HEADLINES

•  Another stunning performance by Wendy Jones: AAA silver medallist in the UK 10,000 track Championships.

•  More team victories at Tetbury continue successful 2006 for Cirencester AC.

•  Individual race wins for Cathy Cook, Wendy Jones, Jane Wassell & Pancho Gonzalez-Diaz.

TRACK RESULT

10 June, AAA 10,000m Championship, Watford . Following her fine performances on the road in 2006, Wendy Jones received an invitation to compete in this prestigious championship, which this year incorporated the European Athletics Championships trial race. Thankfully, on the hottest day of the year so far, the race didn't start until 9pm but although the sun was no longer shining it was still very warm and in the preceding men's race there had been numerous drop-outs. The UK Athletics website previewed the race thus: “the Women's AAA 10,000m Championships looks like it should be a cracker, the line up includes Hayley Yelling & Kathy Butler (both Windsor) and the pace is likely to be world class … other athletes entered include Commonwealth Games representatives Cath Dugdale (Swansea) and Collette Fagan (Glasgow), fast-improving Wendy Jones (Cirencester) … …”

This was Jones' first ever 10,000 and first track race for probably 15 years!  As a consequence she was wary of how best to race tactically and on a surface that she is not used to.  So she tagged onto the back of the main group from the start, running 80/81 second laps.  From the start Fagan (10th in this year's Commonwealth Games 10,000) was a couple of seconds a lap faster so found herself in no mans land between leader Yelling (plus Kenyan pacemaker) and the main pack.  Anita Looper of Holland crossed the gap to Fagan about a third of the way into the race. The main pack went through 5,000 in 16:50, about 15 seconds behind Fagan/Looper.  Gemma Phillips (2nd in this year's National XC Championships) was making the odd surge resulting in the pack reducing to three (with Morag McDonnell & Jones), thus dropping Dugdale (9th in Commonwealth Games) and a Danish athlete. On a number of occasions Jones had to cut her stride as she closed up on the others.  The pack continued to close slowly on the two ahead and with eight laps to go Fagan walked off the track whilst just a few seconds ahead.  On a couple of occasions Jones looked to have been broken by the other two but then with about four laps to go she came up onto Phillips' shoulder and the pace picked up.  On the penultimate lap Jones moved to the front, dropping Phillips with about 600 to go and then, with a fantastic 72 second last lap, she broke McDonnell with 250 to go and stormed down the finishing straight, missing her pb on the road by just one second. By winning the race, Yelling confirmed her selection for the European Championships, probably alongside Paula Radcliffe & Mara Yamauchi. Although finishing third in the race - Looper from Holland was a guest - Jones won a greatly coveted AAA silver medal for her performance, thus emulating Ellen Leggate's (née O'Hare) achievement over 1,500m a few years ago when she won a bronze medal. For a club as small as Cirencester to have two AAA medallists at senior level is quite an achievement.

1 Hayley Yelling ( Windsor ) 32:38:24

2 Anita Looper ( Holland ) 33:53:68

3 Wendy Jones (Cirencester) 34:01:75

4 Morag McDonnell ( Chester le Street) 34:06:03

5 Gemma Phillips (Kendal) 34:09:32

ROAD / MULTI-TERRAIN RESULTS

31 May, Bexhill-on-Sea 5k

1 J Guilmant ( Phoenix ) 15.45

5 Chris Illman (Cirencester) 16.41 – club U20 record

4 June, Fairford 3k fun run . As promised, herewith results of the fun run held in conjunction with the 10k race, results of which were in the last newsletter. Star of the show was six year old Zoe Wassell who won the infant girls category. Apologies if anybody missed but results were not per club but home address. No times were published.

1 George Reynolds, 13 Cameron Wassell (2nd Junior Boy), 33 Lewis Wassell (JB), 53 Jack Sherrington (JB), 56 Zoe Wassell (1st Infant Girl), 57 Michael Wassell, 125 Hannah Tapley (IG), 126 Katherine Tapley (G). 311 finished.

