HEADLINES

• Senior men take part for the first time in National Road Relays.
• Defending champion Chris Illman just pips gallant Stephen Elverd in epic club road race championship.
• Jane Wassell comfortably defends ladies championship and wins Gloucestershire title.
• Wendy Nicholls wins Stroud ½ Marathon .
• Historic win for men’s team in Oxford League, with individual win for Illman.
• Juniors bail out ladies team as Nicholls wins race.
• Christmas party soon, book now!

CHRISTMAS PARTY

The club’s previous venue for this outrageous occasion is no longer big enough to cope with such a rapidly growing organisation, so Jenny Hill has been scouring the countryside for an alternative as she explains here:

“Attention all party animals: it’s time to be thinking of donning the glad rags and preparing for a night of drinking, eating, drinking, dancing, drinking, socialising, drinking, oh and a spot of prize giving!!

The annual Christmas Party & Prize giving has been booked for Friday 14th December, at AV8 Kemble, the cost will be £25:00 per person for a four course dinner and will include a ½ bottle of wine (per person). The club have kindly agreed to cover the cost of a disco.

I can be contacted on Tuesday nights at the club (I’m the one at the back, talking!) or on (01285) 653733, hillmrshl@aol.com or at 52 Purley Rd. Cirencester GL7 1EP .”

Cheques to Jenny please, made payable to Cirencester AC. Bookings are filling up quickly so don’t delay.

Jenny adds: “I have now booked a 21 seater coach to deliver party goers to and from AV8 at Kemble. The coach will have two collection & drop off points which will be at the Market Place and somewhere near Stratton House Hotel. The total cost will be £5.00 per person (return!), and I’m afraid will have to be on a first come first served basis. Cheques should be made payable to Ciren A.C. Here’s to a good night!”

ROAD / MULTI-TERRAIN RESULTS

2 September, Budapest ½ Marathon , Hungary

1 Balázs Ott ( Hungary ) 1.07.21 (chip 1.07.19)

1430 Chris Sherrington (Cirencester) 1.49.59 (1.47.03). 5,600 ran. www.budapestmarathon.com

30 September, Budapest Marathon , Hungary

1 Tamás Tóth ( Hungary ) 2.24.40 (chip 2.24.40)

909 Graham Grafton (Cirencester) 4.00.48 (3.57.43). 3,000 ran. www.budapestmarathon.com

20 October, National 6 stage road relays, Sutton Park , nr Birmingham .

Captain Adrian Williams and his team were under no illusions as to the extent of the challenge of competing in this National championship. Just qualifying, for the first time in the club’s history, was a major achievement. However, the day went extremely well and the team managed to run just over a minute faster than when qualifying on the same course in the Midlands championship a month earlier. With vocal support from Tony Curry throughout the race, the standard being encountered was clear to see from the start when Chris Illman, fresh from winning numerous local races by large margins, was only able to finish 59th on the first stage. This stage is renowned as being one of the classiest ‘races’ on the UK calendar and anyone from the club other than Illman would have been totally blown away by this standard. The rest of the team ran consistently with Marc Fallows having a particularly fine run in breaking 20 minutes. For Cirencester to continue to improve these are the races to which the club and individuals must aspire and it’s hoped that Adrian Williams will be able to rustle up a team for the spring 12 stage relays.

Photos on snapfish website taken by Wendy Nicholls.

1 Belgrave Harriers 1.44.30

66 Cirencester 2.01.59 (Chris Illman 18.53 (59), Marc Fallows 19.44 (65), Justin Nicholls 21.43 (70), Adrian Williams 20.38 (70), Paul Barlow 20.30 (68), Bill Leggate 20.31 (66))

83 teams competed. Fastest time overall, Chris Davies ( Telford ) 16.42. www.race-results.co.uk

21 October, Stroud ½ Marathon . Club championship event. The road race season finished on a real high for the club, appropriately given the success achieved all year. No less than five club records were created or broken, there were a number of personal best times on a perfect sunny autumnal day and Chris Illman & Wendy Nicholls went home with sizeable cheques for fine individual performances, Illman being the first non-African to finish and Nicholls shedding the demons from her disappointing run in the previous week’s World Championships in winning the ladies race by over four minutes. The club run of the day probably came from Ian Pople who had not raced seriously for a number of years, yet just missed out on his best ever time. Blanket coverage in local papers, including the Stroud News & Journal and Gloucestershire Echo as well as the Wilts & Glos Standard, just accentuated the progress this club has made in recent times.

