HEADLINES

• Great runs for Ellen Leggate & Jane Wassell at inter-counties
• County debuts for Bill Leggate & Adrian Williams
• Wendy Jones competes again for Great Britain
• Personal bests galore and big club turnout at Bourton 10k
• Women win Oxford League for fourth straight year
• Men finish second in league, the club’s best ever position
• Men’s ‘B’ team win Division Two of league
• Individual trophies in league for Jenny Manners, Ellen Leggate, Wendy Jones, Carol Clarke, Chris Illman, Pancho Gonzalez-Diaz and Andy Bickerstaff
• Six age group club records in the last month (and not all at Bourton!)

CROSS COUNTRY RESULTS

24 February, Inter-Counties Championships, Wollaton Park , Nottingham Four members appeared live on television (Sky Sports Extra) in this race, sporting county colours rather than their red & black Cirencester vests. After their runs in the County Championship , Bill Leggate and Adrian Williams deservedly won their first Gloucestershire vests. Neither was under any illusion as to the enormity of their task, however; this is a top class race. Leggate tracked Williams most of the way around a muddy Wollaton Park before outsprinting him rather cruelly. In the ladies race Ellen Leggate was running for her county of residence and just managed to keep ahead of a fast finishing Jane Wassell who was having the race of her life at the age of 40. In the last three years her finishing positions at this race have been 138, 93 and now 65.

Women:

1 Hayley Yelling (Middlesex) 29.33

59 Ellen Leggate (Cambridgeshire) 33.13

65 Jane Wassell (Gloucestershire). 33.17. 269 finished.

Men:

1 Frank Tickner (Avon & Somerset) 39.25

266 Bill Leggate (Gloucestershire) 49.34

267 Adrian Williams 49.35. 282 finished.

4 March, Oxford League at Banbury . Although most of the hard work had been done in earlier rounds, there was still a lot to do in the last race to ensure that the 2006/7 season turned out as the best ever for Cirencester AC. Buoyed by a good luck text message from Tony Curry, holidaying in South Africa , both men and women turned out in force for what is the longest journey of the winter in the league. For that alone all those that appeared should be congratulated, particularly given the weather …

To facilitate rapid computing of the season’s results for the post race prizegiving (those that stayed might disagree with this prognosis), the men’s race went off before the women. In true Ox Lge tradition, the course was a quagmire as the rain fell heavily during both senior races. There was just a chance that the men could upstage Headington and snatch the title but despite fielding another strong team, the defending champions produced a formidable squad which not only gave them victory ahead of Cirencester but with the Headington ‘B’ squad in third place. It’s clear that the Oxford based team were sufficiently concerned to pull out all the stops. Despite this and with one or two runners missing through injury/holidays, Cirencester scored a mere 123 points for seven scorers, equalling the club’s lowest score of the season, due in main to getting three into the top 10: a season’s best by Pancho (a fine run after a slightly lack lustre performance at Bourton); a welcome return to form by Chris Illman and an absolutely magnificent run by Marc Fallows. Adrian Williams and Andy Bickerstaff continued their consistent seasons, the latter moving up into a medal position overall as V40. Revelation of the last fixture, Andrew Mosley, was incapacitated by a bad back on the first lap and had to stop for at least a minute. He bravely got going again and epitomised the team spirit pervading the club. This is also true of Bickerstaff: despite often racing the day before for his first claim club in London , he has become passionate about Cirencester’s results. Student Joe Barrowclough made a welcome return to the club and completed the first team’s scoring despite not finding conditions to his liking. Second overall was the result of all this effort. But unlike other years there was more to come. Such is the club’s new found strength in depth that the ‘B’ team won the second division title by over 200 points. Most improved performance amongst the men was new veteran Bryan Reid who had never previously made the top 100.

