First, second and third.

It doesn't get much better than that. Wendy Jones, Ellen Leggate and Jane Wassell finished in those positions in Sunday's final race of the 2004/2005 Oxford League to emphatically ensure that Cirencester successfully defended the ladies championship. Congratulations to those three plus Helen Langsam, Diane Moore and Elaine Wilson who all scored vital points through the long five month season. It was a true team effort. Wendy and Jane utterly dominated the individual rankings being first and second overall as well, of course, as FV35. Other club prize winners to be feted were U20 Chris Illman, who won his category convincingly, and Tony Curry with a well merited second place in the O60 category. The men's team warrants an editorial mention as well for an all time best finishing position of fourth, an agonisingly close three points behind Abingdon.

No apologies therefore for this long newsletter.

RESULTS

13.02.2005 Wyre Forest Multi Terrain, 8 miles.
1 Simon Link (Stourbridge) 49.00, 234 David Edelsten 1.16.13. 316 finished.

20.02.2005 Bourton-on-the-Water 10km.

Some controversial risk assessment analysis by the race organisers resulted in a modified course for this popular early season road race. As a consequence the race started and finished in the centre of the village, commenced and concluded with two short (1km) laps around the village and in between ran out towards Rissington for 3km, turned around and came back. As ever the course was flat and although it was extremely cold ( ed: especially for the spectators! ) and quite windy, fast times were the order of the day. After the initial two laps nobody had broken clear and in the ladies race the trio of teenage sensation Emily Pidgeon (touted as the new Paula Radcliffe and just back from warm weather training in South Africa), well known London Marathon 1000 mile challenge runner Shona Crombie-Hicks and our very own Wendy Jones were neck and neck and clearly running at a good pace. A little further back Dick Waldron was, as usual, surrounded by his harem - Elaine, Carol, Sue and Diane. On the way back into the village at 8km, Pidgeon had pulled 50 metres clear of Jones who was, in turn, a further 50 metres ahead of Crombie-Hicks. By the finish Pidgeon, looking extremely comfortable, won fairly easily, with Jones, having made the effort to go with the eventual winner, eventually overhauled by the experienced ultra runner. Wendy's time was half a minute better than her own winning time in 2004 and was her second best ever. It was also, unsurprisingly, a new club FV35 record, which was slightly unfortunate for Jane Wassell who also beat the previous record (her own) with another excellent run. In between these two elite ladies Chris Illman and Bill Leggate also ran really well. Given their progress through the winter this was little surprise and it will be interesting to see how they both fare in the longer races they have planned later in the year. This was the first race in the club's 2005 road race championship and there were bonus points galore for beating 2004 times, most notable improvements coming from Jonathan Young and Sue Brown. There was mixed reaction to the new course. Most runners liked the village centre location but disliked the tight bends on the multi-laps. Also, sadly, the marshalling left something to be desired as there was chaos on the final bend with runners on different laps not guided into correct lanes. To cap it all times issued on the day were incorrect causing more chaos. When eventually published a week after the race, Elaine Wilson had been omitted from the results produced by the hassled race organisers, who did not have a good day. Many onlookers spotted Elaine finishing, as no doubt did Carol Clarke. She has therefore been slotted into her rightful position and all other finishers have been shunted down by one place from the official version.

1 Dan Duke (Cheltenham) 31.14, 16 Emily Pidgeon (1st Lady, Glos) 34.28, 26 Wendy Jones (3rd lady, 1st FV35), 27 Chris Illman 35.08, 50 Bill Leggate 37.03, 60 Jane Wassell (9th lady, 4th FV35) 37.44, 86 Duncan Atkinson 38.51, 121 Dave Cook 40.29, 131 Chris Riches 40.40, 149 Jonathan Young 41.42, 208 Dick Waldron 44.42, 230 Elaine Wilson 45.39, 231 Carol Clarke (2nd FV55) 45.40, 256 Sue Brown 46.43, 266 Diane Moore 47.12, 318 David Edelsten 50.17. 435 finished.

20.02.2005 Dursley Dozen multi-terrain.

Whilst the road runners were going around in circles at Bourton, Chris Sherrington and Niel Dunnage were enjoying the delights of the countryside for the very tough Dursley Dozen, a 12 mile test on the hills around Dursley.

1 Garry Hughes (Dursley) 1.17.00, 183 Chris Sherrington 1.48.27, 198 Niel Dunnage 1.50.02. 380 finished.

27.02.2005 The Terminator multi-terrain, Pewsey Vale

The club's three m-t musketeers couldn't miss out on yet another massively popular off road race.

1 Greg Deacon ( Basildon ) 1.12.24, 213 Chris Sherrington 1.38.07, 239 Niel Dunnage 1.40.31, 534 David Edelsten 2.00.25. 715 finished (!).

