Whitsun ‘5m’, White Horse, Sandhurst, Gloucester Jane Wassell not only broke the 30 minute barrier with this excellent FV40 club record, but also led two of the younger members of the club to a surprise team victory for the ladies. To clarify matters pertaining to Thomas: Alice is daughter of Barbara, Jane is no relation!

1 Chris Baker ( Tewkesbury ) 28.18

6 Jane Wassell (Cirencester, 1st lady) 29.52 – club V40 record

28 Alice Thomas (1st FU15) 39.47 – inaugural club FU20 record

29 Jane Thomas (2nd FU17) 39.49

34 Barbara Thomas (1st FV50) 43.53

Ladies team: 1 Cirencester 12pts. www.severnac.co.uk

29 May, Bridge Inn 5k, nr Bristol A day after breaking the club FV40 five mile record, Jane Wassell equalled her own mark over 5k.

1 Stephen Mitchell ( Bristol Uni) 15.45

14 Claire Willer (Bristol & West, 1st lady) 17.40

16 Jane Wassell (Cirencester, 2nd lady / 1st FV40) 17.53 – equals own club FV40 record

77 finished. www.bristolandwestac.org.uk

30 May, Bexhill 5k. Chris Illman sustained his fine form with this impressive midweek win.

1 Chris Illman (Cirencester) 16.15. 148 finished. www.bexhillrunners.co.uk

3 June, Fairford Festival 10k . Club championship event. A magnificent turnout of 28 from Cirencester AC in, as ever at Fairford, hot and sunny conditions. For the club there was great success with second place the order of the day: Chris Illman (overall), Jane Wassell (overall and FV35), David Wright (V50), Dick Waldron (V60) & Carol Clarke (FV55) all securing this position. The club’s domination continued with both men and women winning the top team prize. A number of Cirencester family members ran in the associated 3k fun run which followed the 10k with the Fallows and Wassell families particularly prominent. Best performance was Zoe Wassell’s trophy for first infant girl. Watch out for some photos appearing on the club’s snapfish website courtesy of Martin Croucher.

1 Daniel Merckel ( Oxford City ) 32.41

2 Chris Illman (Cirencester) 32.55

10 Adrian Williams 36.36

11 Marc Fallows 37.04

13 Mel Ellis (Shaftesbury, 1st lady / FV35) 37.07

15 Bill Leggate 37.27

18 David Wright (2nd V50) 37.57

20 Joe Barrowclough 38.13

21 Jane Wassell (2nd lady / FV35) 38.36

22 Paul Barlow 38.38

32 Stephen Elverd 40.54

38 Mark Gluning 41.38

39 Jon Young 41.41

41 Martin Croucher 42.29

45 Terry Ranger 42.53

56 Andy Bradley 43.44

57 Kveta Kroulikova 43.46

61 Trudy Compton 43.58

63 Tony Kingston 44.21

75 Sarah Cooper 44.59

89 Alastair McKeeman 46.47

91 Rhiannon Brown 46.54

101 Carol Clarke (2nd FV55) 47.34

111 Corinne Clark 48.05

129 Dick Waldron (2nd V60) 49.25

131 Sue McKeeman 49.30

140 Sue Brown 50.10

161 James Burgess 51.55

195 Jim Fallon 54.09

237 Clare Blampied 56.45. 359 finished.

Teams: Men, 1 Cirencester (Illman, Williams, Fallows) 23pts

Women, 1 Cirencester (Wassell, Kroulikova, Compton) 139pts. www.fairford.org

6 June, Cleeve Cloud Cuckoo ‘5’ m/t . Dorian Matts, who achieved his summer’s ambition of beating the club’s most improved runner, Stephen Elverd, reports on an extremely tough race on Cleeve Hill: “You have to be slightly mad to enter a race called "Cloud Cuckoo Land " and I am pleased to state that only two Ciren AC members met that criteria by racing this 5.5 mile race on the Cotswold escarpment on a warm Wednesday evening along with another 109 hill runners. Apart from avoiding the copious quantities of sheep manure, there is the small matter of 400 feet of sharp descent followed by equally steep ascent over the highest point of the Cotswolds. Stephen Elverd and Dorian Matts prepared for this ordeal by attending Tuesday night's tough interval session. Stephen, a veteran of the race, carbo-loaded about 3 hours before race, whereas Dorian tried to secure the services of Jamling Tenzing Norgay. If there had been another mad Ciren hill runner, they would have been able to enter the team race.”