As ever, the ladies eclipsed the men and as is becoming the norm, they did it in style in the last fixture by finishing the necessary three scorers in the first four finishers. Total domination. Thus the league title was secured for the fourth straight year, an absolutely monumental achievement. Many congratulations to the team, which during the season consisted of the three scorers on Sunday plus Sue McKeeman, Caroline Bolam and Claire Conway. Conway actually ran at Banbury but was disqualified for not wearing a club vest (she had finished a fine 8th). Luckily this had no effect on the final results but was a salutary lesson to be learnt by all for the future. Most encouraging of all were the performances of Jenny Manners (aged 17) and Jane Thomas (16). It is important to see youngsters moving up into the senior ranks and these two girls are improving all the time.

41 men and 20 women turned out for the club during the season, without doubt a record on both counts. The future is bright.

U11 Boys: 4 Lewis Wassell 5.31, 8 Alex Vass 6.10

U11 Girls: 21 Hannah Tapley 7.30, 32 Jodie Hatton 8.57.

U13 Boys: 15 Daniel Cation 12.36.

U13/U15 Girls (U15 unless stated): 12 Alice Thomas 12.23, 16 Lucy Vass (U13) 12.39

Ladies:

1 Wendy Jones (Cirencester) 19.57

3 Ellen Leggate 21.13

4 Jane Wassell 21.19

22 Caroline Bolam 25.10

25 Jenny Manners 25.24

35 Jane Thomas 26.15

41 Carol Clarke (1st FV55) 26.41

52 Sue Brown 27.18

62 Sue McKeeman 28.33

80 Paula Vass 31.15

91 Lynn Ferris 34.12

93 Clare Blampied 34.50

105 Barbara Thomas 42.42. 105 finished.

Teams (3 to score): Div One (of 8): 1 Cirencester 8pts 2 Banbury 30pts 3 Team Kennet 36pts. Div Two (of 24): 1 Newbury 44pts, 2 Cirencester ‘B’ 82pts, 11 Cirencester ‘C’ 155pts, 24 Cirencester ‘D’ 264pts.

Final positions:

Div 1, Champions: Cirencester 138pts, 2 Headington 154pts, 3 Banbury 293pts.

Div 2, Champions: Newbury 246pts, 5 Cirencester ‘B’ 630pts, 14 Cirencester ‘C’ 1,024pts.

Men:

1 Steve Kimber (Headington) 34.07

3 Pancho Gonzalez-Diaz (Cirencester) 35.29

7 Chris Illman (2nd U20) 35.56

9 Marc Fallows 36.19

15 Adrian Williams 37.12

17 Andy Bickerstaff (2nd V40) 37.19

30 Andrew Mosley 38.39

42 Joe Barrowclough 39.37

46 David Wright 39.58

74 Dorian Matts 42.27

81 Bryan Reid 43.28

94 Chris Brough 44.45

105 Steven Elverd 45.32

110 Bob Ferris 45.52

126 Colin Tapley 47.24

133 Tony Kingston 47.40

143 Chris Riches 48.28

144 Chris Sherrington 48.29

177 Darren Sheppard 52.22

183 Dick Waldron 53.35

196 Brian Barrowclough 57.38. 205 finished.

Teams (7 to score): Div One (of 8); 1 Headington 82pts, 2 Cirencester 123pts. Div Two (of 8); 1 Headington ‘C’ 479pts, 4 Cirencester ‘B’ 636pts. Div Three (of 18); 1 Newbury 469pts, 10 Cirencester ‘C’ 1,182pts.

Final positions:

Div One, Champions: Headington 647pts, 2 Cirencester 726pts, 3 Witney 1,219pts.

Div Two, Champions: Cirencester ‘B’ 3,100pts, 2 Banbury ‘A’ 3,306pts, 3 Team Kennet ‘A’ 3,712pts.

Div Three, Champions: Newbury ‘A’ 2,560pts, 9 Cirencester ‘C’ 6,015pts.