05.03.2005 Inter-Counties , Wollaton Park , Nottingham

Jane Wassell writes about her day out with the Glos. County team: " An early start to the day, leaving home at 6.45am (hubby and children still tucked up in bed as snug as bugs in a rug) to catch the team Gloucestershire coach from Cheltenham . We arrived in good time at 10am , only three and a half hours to wait before the Senior Ladies race!! Plenty of time to look at the course, conditions were good, plenty of blue sky and sunshine and the ground was firm. 25mins before the start, time to join the long line of ladies for our micro-chip ankle straps and now the nerves are really starting to take over!
Typical of our inclement weather heavy rain started to fall, a big temperature drop and the rain quickly turned into sleet and snow. We lined up in our County pens and the race started in blizzard like conditions. A very tough long up-hill start and it felt like every runner in the race was going past me. The first 15 minutes running in blizzard conditions, heads down and a long slog ahead. The course was a hard undulating 8k (I now know how the men in the Oxford league feel - knackered).
I never felt like I really got going (I was saving myself for the main event of the weekend, the Oxford Mail XC!!!) and finished 138th out of 275. The whole event was fantastic, a good course for spectators and to watch some top quality runners, camera crews (it was televised on Sky) were dotted all around the course with great commentary too.
Although a little disappointed with the way my run went, I really enjoyed the day."

1. Hayley Yelling (Middlesex) 28.06, 138 Jane Wassell (Glos) 33.24. 275 finished.

06.03.2005 Oxford Mail XC League, Shotover, Horspath, nr Oxford :

What a season! The team spirit pervading the club was evident at the end of season prizegiving. Each Cirencester winner, and there were many, received great roars of acclaim from the numerous members who stayed behind in the cold to witness the greatest collective day ever for the club. As to the races themselves, the men were off first to facilitate efficient collation of the results. On a brute of a course it was evident from the start that Cirencester meant business with a mass of red/black vests in the top 50. Everybody ran their socks off and Chris Illman went one better by running his shoe off, as he finished unshod on one foot! Amazingly after the race he hopped back onto the course and managed to retrieve his missing shoe. Martin Pitts, who seriously dislikes XC, ran a particularly strong second half to move through the field and complete the first team scoring. The overall team result was desperately close with third to fifth teams split by a mere five points (with scores in the 1700's), Cirencester, starting the day in sixth, making the meat of the sandwich between Abingdon & Witney, to finish fourth overall, a truly fantastic result. 30 men turned out in the league during the winter including four who ran all five races, the effervescent Pancho, Chris Riches, Colin O'Hare and Tony Curry. One very welcome newcomer was Michael Wassell, Jane's husband, who was cajoled into dusting down his running shoes and running his first race for 10 years. Jane finished her report of the inter-counties with the following : " . Since coming home from the Oxford League XC race, Michael has been in a horizontal position on the settee, unable to move, every muscle (fat) and sinu from head to toe has been aching, he's now gone back into retirement."

So to the ladies. Having taken a marginal lead over home club Headington into this last race a good turnout was clearly vital. Thankfully Ellen Leggate had another engagement in Oxford the same day (she is team manager of the Oxbridge team visiting the USA later in the year), Jane Wassell was able to rouse her aching body one more time having trekked up to Nottingham the day before (see above), Wendy Jones appeared despite fighting a cold and Helen Langsam came down from London to visit her mum on mothers day! Having got the troops onto the start line the rest was easy. The sight of three Cirencester vests appearing one after the other into the finishing field will live in the memory of the many club supporters privileged enough to have witnessed it. The ladies had well and truly annihilated the opposition. As usual Helen ran another consistent race as back-up, she would be lead runner for most clubs, and the drama wasn't over as the club's other three representatives, Diane Moore, Carol Clarke and the ever-improving Sue Brown came down the finishing straight neck and neck for another thrilling finish. Future newsletters will dwell on the significance of this victory for the club but for the moment it must be pointed out that Wendy Jones has now won eight out of the last 10 Oxford League races outright, with one second place and one absence due to flu. That is a pretty impressive statistic and shows her incredible loyalty to the club as well as her class as a top athlete. Wendy, Jane and Sue all ran all five races.

Full results from the whole season as well as previous years can be found on the league's excellent website www.geocities.com/oxmailxc

U11 Boys: 29 Mark Whistler 5.57

U11 Girls: 16 Laura Eales 6.00, 26 Jenny Eales 6.32, 33 Zoe Frazer 7.31, 35 Verity Greenhaugh 7.44.

U13 Boys: 13 Liam Frazer 8.13.

U13/U15 Girls: 26 Alice Thomas (U13) 8.30.