1 Williard Chinhanhu ( Poole / Zimbabwe ) 1.06.52 (chip time 1.06.51)

3 Chris Illman (Cirencester) 1.10.13 (1.10.12)

15 Wendy Nicholls (1st lady / FV35) 1.15.59 (1.15.58)

31 Marc Fallows 1.19.06 (1.19.01)

34 David Wright 1.19.37 (1.19.30) – club V50 record

69 Jane Wassell (6th lady / 1st FV40) 1.22.56 (1.22.48) – club FV40 record

95 Bill Leggate 1.24.38 (1.24.36)

168 Nicola Denning 1.28.49 (1.28.40)

169 Stephen Elverd 1.28.53 (1.28.45)

170 Martin Croucher 1.28.54 (1.28.46)

206 Adam Harborow 1.30.27 (1.30.13)

248 Jon Young 1.32.12 (1.31.40)

271 Ian Pople 1.33.19 (1.33.11)

291 Dorian Matts 1.33.57 (1.33.40)

326 Tim Collings 1.35.04 (1.34.38)

451 Caroline Bolam 1.39.36 (1.38.46)

515 Chris Riches 1.42.06 (1.41.15) – club V55 record

578 Tim Willson 1.44.06 (1.43.14)

660 Dick Waldron 1.46.49 (1.45.58) – club V65 record

694 Sue Brown (3rd FV55) 1.47.51 (1.47.01)

768 Jenny Hill 1.50.09 (1.49.18)

1133 Clare Blampied 2.05.13 (2.03.55)

1158 Linda Greening 2.06.24 (2.05.28)

1191 Yvonne Binks (3rd FV60) 2.08.03 (2.07.08) – inaugural club FV60 record

1445 finished. www.stroudac.co.uk plus photos on www.photo-fit.net (need to know race numbers, see official results).

Teams: Men (4 to score), 1 Stroud 118pts, 3 Cirencester 163pts (Illman, Fallows, Wright, Leggate).

Women (3 to score), 1 Severn 249pts, 2 Cirencester 252pts (Nicholls, Wassell, Denning).

30 October, Bridge Inn 5km . Particularly fine runs from Bill Leggate & Paul Barlow saw them both dip under the qualifying time for recognition on the national Athletics Data rankings list, see www.athleticsdata.com It was also fantastic to see Tony Curry racing again after a long enforced break.

1 Michael Johnson ( Cardiff ) 15.14

16 Wendy Nicholls (Cirencester, 1st lady / FV35) 16.32

17 Bill Leggate 16.34

18 Paul Barlow 16.35

24 Adrian Williams 17.01

30 Justin Nicholls 17.38

34 Jane Wassell (2nd lady / 1st FV40) 18.02

75 Chris Riches 20.43 – club V55 record

78 Justin Davies 20.50

109 Tony Curry 24.06. 127 finished. www.bristolandwestac.org.uk

3 November, Randy’s ‘10’, Monclova, Ohio, USA. No news about the race from the man himself but eagle eyed editor spotted what a fine run Tony Shelbourn managed back at his old haunt in the States. Clearly his training, racing and drinking in Cirencester this year has taken him onto a new level as he managed a very impressive top 10 finish overall. Hopefully a report of Shelbourn’s running during his six month’s wintering in the USA will manifest itself in due course.

1 Mike Cole ( USA ) 53.56

9 Tony Shelbourn (Cirencester, 1st V60) 1.04.27. 136 finished. www.toledoroadrunners.org

4 November, Tewkesbury ‘5’ . Unfortunately this race clashed with the first Oxford League race of the season. In cold, foggy conditions, Jane Wassell did enough to ensure that she won the Gloucestershire Road Race Series title both overall and at FV40. There was similar success for David Wright at V45 (based on age at 1st January) and second place for Andrew Bradley at V50. Unfortunately due to problems encountered by the organisers, no times were recorded beyond 38 minutes.

1 Andy Prophett ( Cheltenham ) 25.42

25 David Wright (Cirencester, 2nd V50) 28.39 – club V50 record

40 Jane Wassell (2nd lady / 1st FV35) 29.46 – club FV40 record

55 Martin Croucher 30.55

83 Andrew Bradley 32.32

127 Bryan Reid 34.11

261 Jane Stevens (no time given)

265 Barbara Thomas (no time given). 362 finished. www.tewkesburyac.co.uk

11 November, Sodbury Slog 9½ mile m/t. A good turnout from the club’s Thursday morning training group (contact Dick Waldron if interested in joining in) for this very well known off-roader. As the race website states: “The Easy Runner Sodbury Slog is quite simply not for the faint-hearted! It's a lung-busting, trainer-ruining, hill-climbing, multi-terrain challenge held over and through some of South Gloucestershire 's most stunning countryside.” It’s always worth looking out for the race photographs on the stated website.