As well as great team success there were a number of individual trophy winners for Cirencester over the complete season (best four from five races count):

3rd U20 women: Jenny Manners

1st overall women & FV35: Wendy Jones

1st senior women: Ellen Leggate

1st FV55 women: Carol Clarke

2nd U20 men: Chris Illman

3rd senior men: Pancho Gonzalez-Diaz

3rd V40 men: Andy Bickerstaff

Full results can be found on the league’s website www.oxonxc.org

CLUB CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP 2006/2007

Appropriately, given his efforts in getting out such strong teams all winter and on the eve of his departure to Spain (no more chips!), club captain Pancho Gonzalez-Diaz regained the club championship. Similarly, Wendy Jones regained the ladies trophy after lending it to Jane Wassell last season. Final scores after the last of the five Oxford League fixtures (scoring 30 down to one point for men and 15 down to one for women):

Men:

Pancho Gonzalez-Diaz 148pts

Chris Illman 139pts

Andy Bickerstaff 131pts

A Williams 129, B Leggate 104, D Matts 101, M Fallows 100, D Wright 87, S Elverd 84, B Ferris 78, B Reid 74, C Brough 73, M Middleton 70, P Barlow 69, C Riches 60, C Tapley 59, J Norris 55, R Brown, C Sherrington & A Mosley 54, N Dunnage 52, B Barrowclough 45, J Rumsey & D Sheppard 43, T Willson 32, M Thomas 28, J Barrowclough 24, M Norris 22, K Firkin 21, M Gluning 20, D Waldron 19, B Cox 17, T Kingston 16, A Bradley 15, J Knight 13, D Cook 11, D Long, M Humphreys & T Curry 10, C Hook 7, D Edelsten 5.

Women:

Wendy Jones 60pts

Ellen Leggate 57pts

Sue McKeeman 43pts

J Manners 42, J Wassell 40, Carol Clarke 39, C Bolam 36, J Thomas 35, S Brown 32, D Moore 24, C Cox 23, B Thomas 21, L Ferris 18, C Conway 14, K Withycombe & P Vass 12, Corinne Clark, S Evans & C Blampied 10, T Compton 9.

ROAD / MULTI-TERRAIN RESULTS

10 February, Gloucester Winter 5m. Bryan Reid ran in this race but results have not yet appeared.

11 February, Dursley Dozen m/t . Four hardy souls from Cirencester competed in this extremely hilly & muddy race on a day that, following heavy snow and the resultant thaw, the other main multi-terrain event scheduled, the Wyre Forest ‘8’ was cancelled because of the weather. Amongst the club’s entries was what appears to be a new Italian member, a Mr Roberto Ferris!

1 Craig Davey (City of Bath ) 1.14.59

150 Chris Brough (Cirencester) 1.47.01

154 Roberto (aka Bob) Ferris 1.47.20

233 Trudy Compton (3rd FV40) 1.56.35

270 Caroline Bolam 2.00.28. 386 finished. www.g4cio.demon.co.uk/ddozen/ddozen.htm

18 February, Cirencester Park off road duathlon (2 mile run, 10 mile bike, 2 mile run) .

1 Chris Stuart (Army) (12.33, 44.35, 13.56) 1.11.04

70 Mark Evans (Cirencester) (16.16, 1.02.31, 17.16) 1.36.03

110 Diane Moore (1st FV40) (17.26, 1.06.21, 18.39) 1.42.26

156 Chris Goldie (17.40, 1.17.01, 18.48) 1.53.29. 186 finished.

Novice/Youth event (1 mile run, 5 mile bike, 1 mile run).

1 Kurt Warner (Team Darenth) (7.51, 25.42, 8.46) 42.19

5 Ben Cox (Cirencester) (7.23, 30.51, 8.07) 46.21. 90 finished. www.triferris.com

18 February, Walter George Memorial 10k, Calne. Prizes for all three club participants in this new race on a flatish out and back course on cycle tracks.

