22nd Feb 2009

40 Cirencester members entered this very popular race and 27 actually ran. A swirling breeze made it a little harder than usual but there were still plenty of personal bests to make new Road Race Championship secretary Stephen Elverd's job difficult in calculating bonus points. Biggest improvements came from Rhiannon Brown (nearly 3 mins) and Amanda Pizzey (nearly 4 mins). At the sharp end, Chris Illman was disappointed with his run, which was probably as a result of marathon mileage in his legs. An ailing David Wright went to the top of the still embryonic 2009 national V50 rankings; there were further records for Chris Riches, eclipsing the watching Tony Curry's efforts from some years ago, Jenny Manners and Yvonne Binks. David Edelsten insisted that this was his last ever race, his knees having finally had enough. He reasoned that having made his debut at Bourton many years ago this seemed an appropriate denouement. The end of a fine career the highlights of which were 37.45 for 10km, 1.24 ½ marathon and 3.16 London Marathon. Photos on Snapfish website courtesy of Wendy/Justin Nicholls and Pat Riches.

9th Feb 2009

Characters in Cirencester got cold waiting for the duathlon to start!

The arctic weather decimated local races at the weekend. The final Gloucester League Cross Country, the famous multi terrain Dursley Dozen and Kev Ferris' duathlon promotion in Cirencester Park were all cancelled. The league race may be rearranged - 28 February is a possibility - and Ferris hopes to reschedule the duathlon. Look out on www.glosaaa.org.uk and www.triferris.com for updates.

1st Feb 2009

Cirencester AC hosted the fourth round of the Oxford Mail Cross Country League at Cirencester Park, and made home advantage count with a fantastic victory in the men's race, pipping rivals Headington by just a single point. Marc Fallows once again led the team home, with Adrian Williams and Charles Woodd also claiming top twenty places. Matt Shannon ran a finely judged race to outlast Robbie Brown in the final mile, whilst David Wright finished top V50 in 31st, just one place ahead of Barry Sampson who completed the team scoring. Justin Nicholls made a welcome return after injury with a strong run for 38th, and there were also fine debuts for Neville Prinsloo and Ed Morris. The ladies team also performed well, with Jane Wassell another making a return to action following long term injury. She led the team home in 11th and, with Jane Thomas in 20th and Nicola Denning 23rd, the team finsihed 3rd on the day to improve their chances of escaping relegation to Division 2 with just one fixture remaining. Alec Chantler led the way for the junior members with an excellent 4th in the under 11 boys race, whilst there was a fine representation of eight Cirencester athletes in the under 11 girls, Emily Moss overcoming the challenge of team mates Grace Redmon and Elisha Kell to finish 12th. David Wright was in action earlier in the week at the Bridge Inn 5k, setting a new club V50 record of 17.10 to finish 9th, whilst Chris Riches posted a time of 21.19. Just two club members braved the "May Hill Massacre" multi-terrain race, Ben Gregory finishing an excellent 3rd U20 and Christina See placing 420th.