The magnanimous Mr Elverd stated: “Well what can I say? I had an absolute nightmare (possibly not helped by an ill advised late lunch), but no amount of excuses can take away the fact that Dorian ran a fantastic race on the night.”

1 Dennis Walmsley (Bourton) 33.47

32 Dorian Matts (Cirencester) 40.56

50 Stephen Elverd 44.00. 111 finished. www.cheltenhamharriers.co.uk

WESTONBIRT ARBORETUM 10k

Monday 18 June at 19:30 sees the first running of this beautiful race on the footpaths through the arboretum since Cirencester took over the organisation of the event. It is therefore vitally important that all goes well on the night. A large number of Cirencester members are running, leaving a shortage of those able to help with marshalling, recording and car parking duties. Anyone able to help on the evening should contact David Edelsten or Tony Curry as soon as possible. Entries have already closed, with the race limit having been reached.

David Edelsten adds: “… marshals should report to Tony Curry / Tim Willson / David Edelsten at 6.30pm close to the Finish area. They should bring a mobile phone if possible. We have just about got enough marshals signed up but we can never have too many if anyone else is available to come along. With 660 entries it promises to be a busy evening!”

ROAD / MULTI-TERRAIN FIXTURES (Sunday unless stated)

Entry forms for some of these races on club noticeboard, otherwise access via websites. Severn AC promotions (and there are many) can be entered on the day. Club secretary Dick Waldron also receives many race flyers which he posts onto the club noticeboard.

9 June (Sat), Broad Town ‘5’, nr Wootton Bassett at 14:30

21 June (Thu), White Horse 5k, Sandhurst , nr Gloucester at 19:45 . Enter on evening. 2nd of four in summer series, others on 19 July & 16 August. www.severnac.co.uk

30 June, Bourton Hilly ½ Marathon at 18:00 . www.bourtonroadrunners.co.uk

9 July (Mon), Frampton-on-Severn 10k at 19:30 Club championship event. Entries close 29 June and no entries on the night but still awaiting Stroud AC to produce race entry forms! Keep eye out on www.stroudac.co.uk In the meantime some of Stroud’s universal entry forms, covering any of their promotions, have been put on club noticeboard.

12 July (Thu), Malmesbury 5k at 19:30 . Rumours of a barrel of beer to be consumed at Chris Riches house afterwards appear to be well founded. Apparently all are welcome. www.nwll.co.uk

14 July (Sat), Pilot Inn ‘10’, Hardwick nr Gloucester at 15:00 . www.severnac.co.uk

19 July (Thu), White Horse 5k, Sandhurst , nr Gloucester at 19:45 . Enter on evening. 3rd of four in summer series, last one on 16 August. www.severnac.co.uk

21 July (Sat), Bourton 1m at 18:00 . Club championship event. www.bourtonroadrunners.co.uk (nothing on website yet but keep looking!)