1 Phil Kibble ( Swindon Police) 33.50

116 Alice Thomas (Cirencester, 2nd FJunior) 54.01

119 David Edelsten (1st V60) 54.51

158 Barbara Thomas (3rd FV50) 73.46. 165 finished.

25 February, Bourton 10k . Club championship event. Star of the day for the club was undoubtedly Jane Wassell. Fresh from her best ever inter-counties performance in Nottingham just a few hours earlier, she ran even splits to comfortably beat her personal best which had stood for 15 years! A total of 35 club members plus a handful of Tetbury Royals with Cirencester connections toed the start line and a great number produced their best ever times. Although slightly blustery on the day, the out and back course, plus some circuits of the village to start and finish, is flat and fast. A few of the club’s top runners were missing but an indication of the current depth of Ciren AC showed through as no less than 11 ran below 40 minutes. Apart from Wassell, the biggest improvers on the day against past performance were Stephen Elverd, Chris Brough, Corinne Clark, Jenny Manners, Brian Barrowclough and Chloe Cox. It was gratifying also to see some new members appearing for the first time in a club vest.

1 Martin Rees (Neath) 31.45

11 Pancho Gonzalez-Diaz (Cirencester) 33.17

41 Adrian Williams 35.36

54 David Wright 36.15 – club V50 record

69 Jane Wassell 37.18 – club FV40 record

100 Martin Croucher 39.05

102 Bryan Reid 39.07

103 Mark Gluning 39.11

108 Stephen Elverd 39.18

112 Jonathan Young 39.29

114 Niel Dunnage 39.34

123 Dorian Matts 39.51

134 Chris Brough 40.41

138 Andy Bradley 40.56

154 Bob Ferris 41.39

156 Chris Riches 41.51

191 Caroline Bolam 43.14

208 Corinne Clark 44.07

210 Ed Sinton 44.09

225 Jenny Manners 44.36

233 Kim Withycombe 44.55

236 Tim Willson 45.07

249 Elaine Wilson 45.41 – club FV50 record

254 Graham Grafton 45.50

271 Carol Clarke (2nd FV55) 46.34

274 Sue Brown 46.42

300 Jenny Hill 48.14

322 Sandra Elphick 49.14

323 Dick Waldron 49.15 – club V65 record

331 Brian Barrowclough 49.38

345 Chloe Cox 50.20

352 Joanna Green 50.52

370 John Bennett 52.36

378 Lynn Ferris 52.56

386 David Edelsten 53.30

445 Natalie Hunt 61.10. 458 finished. www.bourtonroadrunners.co.uk

25 February, Yokohama Ekiden Marathon Relay, Japan . Following her superb run in the xc trials race at Bath a few weeks earlier (see last newsletter), Wendy Jones was selected to run for Great Britain for the third time. Once again the location was Japan and once again it was for an Ekiden, a six stage relay covering the classic marathon distance. These races are incredibly popular in Japan , attracting large crowds and national TV coverage. There were only 14 teams invited, consisting of the top running nations in the world plus a handful of Japanese district teams. With Japan globally by far the strongest country in depth for women’s distance running, there were no weak teams in the field as the participants’ frightening personal bests published on the official website highlighted. Great Britain has not competed in this race for a few years but in announcing the decision to send a team this year, UK Athletics stated that it reflected the current very strong state of women’s distance running in the country at present. The course was out and back alongside Tokyo Bay . Unfortunately for Jones, who was running one of the two 10k stages - the other being taken by Mara Yamauchi, top Briton in last year’s London Marathon - she had to run straight into a biting, cold (4º) wind on what was already a tough, undulating course. The result was a disappointing time of 35.16 although she felt that she ran well. With the current European 10,000m Champion (Abitova of Russia) and a former World Marathon Champion & Olympic silver medallist (Ndereba of Kenya) only managing 33.16 & 33.28 respectively on this stage (both have pb’s of 31 mins), it was no surprise that Jones ran a slower time than anticipated (somewhat ironic given that Bourton took place on the same day!). The other GB athletes on return stages also suffered in comparison to their colleagues but the team did well to finish ninth, well ahead of China and Romania amongst others.