1 Julian Moorhouse (Birchfield) 59.38

109 Stephen Elverd (Cirencester) 1.17.02

320 Sarah Cooper 1.28.30

360 Trudy Compton 1.30.35

374 Ian Pople 1.31.10

397 Dick Waldron 1.31.59

644= Jenny Hill 1.44.42

644= Sandra Elphick 1.44.42. 1,014 finished. www.bittonroadrunners.co.uk

ROAD / MULTI-TERRAIN FIXTURES (Sunday unless stated)

25 November, Eynsham 10km at 10:30 . Entries already closed. www.eynshamroadrunners.org.uk

20 January 2008 , Highworth Team ½ Marathon . Once again the club has been invited to participate in this event. More details to follow.

27 January, Slaughterford m/t ‘9’. This off roader is limited to 350 entrants, is very popular and always fills up quickly www.chippenhamharriers.co.uk

CLUB ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIP 2007

A record 69 members took part in at least one club event in 2007. The men’s result was a real cliff hanger literally not decided until Chris Illman crossed the line in the last race at Stroud, where, in addition to finishing a fine third overall, he vitally achieved a big personal best time and therefore maximum bonus points. Stephen Elverd also achieved a maximum just seven days after running the Leicester Marathon. Ten years ago, as a heavy smoker and carrying an extra two stone, Elverd was lucky if he could break 50 minutes for 10km; this season he has run 39.18 and is still improving. The club championship is set-up to allow major improvers to succeed and he has done that this season with the reward of second place behind Illman, the club’s rising top talent.

Jane Wassell continues to reap the rewards of a fruitful season. On top of her recent first international selection – look out for the report from next Saturday’s race in Belfast in the next newsletter – Wassell has won the county road race series (overall as well as veteran) and now has once again retained her club road race championship. Daughter & mother Alice & Barbara Thomas are rewarded for some consistent running by finishing in second and third places.

Men:

Chris Illman 175pts,

Stephen Elverd 172pts,

Adrian Williams 145pts,

M Fallows 137, B Leggate 136, D Wright 130, M Croucher 124, D Matts 94, J Young 93, C Brough 92, T Shelbourn 72, D Waldron 63, A Bradley 62, T Willson 58, P Gonzalez-Diaz 57, B Reid 54, B Ferris 50, C Riches 44, T Ranger & M Gluning 42, D Edelsten 38, D Dent & J Nicholls 34, J Barrowclough 32, P Barlow, B Barrowclough & A Harborow 28, G Grafton & C Hook 25, N Dunnage & T Kingston 24, C Tapley 23, R Brown 21, K Firkin 17, J Fallon 14, J Knight 13, I Pople 12, W Ascham & T Collings 10, E Sinton & A McKeeman 6, J Burgess 4, J Bennett 2.

Women:

Jane Wassell 156pts,

Alice Thomas 95pts,

Barbara Thomas 87pts,

Corinne Clark 85, T Compton 80, N Denning 75, W Nicholls 72, S Brown 62, S Elphick 58, C Blampied 44, L Ferris & Carol Clarke 43, S Cooper 41, K Kroulikova 40, J Hill 28, C Bolam 27, J Manners 25, K Withycombe 22, Y Binks 21, C Cox 18, R Brown 16, E Wilson 15, L Greening 14, S McKeeman 13, J Green 9, N Hunt 7.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE ROAD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP 2007

Some of the success achieved by the club this season has percolated through to this championship, which is based on best eight out of 12 races in the county during 2007. The following members finished in medal positions and will collect their prizes at an awards evening at Gloucester Civic Offices before the end of the year:

1st overall lady: Jane Wassell

1st FV40: Jane Wassell

1st V45: David Wright

2nd V50: Andrew Bradley

Full details and results on www.runnerduck.co.uk/running.

CROSS COUNTRY RESULTS

4 November, Oxford League at Ascott-u-Wychwood .

The headline in the Oxford Mail said it all: “Headington given a pasting”. Having finished second in 2006/07 and followed this up with a highly successful summer road racing season, the men were up for this one and didn’t disappoint. The opposition was blown away by a sea of red and black singlets led superbly by an emphatic win for Chris Illman, his first in the league but it won’t be his last. New second claim member David Roper had a fine debut run and Marc Fallows, returning to his favourite surface, cracked the top 10 with a classy effort after a race long battle with Charles Woodd, another 2007 recruit who helped the team qualify for the National relay championships back in September. Paul Barlow bided his time and stormed through the field on the last of the three tough laps in dry but cool & foggy conditions, with Mark Norris & Bill Leggate completed the scoring. There was never much doubt about the result, a thumping win for Cirencester leaving defending champions Headington floundering in third place, 233 points adrift. With the likes of Adrian Williams and Andy Bickerstaff just outside the scoring seven, the prospects for the squad look good for the winter in the club’s quest to win the league for the first time. To accentuate the club’s strength in depth, Cirencester also had the first ‘B’ team to finish thanks, in part, to a fine debut run by David Fong.