Women: 1 Wendy Jones 21.17, 2 Ellen Leggate 21.35, 3 Jane Wassell 22.53, 12 Helen Langsam 24.59, 31 Diane Moore 28.02, 32 Carol Clarke 28.03, 33 Sue Brown 28.08. 59 finished.

Teams: 1 Cirencester 6pts, 2 Headington 15, 7 Cirencester 'B' 75. 22 teams closed in.

Overall: 1 Cirencester 118pts, 2 Headington 132, 3 Witney 216. 19 teams closed in.

Men: 1 Tom Penfold (WHH) 35.43, 17 Chris Illman 38.16, 22 Pancho Diaz 38.52, 26 Dan Leggate 39.12, 33 Andy Bickerstaff 39.55, 44 Rod Sinclair 41.01, 55 Bill Leggate 41.57, 70 Martin Pitts 42.56, 78 Duncan Atkinson 43.44, 101 Paul Barlow 46.13, 107 Bob Ferris 46.37, 118 Chris Riches 47.29, 120 Chris Sherrington 47.42, 124 Colin O'Hare 48.12, 128 Michael Wassell 48.47, 137 Tony Curry 49.54, 148 Dick Waldron 51.20, 176 David Edelsten 58.15. 181 finished.

Teams: Div. 1 - 1 Headington 59, 4 Cirencester 267, of 10 teams. Div. 2 - 1 Eynsham 488pts, 6 Cirencester 'B' 776. 20 teams closed in.

Overall: Div 1 - 1 Headington 477, 3 Abingdon 1768, 4 Cirencester 1771, 5 Witney 1773. Div 2 - 1 Eynsham 2569pts, 9 Cirencester 'B' 4813, 16 teams closed in.

Final overall individual positions (best four from five races):

Prizewinners:

1st overall (and 1st FV35) W Jones, 2nd overall (and 2nd FV35) J Wassell, 1st U20 C Illman, 2nd O60 T Curry

Selected other leading positions:

5th U11 girl L Vass, 7th FV35 D Moore, 10th FV35 S Brown, 7th FV45 C Clarke, 12th Senior P Diaz, 21st Senior B Leggate, 16th V40 M Pitts, 19th V40 D Atkinson, 10th V50 C Riches, 3rd O60 D Waldron.

RANKINGS

Final club XC championship positions for the 2004/2005 season are as follows (scored at one point for the last club finisher at each Oxford League race, two points for the penultimate finisher etc):

Women: Champion: Wendy Jones 30pts , 2. J Wassell 23, 3. H Langsam 13, 4=. D Moore, E Leggate 12, 6. C Clarke 9, 7. S Brown 5, 8. E Wilson 3, 9. S McKeeman 2.

Men: Champion: Pancho Diaz 69pts , 2. C Illman 64, 3. B Leggate 47, 4=. D Atkinson, M Pitts 38, 6. C Riches 34, 7. D Leggate 30, 8. R Sinclair 28, 9=. D Wright, P Holmes 26, 11. C O'Hare 24, 12. C Sherrington, 21, 13. P Barlow 16, 14= T Curry,R. Ferris 15, 16=. P Langsam, A Bickerstaff 14, 18=. I Fletcher, N Morris, 13, 20=. M Gluning, T Collings 11, 22. T Willson, 10, 23=. I Sanders, J Baraclough 9, 25. D Waldron 8, 26 J Nicholls 5, 27=. D Edelsten, M Wassell 4, 29. N Dunnage 3, 30 C Brough 1.

After the first race of the road race championship at Bourton the early leaders are Jane Wassell and Chris Illman. Full ongoing scores will be published after the second race in the next newsletter.

John Burgess has unearthed all time club road rankings for all age groups. Unfortunately they only incorporate performances up to the end of 2000. With some effort from a number of people, subsequent improvements have been updated and the plan is to feed through these statistics during the summer season in advance of imminent club races of the same distance. For example the next club race is a half marathon so herewith rankings for that distance:

Women:

Sen 1.17.42 Ellen Leggate 2001

O35 1.21.49 Wendy Jones 2004

O40 1.36.29 Molly Fisher 1988

O45 1.38.30 Molly Fisher 1991

O50 1.43.20 Carol Clarke 2002

O55 1.40.51 Mary Campbell 2000

Men:

U20 1.19.23 Marc Fallows 1992

Sen 1.09.07 Mike Smith 2000

O40 1.18.06 David Wright 1997

O45 1.19.59 Brian Wither 1992

O50 1.28.23 Tony Curry 1994

O55 1.42.34 Bob May 2002

O60 1.41.43 Dick Waldron 2002

O70 1.58.19 Fred Robson 2004

FORTHCOMING RACES & CONTACT DETAILS:

20 March at 10.30 Cleevewold '13', Winchcombe, nr Cheltenham . A tough 13 mile multi-terrain race with 1500 ft of climbing. Exhilarating high level running (when you get up there!) and definitely one to tick off as having been done. Details www.cheltenhamharriers.co.uk