1 Russia 2.14.48, 2 USA 2.16.04, 3 Japan 2.16.07, 9 Great Britain (Faye Fullerton , Mara Yamauchi , Gemma Phillips , Vicki Gill , Wendy Jones , Sonia Thomas ) 2.22.01.

The race website can be found here www.ntv.co.jp/w-ekiden2007 but will not be a great deal of use to members other than Helen & Peter Langsam and Mika Barlow who actually speak Japanese! The pictures are good at least and give a flavour of the occasion. For a report on the race go to www.iaaf.org and find the headline for 25 February: Russia cruises to second consecutive win …

25 February, Bramley ‘10’, Berkshire Second place and a club age group record for Cathy Cook.

1 Julienne L’homme (Headington) 54.53

31 Cathy Cook (Cirencester, 2nd lady / 1st FV40) 1.04.35 – club FV40 record.

483 finished. www.readingroadrunners.org

4 March, Gloucester ‘20’, Frampton-on-Severn . A fine run by Andy Bradley showing that his marathon training for London is going well. By sheer coincidence, the winner of the race hails from Bradley’s new running club since he moved back up to the north Midlands .

1 Neil Renault (Long Eaton) 1.49.43

134 Andy Bradley (Cirencester) 2.26.52 – club V50 record

435 Dave Cook 3.12.41. 511 finished. www.gloucester-athletic-club.fsnet.co.uk

CLUB RACE PROMOTION: CHEDWORTH ROMAN TRAIL

Cirencester AC’s spring race promotion takes place on 1 April at 10:30 from Chedworth Village Hall. To quote from the race entry form, this popular 10 mile multi terrain race is “a single lap of scenic Cotswold countryside through Stowell Park , the Coln Valley and close to Chedworth Roman Villa. Mainly on tracks, footpaths and fields with one river crossing. A challenging course but well worth the effort.”

Full details can be found on the club’s website www.cirencester-ac.org.uk including results from previous years. David Edelsten is the race director and Rupert Chesmore is coordinating personnel to help on the day: this will include marshals on the course, car parking & traffic control, recording of finishers and help with the teas. Just before flying off to Australia on holiday, the race director reported that entries were coming in well (just over 200 to date). Entries are to be encouraged from the club once all helpers have been identified. Whether running, helping or just curious, all attendees are asked to provide a cake for the tea (home baked preferably but Tesco’s finest will do!)

ROAD / MULTI-TERRAIN FIXTURES (Sunday unless stated)

Entry forms for some of these races on club noticeboard, otherwise access via websites. Most Severn AC promotions (and there are many) can be entered on the day. Space precludes the ability to flag up anything other than local races but for a good list of events around the country log on to www.runningdiary.co.uk

17 March (Sat), 32nd Grocery 4m, White Horse Inn, Gloucester at 14:45 . www.severnac.co.uk

25 March, Forest of Dean Trails ½ Marathon at 10:00 . Club championship event. Entries are now closed with over 20 Cirencester names listed. Don’t forget that the clocks go forward to British Summer Time so effective starting time is 09:00 ! www.rotary-rfod.org.uk/rfod-half-marathon.htm

7 April (Sat), Easter 10k, White Horse Inn, Gloucester at 15:00 . www.severnac.co.uk

15 April, Highworth 5m at 11:00 . Club championship event. No entries on the day so enter now. www.highworthrunningclub.com

13 May, Tewkesbury ½ Marathon at 09:30 . www.209.events.com

18 June (Mon), Westonbirt Arboretum 10k m/t at 19:30 . Some way off but flagged up as this race, which has previously been organised by Tetbury Royals, is now being promoted by Cirencester AC.

CLUB RECORDS

The Forest of Dean ½ Marathon is the next club championship event so here are current club age group records for that distance:

U20: 1.14.16 Chris Illman, Stroud 2006.