The ladies team, league victors for the past four years, was severely depleted and now faces an uphill struggle to retain the trophy. There were some positives to take from the results. Behind Wendy Nicholls’ customary victory, Cirencester’s next four finishers were all juniors and all performed magnificently. If they continue to progress and work together the future of the club is in good hands.

It was also good to see some many Cirencester participants in the younger age groups.

U11 Boys: 3 Jake Ashton 3.24

U11 Girls: 17 Hannah Tapley 3.56, 40 Jodie Hatton 4.50, 41 Emma Hatton 5.03, 42 Megane Hatton 5.37

U13 Boys: 11 Daniel Cation 7.43

U13/U15 Girls (U15 unless stated): 3 Grace Hughes 6.54, 10 Clara Evans 7.21, 16 Annasley Park 7.39, 24 Jade Williams (U13) 7.55, 25 Charlotte Somers 7.57. Teams: 4 Cirencester 29pts, 13 Cirencester ‘B’ 115pts

U15/U17 Boys: 5 Rhys Park (3rd U15) 17.09, 37 Dan King (U17) 20.46

Women:

1 Wendy Nicholls (Cirencester) 17.11

20 Vanessa Brann (2nd U17) 20.59

31 Jenny Manners 21.44

37 Alice Thomas 21.58

41 Jane Thomas 22.11

46 Corinne Clark 22.23

60 Sue McKeeman 23.06

78 Sue Brown (3rd FV55) 24.13

133 Lynn Ferris 27.54. 154 finished.

Teams (3 to score): Div 1; 1 Team Kennet 26pts, Headington 49, Witney 50, Cirencester 52. Div 2; 1 White Horse 29, 5 Cirencester ‘B’ 124, 23 Cirencester ‘C’ 271

Men:

1 Chris Illman (Cirencester) 29.39

2 David Roper 30.41

9 Marc Fallows 31.31

15 Charles Woodd 31.51

24 Paul Barlow 32.27

27 Mark Norris 32.30

28 Bill Leggate 32.32

30 Adrian Williams 32.40

34 Andy Bickerstaff 32.57

51 Justin Nicholls 33.52

84 David Fong 36.13

106 Chris Brough 37.42

113 Stephen Elverd 38.02

117 Dorian Matts 38.10

130 Colin Tapley 38.42

171 Justin Davies 40.51

180 Chris Riches 41.20

243 Michael Thomas 50.56. 253 finished. Full results on www.oxonxc.org plus photos on Snapfish.

Teams (7 to score): Div 1; 1 Cirencester 106pts, 2 Abingdon 219, 3 Headington 339. Div 2; 1 Swindon 284, 4 Cirencester ‘B’ 535. Div 3; 1 St Edwards 291, 14 Cirencester ‘C’ 1486.

CROSS COUNTRY FIXTURES

Note that Oxford League races are on Sundays and Gloucestershire League on Saturdays. Respective websites are www.oxonxc.org and www.glosaaa.org.uk

17 November, Glos League at Leamington

2 December, Oxford League at Culham Park . After such a wonderful start to the season, it is vital that the club maintains momentum in the league. The more that run the better to ensure that we can sustain as many teams finishing as in the first race. This venue was used in the league for the first time last year. Culham Park is located off the A415 between Abingdon and Clifton Hampden. From Abingdon take the A415 east and turn left at the sign for Culham No.1 site (this is the first turning before Culham Science park). There is a £2 car park charge. Alternatively meet at the leisure centre at 09:00 for a convoy to the race. The women start at 11:10 and the men at 11:40 . The course is very interesting with some grassy footpaths along a flat towpath, countered by a series of roller coaster muddy climbs and drops. Very spectacular!