Further to the 10k results already published, the Cirencester AC ladies team of Wassell, Kroulikova & Carol Clarke finished 2nd to winners Bourton and the club also provided the 3rd place team courtesy of McKeeman, Corinne Clark & Brown. As well as winning the men's team prize, Cirencester finished teams in 6th (Leggate, debutant Brown & Elverd), 11th (another debutant Horton, Sherrington & Kingston) & 14th (Bradley, Waldron & McKeeman). The Wilts & Glos Standard published a photo of the race crossing the mill bridge; it featured Robbie Brown, Andy Bradley, Dick Waldron & Corinne Clark all resplendent in their Cirencester AC vests.

7 June, Cleeve Cloud Cuckoo 5 mile, Cleeve Common, Cheltenham . Tough course!

1 Julian Wilkie ( Cheltenham ) 32.58

60 Steve Elverd (Cirencester) 44.43

87 Dick Waldron (4th V60) 47.15. 143 finished.

10 June, Broad Town ‘5' . Bill Leggate won his first ever individual prize with a fine run on a stifling hot day. As the first three finishers were all veterans he actually won the first prize for senior men, which made it all the sweeter. Cathy Cook successfully defended her title with another excellent victory.

1 Phil Kibble (Wilts Police) 27.41

4 Bill Leggate (Cirencester, 1st senior man) 30.09

8 Cathy Cook (1st lady/FV35) 32.09. 87 finished

14 June, Lethbridge 10k, Swindon .

1 Tim Hughes (White Horse) 34.16

25 Adrian Williams (Cirencester) 40.43

207 John Prout 56.26. 256 finished.

15 June, White Horse 5k, Sandhurst , Gloucester

1 Josh Lilley ( Severn ) 14.39

24 David Wright (Cirencester, 2nd V45) 17.23 – club V45 record. 75 finished.

18 June, Horwich Carnival 5k, incorporating AAA Championship . A slightly below par performance from Wendy Jones just a week after her exploits at Watford . The 25 laps of unforgiving track left a weary legacy on her legs so this short race against a top class field was hard work, although she was only 15 seconds away from a second AAA medal in a week.

1 Tewodros Shiferaw ( Ethiopia ) 13.54

48 Kate Reed (Bristol & West, 1st lady) 15.45

70 Wendy Jones (Cirencester, 7th lady / 2nd FV35) 16.40

22 June, Malmesbury 5k m/t. Good to see Chris Riches racing again and he reports: “course: Malmesbury Leisure centre to Brokenborough and back. Terrain: several sharp undulations. Weather: perfect. Prizes: none, not even chocolate fingers for the winner (ed: but see miscellany below) ! Pancho rang me at 6.08pm and said, 'what time is the race?' I told him 7pm . He shouts down the phone, 'Oh ****, I'm at the top of Chalford Hill! I'll make it, I'll make it, don't let them start without me'. He was on his bike not in the car! With a few amusing exchanges with Dave Edelsten and only eight minutes to go before the race, this mad cyclist comes steaming down the hill to the leisure centre. He swam 1800m in the pool that morning and completed nearly two hours on the bike in the afternoon and thought he'd just pop over to Malmesbury for a 5k run. Fortunately, Dave Edelsten was able to put Pancho's bike in the back of his car and give him a lift home after the race.”

1 Pancho Gonzalez-Diaz (Cirencester) 17.03

11 Chris Riches 22.14

24 David Edelsten 27.32. 27 finished.

24 June, Bourton ½ Marathon .

1 Dan Robinson (Stroud) 1.06.33

27 Mike Humphries (Cirencester) 1.29.40

131 Dave Cook 1.51.32. 238 finished. www.bourtonroadrunners.co.uk

25 June, Torbay ½ Marathon . Another win and course record for Wendy Jones, and even the newsletter editor got amongst the prizes, on a particularly tough, but very scenic, course hugging the coastline between Paignton & Torquay (out & back twice).