29 July, Gloucester ½ Marathon , Newent at 10:30 www.gloucesterac.co.uk

1 Aug (Wed), Bugatti 10k, nr Winchcombe at 19:30 . Club championship event. This popular event always fills up over a month before the race, probably as a result of free beer, burger & t-shirt to all finishers. The rural course is pleasant but quite undulating. Great atmosphere afterwards. The race organiser has issued an e-mail to Cirencester AC urging early entry: “This mail is to Cirencester runners I know.  You'll know that this race is popular and reaches its limit a month early. There will be no entries on the day. So in spite of the limited advertising so far, I expect we'll have filled up by the start of July. It is difficult for me to hold back of entries in case local club runners decide to do it at the last minute when I have hundreds of Bugatti desparados begging me for a place. Its not a fast course but its part of the county series and there's a good atmosphere. Your entry gives you a beer, a burger and a T-shirt. So if you do want to run it, can you please get your entry form to me in the next month? We haven't yet taken any entries so I'm trying to give county club runners like you the chance to enter early before the race gets filled up with less competitive runners.  Please pass the message on to other Cirencester runners, particularly to Jane Wassell, who more than once has has sent in an entry just too late.” Entry forms on club noticeboard at leisure centre. www.cheltenhamharriers.co.uk

CLUB RECORDS

The next club championship event is another 10k. As club records for that distance were published last month and unsurprisingly not broken at Fairford, there is no need to reprint them here. It is, however, worth noting that no less than 23 club road records have been broken so far in 2007, reflecting the sustained improvement the club has made in recent times. Serial record breakers Wendy Nicholls (née Jones) & Jane Wassell have carried on their good work from 2006 but the most noteworthy record so far has to be Chris Illman’s outright men’s record of 15.22 over 5k, the first men’s absolute record to be broken in seven years. His subsequent superb run at Fairford indicates that there are more records to come. Latest club record came from V50 Andy Bradley over the marathon distance as reported above.

CLUB ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIP 2007

There were very few bonus points collected on Fairford’s tough course so congratulations to Chris Illman, Terry Ranger, Tony Kingston & Trudy Compton who all managed to run their best times and thus garner some extra points. 58 members have now scored at least one point. Unofficial scores after five races plus marathons to date:

Men: A Williams 107pts, S Elverd 101, C Brough 66, P Gonzalez-Diaz & M Fallows 57, M Croucher 56, J Young 53, B Leggate 52, D Wright 50, C Illman 49, A Bradley 45, B Reid & T Ranger 43, D Matts 42, B Ferris 41, D Waldron 37, M Gluning & T Willson 31, P Barlow 28, N Dunnage & T Kingston 27, C Riches 25, C Tapley 23, B Barrowclough & D Dent 19, K Firkin & J Fallon 17, J Barrowclough 15, J Knight 13, G Grafton 11, D Edelsten 8, E Sinton & A McKeeman 6, J Burgess 4, J Bennett 2.

Women: J Wassell 86pts, Corinne Clark 70, S Brown 45, W Nicholls (née Jones) 32, S Elphick, Carol Clarke & C Blampied 29, L Ferris 28, C Bolam 27, J Manners 25, K Withycombe 22, T Compton 20, A Thomas & K Kroulikova 19, C Cox & B Thomas 18, S Cooper 17, R Brown 16, E Wilson 15, S McKeeman 13, J Hill 12, J Green 9, N Hunt 7.

The rest of the fixtures are as follows, note two date changes for Beacon & Witney races:

9 July, Frampton-on-Severn 10k (see above)

21 July, Bourton 1m (see above)

1 Aug (Wed), Bugatti 10k (see above)

2 Sep, Beacon 10k, nr Gloucester www.angelsrunningclub.co.uk

9 September, Witney 10m www.witneyroadrunners.org.uk

7 October, Cricklade 10k www.crickladefunrun.co.uk

21 Oct, Stroud ½ Marathon www.stroudac.co.uk

In addition, times recorded at any marathon between the dates of February 25 and October 21 will score points in the same format as the races above i.e. as though all competed in one race. Of the 12 races, plus marathon, best eight scores to count. 20 points will be awarded to the first Cirencester finisher in each race down to one point for the 20th and any subsequent finishers. Male & female championships will be scored separately. Bonus points will be awarded for any personal bests achieved against times published in the newsletter for 2005 and 2006. One bonus point will be awarded for every 15 seconds improvement up to a maximum of two minutes (8pts) for races of up to & including 10k and three minutes (12pts) for longer races. To qualify for points, runners must be fully paid-up members, be entered under Cirencester AC and be wearing a club vest. This rule will be strictly enforced in 2007.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE ROAD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP 2007