15 December, Glos League at Pittville Park , Cheltenham

30 December, Oxford League at Drayton School , Banbury

5 January 2008 (Sat), Glos County Cross Country Championships (venue to be advised)

2 February, Glos League at Gloucester (exact venue to be advised)

3 February, Oxford League at Cirencester Park

2 March, Oxford League at Horspath, Oxford

TRIATHLON / DUATHLON FIXTURE

18 November, Cirencester Park off road duathlon at 10:00 . This twice a year event organised by Lorraine & Kevin Ferris always seems to attract muddy conditions, so it will probably rain all this week! Format is 2mile run, 10mile bike, 2mile run or novice/youngsters event of 1-5-1 . The second fixture is on 17 February 2008 . See www.triferris.com

NEW MEMBERS

A bumper month for new members, so here goes: Jane Thomas and Jenny Manners have come up through the junior ranks and form part of a growing teenage membership that promises much for the future. These two are augmented by numerous juniors who have joined on a second claim basis from their base near Hereford : Jade Williams, Annasley Park , Kate Parker, Vanessa Brann , who scored for the senior ladies in the first Oxford League fixture, Dan King, Emily Merrick, Grace Hughes, Vicki Short, Clara Evans and Rhys Park . After some years away from Cirencester, Jane Stevens has rejoined the club and family members Natalie, Luke, Callum & Casey Fallows have joined their husband/dad Marc. In addition, we welcome Derek Gardner, David Fong , who also competed in the Oxford League, Christina See, Barbara Lan and Gregor & Ray Murphy. Finally two more second claimers have joined, David Roper an accomplished duathlete from Cheltenham who finished a magnificent second at Ascott and Claire Conway , a very promising youngster who has trained regularly with the club on Tuesdays and who also runs for Bristol & West AC.

CLUB ADMINISTRATION

Sandra Elphick is stepping down as club membership secretary as soon as a replacement can be found. If anybody is interested in taking over this role please see either Sandra or club secretary Dick Waldron on Tuesday nights or contact Dick on Richard.waldron5@btopenworld.com

TRAINING

Updated proposed club sessions on Tuesday nights listed below, note these are only plans and there may be some variation:

13 November – school, 20 November – Tetbury hill, 27 November – school,

4 December – abbey grounds, 11 December – school, 18 December – Tetbury Hill.

Whatever the session, meet at Deer Park school at 6.30pm .

For newer members, the sessions at the various locations are:

School – efforts on floodlit astroturf circuit

College – efforts on 600m road circuit (only run during college holidays)

Tetbury hill – one mile road circuit starting from leisure centre

Abbey grounds – variable distance road efforts on footpaths lit by street lamps in and around grounds.

MISCELLANY

… Bob & Lynn Ferris recently raced in the USA and here is Bob’s take on racing across the pond: “Lynn and myself went to run the Philadelphia Rock and Roll ½ Marathon in, you will never guess, Philadelphia ! I must say it is a very well organized race (much along the lines of the Cirencester 10k); a flat course that takes in both downtown Philly and Fairmount Park which gives the impression of being out in the countryside. The start and finish of the race is outside the Museum of Art , for movie buffs these are the steps that Rocky runs up in the films series Rocky. It would seem most Americans are more interested in running up the steps, throwing their arms in the air and having their photo taken than visiting the museum, they even have inlaid footprints for you to stand on, oh and there’s a statue of Rocky in the grounds to be photographed by - American history, you can’t beat it, no wonder I love going to the place. Enough of me taking the proverbial, there were a few Brits plus other nations step running, no it was not me, I have the photos to prove it.

Back to the race, after the national anthem we were off (have you ever tried singing God Save the Queen to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner, it’s not easy). The first 4.8 miles takes you on a trip downtown to the historic district and back to the Museum of Art , you then head out on the left side of the river. At the 15k point you cross said river and head back to the Museum of Art . This part of the run feels like running in the countryside, you are on closed tree lined roads with the river always on your right, very pleasant. There was a painful (to me anyway) little rise in the last 1k - when I mentioned this to Lynn she said ‘What rise?’, the bitch! Being a Rock and Roll ½ marathon there were 10 or 11 bands around the course, which does make for a great atmosphere, but Rock and Roll!! At the 15k point there was a guy dressed in tartan playing the bagpipes - Jock Rock (that’s probably politically incorrect), this did make me speed up for 800m. There were two or three good rock bands but the rest were just not Rock bands, good but not rock, but who cares it was still a great race and atmosphere, I would recommend it to anyone. ” The result can be seen in Newsletter no. 45; for more details on the race see www.runphilly.com

… finally, good luck to both Wendy Nicholls and debutante Jane Wassell as they compete for England at the Home Countries Veterans International at Stormont Castle, Belfast next Saturday 17 November. A full report will appear in the next newsletter.

David Wright: wrights@tesco.net or 01285 641224