1 Toby Lambert ( Alton ) 1.08.03 (course record)

10 Wendy Jones (Cirencester, 1st lady/FV35) 1.18.22 (ladies course record)

18 David Wright (2nd V45) 1.22.36. 1,098 finished. www.torbayhalfmarathon.co.uk

26 June, Westonbirt Arboretum 10k . Continuous rain all day abated just in time to give perfect conditions for the runners taking part - if not for the many helpers who set out the course during the day! Tim Willson and his Tetbury Royals team, including many Cirencester members, are to be congratulated on a very successful second promotion of this race in conjunction with the arboretum authorities. The young tree sapling to all finishers has to be the most novel race memento on the UK circuit! Cirencester athletes were well to the fore with Bill Leggate continuing his fine early summer form to win another individual prize, beating Melbourne bound student Joe Barrowclough in the process. Mark Gluning formed the final member of the winning Cirencester team: that is three outright team prizes in 2006 so far for the men, the most pleasing aspect of which being that different personnel have been involved in each of the three races. Local resident Jane Wassell aptly won the ladies race, reward for many near misses, and smashed the club FV40 10k record in the process (see also Frampton 10k below!). With winning FV55 Carol Clarke and Kim Withycombe supporting Wassell, the ladies emulated the men in successfully defending the team race.

1 Andy Gore ( Cheltenham ) 34.15

3 Bill Leggate (Cirencester) 36.26

4 Joe Barrowclough 37.34

13 Jane Wassell (1st lady/FV35) 39.33 – club FV40 record

19 Mark Gluning 40.18

37 Andy Bradley 43.30

47 Kieran Somers 44.30

66 Carol Clarke (1st FV55) 45.42

77 Ian Pople 46.21

78 Kim Withycombe 46.24

139 Trudi Compton 49.57

266 David Edelsten 56.28. 421 finished. www.tetburyroyals.org

Teams: Men, 1 Cirencester AC (Leggate, Barrowclough, Gluning) 23pts;

Women, 1 Cirencester AC (Wassell, Clarke, Withycombe) 28pts.

1 July, Kingham Village 7.5m, Oxon .

1 Daniel Crooks 45.16

37 Kim Withycombe (Cirencester) 1.05.31. 47 finished.

5 July, Barbury Castle Track ‘n' Trail ‘5' . The start of another comeback for Keith Firkin after numerous injuries.

1 Chris Rhodes ( Marlborough ) 32.03

36 Colin Tapley (Cirencester) 39.52

67 Keith Firkin 46.14. 109 finished. www.grassrootsevents.co.uk

6 July, Aerospace ‘5', Cheltenham

1 Julian Wilkie ( Cheltenham ) 26.55

15 David Wright (Cirencester) 30.03

56 Steve Elverd 34.33

129 David Edelsten 46.02. 148 finished. www.cheltenhamharriers.co.uk

10 July, Frampton-on-Severn 10k . Club championship event. For once weather conditions were good for running at this popular race. As a consequence some fine performances resulted. Pride of place goes to Bill Leggate for a massive personal best on what is not known as a fast course. The men's team, ably led by ever improving Chris Illman, narrowly failed to pick up their fourth title of the year. Photos of the race can already be accessed by logging on to the website of Dudley Kingswinford Running Club www.dk10k.co.uk Full results have yet to be published so apologies for anybody missed out from this provisional listing:

1 Dennis Walmsley (Bourton) 33.07

5 Chris Illman (Cirencester) 34.31

7 Paul Barlow 35.04

14 Bill Leggate 36.12

23 David Wright 37.12

37 Jane Wassell (2nd lady / 1st FV35) 38.44 – club FV40 record

44 Adam Harborow 39.16

92 Andy Bradley 42.18

99 Steve Elverd 43.06

123 Kveta Kroulikova 44.26

127 Leon Horton 44.41

147 Trudy Compton 45.13

149 Chris Riches 45.24

--- Ken McAnespie

--- John Prout

Teams: 1 Bourton 24pts, 2 Cirencester 26pts. www.stroudathleticclub.org.uk

FORTHCOMING ROAD & MULTI-TERRAIN RACES & CONTACT DETAILS:

Races are on Sundays unless stated. Assuming a noticeboard will eventually materialise at the new leisure centre (the committee are working on it), entry forms for these races will appear thereon. Otherwise access details via website details given or look out for flyers being distributed on Tuesday evenings.

15 July (Sat), Bourton 1 mile (yes, one mile) at 18:00 . Club championship event. Postal entries are being accepted up to this Friday (14 July). Send cheque for £5 (payable to A Lane ) to Ali & Norm Lane , Hill Barn, Clapton Road , Bourton-on-the-Water, Glos. GL54 2LF stating that number will be collected on the day. Give your name, address, age, dob, gender, club and anticipated time with entry. Otherwise turn up and register (£7) on the day at Bourton Rovers Football Club (as used in previous years for the 10k), just outside the village. The course is flat and generally straight and the race should be quite a spectacle. There is a separate fun run mile to coincide with the Sport Relief Run a Mile (entry £3 on the day). Given the time of day there will clearly be an ideal opportunity for a social drink in a local hostelry afterwards.