At last some scores have appeared on the official website www.runnerduck.co.uk/running Unfortunately this website doesn’t get updated too often which makes monitoring the series very difficult. Andy Bradley is the best placed Cirencester member, currently second in the O50 category. There have been four races to date (only the first three races have been recorded so far on the website), the rest are as follows (Sunday unless stated):

30 June (Sat), Bourton Hilly ½ Marathon (see above)

5 July (Thu), Aerospace ‘5’, nr Cheltenham www.cheltenhamharriers.co.uk

21 July (Sat), Bourton ‘1’ www.bourtonroadrunners.co.uk

1 Aug (Wed), Bugatti 10k (see above)

2 Sep, Beacon 10k, nr Gloucester www.angelsrunningclub.co.uk

23 Sep, Cirencester Park 10k www.cirencester-ac.org.uk

21 Oct, Stroud ½ Marathon www.stroudac.co.uk

4 Nov, Tewkesbury ‘5’ www.tewkesburyac.blogspot.com

TRIATHLON RESULTS & FIXTURES

20 May, Redditch Triathlon (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run). With this performance Martin Pitts qualified for the ITU World Sprint Triathlon Championships, in the 45-49 age group, to be held in Hamburg , Germany in September.

1 James Gilfillan (10.12, 30.12, 16.31) 58.20

69 Martin Pitts (Cirencester) (13.04, 34.37, 19.49) 1.09.39

217 finished. www.trafeco.co.uk

27 May, Gloucester Triathlon (400m swim, 20km bike, 6km run). Competitors had some traditional bank holiday weather to contend with as the rain lashed down.

1 Nick Slim ( Tewkesbury Tri) (5.25, 26.27, 23.52) 55.44

84 Nicola Denning (Cirencester) (8.14, 37.30, 27.23) 1.13.07

104 Trudy Compton (7.34, 39.20, 29.20) 1.16.20

136 Sandra Elphick (7.21, 41.25, 33.38) 1.22.24. 173 finished. www.triteamglos.co.uk

Some other popular events coming up:

10 June, Womens Only triathlon, Keynes Park plus Cotswold sprint triathlon www.triferris.com sprint and super sprint events, good for first timer.

10 June, Wantage Triathlon www.soll-leisure.co.uk 800m swim - 35k bike - 12k run.

17 June, Royal Windsor Triathlon www.humanrace.co.uk

24 June, Marlborough Triathlon www.conceptsport.co.uk 400m swim - 32k bike - 8k run.

1 July, Dorney Lake Eton Olympic distance www.humanrace.co.uk- there are other events on this website too.

15 July, Bath Triathlon Olympic and sprint both pool swims www.bathamphibians.co.uk

For some local triathlons, swim/runs plus 5ks www.nwll.co.uk 

These web sites cover most of the local triathlons. For other triathlon events visit the British Triathlon web site www.britishtriathlon.org

Some of the above organize more than one event so this should give plenty of choice.

For anyone who would like to try an Ironman distance swim only, there is an event at the South Cerney Outdoor Education Centre ( Lake 12) on 9 June contact www.votwo.co.uk

NEW MEMBERS

Unusually for recent times, no newcomers have been logged this month.

MISCELLANY

… congratulations to Wendy Jones and Justin Nicholls who were married at Westonbirt Arboretum last Friday (1st June). A good number of members helped them celebrate their special day, which was blessed with warm sunshine.

… further to last month’s note on the Race for Life at Kemble, Chris Goldie has confirmed that he did indeed ride the lead bike. Furthermore, he reports that it was frightening in the extreme to have thousands of females all chasing him at once!

David Wright: wrights@tesco.net or 01285 641224