Male senior: 1.09.07 Mike Smith, Stroud 2000; Female senior: 1.17.42 Ellen Leggate 2001;

FV35: 1.13.21 Wendy Jones, Reading 2006;

V40: 1.17.26 David Wright, Stroud 1999; FV40: 1.26.12 Cathy Cook, Swindon 2006;

V45: 1.19.59 Brian Wither, 1992; FV45: 1.38.30 Molly Fisher, 1991;

V50: 1.28.23 Tony Curry, 1994; FV50: 1.43.20 Carol Clarke, Stroud 2002;

V55: 1.42.34 Bob May, Stroud 2002; FV55: 1.39.55 Carol Clarke, Leeds 2006;

V60: 1.41.43 Dick Waldron, Stroud 2002.

V65: 2.01.46 Dick Waldron, Stroud 2006.

V70: 1.58.19 Fred Robson, Cricklade 2004.

CLUB ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIP 2007

As ever there were lots of bonus points collected at the Bourton 10k, the first race in this year’s championship. Thus scores after one race are worth publishing as they do not follow the natural progression of finishing order in the race:

Men; A Williams 24pts, S Elverd 22, P Gonzalez-Diaz 20, M Gluning & D Wright 19, C Brough 18, D Matts & M Croucher 17, B Ferris & B Reid 16, A Bradley 15, J Young 13, N Dunnage 12, B Barrowclough 11, C Riches 7, E Sinton 6, G Grafton 5, D Waldron 4, J Bennett 2, D Edelsten 1.

Women; C Bolam 27, Corinne Clark 26, J Manners 25, K Withycombe & J Wassell 22, C Cox 18, E Wilson 15, S Brown & Carol Clarke 14, J Hill 12, S Elphick 11, L Ferris & J Green 9, N Hunt 7.

The rest of the fixtures are as follows:

25 March, Forest of Dean Trails ½ Marathon (details above)

15 April, Highworth 5m (details above)

17 May (Thu), Globe Inn 5k, Sandhurst , nr Gloucester www.severnac.co.uk

3 June, Fairford Festival 10k www.fairford.org

9 July (Mon), Frampton-on-Severn 10k www.stroudathleticclub.org.uk

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

1 Aug (Wed), Bugatti 10k, nr Winchcombe www.cheltenhamharriers.co.uk

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

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

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

21 Oct, Stroud ½ Marathon www.stroudathleticclub.org.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

This championship is run along similar lines, and shares some fixtures with, our own club championship. As well as an overall championship, points are scored for male and female veteran categories (age as at 1 January) in five year age groups and there are also team categories. Of the 12 races, best eight count with a minimum requirement of five races to qualify for prizes. There is no need to specify that you are entering this series when racing, a list of club members has been sent to the organisers. Look up the bizarrely named www.runnerduck.co.uk/running for full details, including results of the 2006 championship. It would be good to see some Cirencester names usurping Bourton’s dominance in 2007.

The first two races in the series were the Gloucester ‘10’ & ‘20’ to which limited Cirencester numbers attended. The rest of the races, with dates where known, are as follows (Sunday unless stated):

7 April (Sat), Easter 10k, Gloucester (details above)

17 May (Thu), Globe Inn 5k, Sandhurst , nr Gloucester www.severnac.co.uk

30 June, Bourton Hilly ½ Marathon www.bourtonroadrunners.co.uk

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, nr Winchcombe www.cheltenhamharriers.co.uk

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

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

21 Oct, Stroud ½ Marathon www.stroudathleticclub.org.uk

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

MISCELLANY

… 2007 is turning out to be quite a year for new arrivals. Tony Kingston and his wife Sharron are proud new parents of a 9lb 2oz baby boy named Finley. Congratulations from all at the club. That is now three new babies in four newsletters!

… regular readers will be pleased to know that Niel Dunnage and his partner Anisa have now decided upon a name for their new born son. Sam made his first public appearance at the Bourton 10k when watching dad beat 40 minutes for the first time.

David Wright: wrights@tesco.net or 01285 641224