16 July, Pinewood 10k, Swindon at 11:00 . www.grassrootsevents.co.uk

20 July (Thu), White Horse 5k, Sandhurst , Gloucester at 19:45 . Enter on the day, details on www.severnac.co.uk Third of four 5k races at The White Horse (formerly The Globe Inn), just off the Gloucester ring road, forming a summer series (the last one being on 17 August).

20 July (Thu), Malmesbury 5k m/t at 19:00 . See Chris Riches for more information or look up www.nwll.co.uk

23 July, Gloucester ½ Marathon at 10:30 . www.gloucesterac.co.uk

25 July (Tue), Bridge Inn 5k, Shortwood, nr Bristol at 19:30 . www.bristolandwestac.org.uk

2 August (Wed), Bugatti 10k, Gretton, Winchcombe, nr Cheltenham at 19:30 . Club championship event. Tough course but great atmosphere. Such is the race's popularity that entries have already closed. www.cheltenhamharriers.co.uk

13 August, Standish Woodland m/t ‘10', nr Stroud at 11:00 . Scenic but tough course through the woods above Standish hospital www.stroudathleticclub.org.uk

RANKINGS

Unsurprisingly there are no club rankings for one mile on the road, the next club championship race distance.

2006 CLUB ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIP

The ladies championship couldn't be closer following Jane Wassell's win at Frampton. She now joins Corinne Clark at the top of the list, with Trudy Compton & Kveta Kroulikova breathing down their necks. Provisional scores to date, after six races and marathons run so far:

Men: P Barlow 94pts , P Gonzalez-Diaz 70pts, C Illman 68pts, B Leggate 62pts, D Wright 58pts, S Elverd 55pts, A Harborow 47pts, D Cook 30pts, J Young 29pts, T Kingston 28pts, A Williams 21pts, K McAnespie 19pts, I Pople & L Horton 17pts, D Edelsten & A Bradley 16pts, T Ranger 13pts, N Dunnage & C Sherrington 12pts, D Atkinson & R Brown 11pts, C Goldie & M Gluning 10pts, J Fallon & R Chesmore 9pts, F Robson & B Ferris 8pts, C Brough, C Tapley, D Waldron & C Riches 7pts, D Matts 6pts, A McKeeman 4pts, A Fraser 3pts, P Moran & G Clarke 1pt.

Women: Corinne Clark & J Wassell 58pts, T Compton 51pts, K Kroulikova 49pts,W Jones 37pts, Carol Clarke 36pts, S McKeeman 33pts, K Withycombe 29pts, E Wilson 28pts, S Brown 21pts, J Manners 19pts, C Pearson 13pts, F Collings & L Darroch 12pts, Y Binks 11pts, J Nielson 9pts, L Ferris 8pts.

The rest of the championship fixtures (in addition to those highlighted in fixtures above) are as follows:

3 September, Oldbury 10 mile. Note amended date for this fixture, which is run on a pancake flat figure of eight course www.thornburyrunningclub.co.uk

10 September, Beacon 10k, Haresfield, nr Gloucester www.angelsrunningclub.co.uk

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

22 October, Stroud ½ Marathon www.stroudathleticclub.org.uk

In addition, times recorded at any marathon between the dates of February 26 and October 22 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. Points will be awarded on the basis of 15 for first Cirencester finisher down to one. If more than 15 finishers all score at least one point. Bonus points will be awarded for any personal bests achieved at 10k against times published in the newsletter for 2004 and 2005. Unlike 2005 the male and female championships will be scored separately in 2006.

TRIATHLON

The triathletes of the club have been busy in the last month as evidenced by the plethora of results below:

7 June, Manic Midweek Duathlon, Castle Combe (3k bike, 15k run, 3k bike). Mark Evans was a minute faster than a month earlier in this regular event.