3 April at 10.30 Chedworth Roman Trail . This 10 mile multi-terrain race is Cirencester's spring race promotion. David Edelsten, the organiser, will be soliciting help for marshalling, car parking, teas etc from as many members as possible. There will still be room for club members to race as well. Details on the club's website www.cirencester-ac.org.uk

25 June at 07.00 (!) Cotswold Way Relay. Some time ahead but if the club are to enter a team and plan for the relay a decision whether to take part is imminent. This is a ten stage relay: Chipping Campden - Stanway - Cleeve Common - Seven Springs - Cranham - Stroud - Dursley - Wotton-u-Edge - Old Sodbury - Cold Ashton - Bath . Total distance is 107 miles and stages range from 8-12 miles, most with a fair amount of climbing. There are various team categories and Cirencester seems best suited to the mixed team race which must include at least three ladies. Each stage is run as a separate race rather than a continuous relay. Please let David Wright know if interested in competing.

2005 CLUB ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIP

The designated races for this year's championship are as follows:

20 February Bourton 10km www.bourtonroadrunners.co.uk

13 March Forest of Dean ½ Marathon www.rotary-royalforestofdean.org.uk/trails.html

24 April Highworth 5 mile www.swindonweb.com/hrc

19 May (Thursday) Globe Inn ( Gloucester ) 5km www.severnac.co.uk

5 June Fairford Festival 10km www.fairfo r d.org/10k/index.html

11 July (Monday) tbc Frampton-on-Severn 10km www.stroudathleticclub.org.uk

3 August (Wednesday) Bugatti 10km (nr Winchcombe) www.cheltenhamharriers.co.uk

11 September Witney 10 mile www.witneyroadrunners.org.uk

23 October Stroud ½ Marathon www.stroudathleticclub.org.uk

There are nine races, one each month from February to October, with best six scores to count towards the separate men and women championships. As oft stated a lot of these races reach their limits very quickly so plan ahead, get the entry forms from the above web sites or the club noticeboard and enter early. Quite a few missed out for the Forest of Dean race as entries closed early. To qualify runners must be fully paid-up members of Cirencester AC and be representing the club at the race. Points awarded to the first 15 finishers on a reducing basis from 15 down to 1. Based on times achieved in 2004, as published in the last newsletter, bonus points will be awarded for improvements: 1 minute or more = 5pts, 45 seconds = 4pts, 30 seconds = 3pts, 15 seconds = 2pts and up to 15 seconds = 1pt. The Globe Inn, Fairford, Bugatti & Stroud races form part of the Gloucestershire County road race series.

MISCELLANY

. Westonbirt Arboretum 10km. The Tetbury Royals, sister club of Cirencester, are promoting their inaugural open race on Monday 20 June. The course will be run on the footpaths through the famous Westonbirt Arboretum. The Royals will be looking for lots of assistance from club members in making sure that this first race goes smoothly. There will also be entries available with some very interesting prizes, including baby trees for all finishers and meals at the local pub for prizewinners. Watch this space or talk to Chris Riches for more information.

. Wendy Jones must be one of the best known runners in Gloucestershire and the South West, yet the press release for the Wilts & Glos Standard from Bourton Road Runners a week before the Bourton 10km (for which she was defending champion) omitted to mention her as one of the leading entrants to the race whilst including a number of youngsters, has-beens and slow ultra distance runners including some that Wendy has thrashed in the Oxford League. Thankfully she proved her class out on the course for a fine third place, well ahead of most of those mentioned. You never can believe what you read in the papers (unless, of course, it's written by Ciren AC's very own press officer, Chris Sherrington!).

. on the subject of the press, Yvonne Binks has clearly got a good agent as she managed a large spread, including photograph, in the aforementioned Wilts & Glos detailing her build up to her seventh London Marathon. Good luck to you Yvonne and to all other members planning to race in the capital on 17 April.

. a further side issue from the Bourton 10k was the apparent romance between Poppy (nearly 3), daughter of Wendy Jones & Justin Nicholls, and Ollie (2½), son of Cathy & Dave Cook. They were clearly far more interested in each other than watching their respective parents in the race!

. further to the question posed in the last newsletter (" did you finish, Neil"), the answer, happily, is yes. New member Niel Dunnage (note correct spelling of Christian name) finished 155th in the Cirencester Park Oxford League but somehow had his named transcribed as Neil Dunge in the results as well as having him run for Cherwell rather than Cirencester for which the Oxfordshire club should be thankful as he improved their result by some 40 points!

More information and news, including past newsletters, can be found on the club's website www.cirencester - ac.org.uk .

David Wright: wrights@tesco.net or 01285 641224