28th April 2009

Chris Illman led home Cirencester AC's six strong representation at the London Marathon with an excellent top 100 placing. Making the most of an elite start he set an ambitious early pace and, whilst this took it's toll in the last few miles, he held on gamely to record a new personal best time of 2.32.51. Barry Sampson and Adam Harborow both paced their efforts superbly, Adam especially pleased to break the 3 hour barrier having narrowly missed out the previous year. Stephen Elverd was next home for the club, taking almost 10 minutes of his personal best, whilst Liza Darroch enjoyed a steady run after accepting a late entry to the race. Yvonne Binks completed the Cirencester finishers with a time of 5.41.24. Meanwhile, Chris Riches entered the Shakespeare Half Marathon with a new club V55 record in his sights, but was hampered by a foot injury to miss out by just 3 minutes.

21th April 2009

Cirencester AC took on the country's best at the National 12 stage road relay championships and performed admirably to take almost 7 minutes off last years time. Chris Illman produced his usual fluent opening leg and handed on to debutant Scott Richardson who sped to the team's quickest short lap. The rest of the team all impressed with their efforts, most notably Adrian Williams, Charles Woodd and Barry Sampson on the long loop, and it was left to Martin Croucher to bring the team home to an excellent top 50 placing. Chris Illman showed no signs of fatigue as he won the following day's Highworth 5 in a new club record and personal best time of 25.40. Bill Leggate just failed to break 30 minutes whilst Tony Shelbourne and Chris Riches both set new club age group records. Nicola Denning was first club lady to finish, in a time of 33.36. David Wright made the most of balmy conditions at the Lochaber Marathon, finishing an outstanding 4th overall. Excellent pace judgement saw him run quicker over the second half of the race, his time of 2.47.20 easily a new club V50 record.

13th April 2009

Chris Illman finished an excellent second at last weekend's Maidenhead Easter 10, setting a new club record in the process. With the race completing his London Marathon preparations he set a new mark of 53.18. Martin Croucher also opted to race and set a new personal best over 10 miles of 1.05.54. Click here to read Martin Croucher's account of the race.

5th April 2009

Marc led home the Cirencester finishers at the Chedworth Roman 10. Both he and Charles Woodd were competetively placed in the lead group for much of the race but lost out over the final few miles to finish in 4th and 5th positions respectively. Amongst the other club finishers Keith Firkin ran strongly, Chris Sayles made a fine debut in club colours and Tony Shelbourne made a welcome return from injury.

4th April 2009

Cirencester AC produced an excellent performance at the Midland 12 stage road relays, finishing 14th and taking three minutes off last year's time round the Sutton Park course. Chris Illman got the club off to a great start by finishing 9th over the competetive first leg. Both Barry Sampson and Matt Shannon were making their debuts at Sutton Park but showed no sign of nerves to continue the momentum over the first two short legs, with Adrian Williams dipping under 30 minutes around the next long loop of 5.5 miles. Bill Leggate, Robbie Brown and David Wright maintained the club's position in the top 15 over the next three legs whilst late replacement Stephen Elverd admirably defied fatigue having run 82 miles at the Jurassic Challenge the previous weekend. With Derek Gardner, Paul Barlow and Martin Croucher all enjoying solid outings, it was left to Marc Fallows to fly around the final 3 mile leg and bring the team home to it's best ever finish.