117 Mark Evans (Cirencester) 55.18. 202 finished.

11 June, Windsor (1,500m swim, 42k bike, 10k run). Times plus transition.

1 Laurence Harding (Serpentine) (23.06, 56.54, 39.21) 2.02.09

110 Niel Dunnage (Cirencester) (26.05, 1.04.42, 45.47) 2.19.46. 1,511 finished.

11 June, Ellesmere (1,500m swim, 42k bike, 10k run).

1 Paul Hawkins (20.46, 59.20, 37.30) 1.57.36

327 Bob Ferris (Cirencester) (27.49, 1.09.09, 46.52) 2.23.51

495 Elaine Wilson (31.39, 1.15.07, 49.53) 2.36.39

536 Corinne Clark (29.28, 1.18.07, 52.42) 2.40.18. 659 finished

18 June, Half Ironman, Wimbleball, Exmoor (1.2mile swim, 56 miles bike, 13.1miles run). A typically honest assessment of a fine performance by Cathy Cook: "The day couldn't have come soon enough because in the two weeks previous I'd been struggling with hayfever, persistent sore throats and a bout of conjunctivitis. I had a really bad night's sleep at the B+B in Exmoor and then had a very unsociable alarm call at 4:00am to get me out of the door and to the start line for 6:00am .

My original goal was to go under six hours and get top three in my age group, which I thought was 40-44. However the rules for this race meant that it was your age on race day which counted rather than your age in December (British Triathlon Association rules). The 35-39 age group is much more competitive so a top three finish was going to be unlikely. I had a great swim, second out of the water overall female age groupers. I really enjoyed the swim and felt really comfortable. The bike course was really tough and hilly. The bike is my weakest discipline so I lost a few places and came back in sixth but felt I had ridden well.  I was feeling very nervous about the run because I had worked hard on the bike and was beginning to realise that there wasn't much left in the tank.

This was definitely the case as I headed out of the transition area and realised that my legs weren't running on full steam. It was three laps of stoney paths, grinding hills and rutted grass. I managed to overtake three ladies and was catching the second placed lady when my legs really started to blow. I was in so much pain and was beginning to lose time. I could see that the lady behind me was beginning to close and the more I pushed the more I started seeing yellow flashes in front of my eyes. I was reduced to a shuffle going up the last hill. I managed to cross the finish line just ahead of the fourth lady who was closing fast. When I came to a stop my whole body seemed to shut down - my legs gave way and I collapsed. The support crew held me up and I had to be carted away to the med tent where I lay for 90 mins recovering. The run is usually my strongest discipline but I just haven't been putting enough miles in.  I am on medication which leaves me exhausted and have been forced to have two rest days a week which has meant that I've favoured my cycling and dropped a run session. This really showed during the race and I feel a little disappointed that it let me down. If I had done the right run training, I'm sure I could have won my category because they weren't that far in front.

I achieved two of my goals. I did qualify for a place at the World Half Ironman Championships in Florida but didn't take it. I'd prefer to save my money for a place in Hawaii - the holy grail! Had I been in the 40-44 age group, I would have won with my time. Oh well, all food for thought. I'm still trying to work out if I'm pleased with my result or disappointed about my run performance."

1 Chris McCormack (23.35, 2.35.10, 1.16.11) 4.18.42

194 Cathy Cook (Cirencester, 10th lady, 3rd FV35) (30.30, 3.26.12, 1.46.12) 5.48.37. 802 finished.

18 June, Marlborough (400m swim, 20mile bike, 5mile run)

1 James Gilfillan ( Bournemouth ) (5.35, 49.08, 28.42) 1.23.25

42 Bob Ferris (Cirencester, 3rd V50) (7.09, 58.47, 34.30) 1.40.26

46 Pancho Gonzalez-Diaz (7.29, 1.02.47, 31.13) 1.41.29

136 Corinne Clark (1st F20-24) (7.07, 1.06.27, 39.53) 1.53.27

182 Diane Moore (1st FV45) (8.47, 1.10.04, 39.54) 1.58.45. 272 finished.

2 July, Zurich, Switzerland Ironman (3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42.2km run). Mixed fortunes for the duo attempting this tortuous event.

1 Stefan Riesen ( Switzerland ) (53.46, 4.23.58, 2.56.53) 8.16.50

336 Pancho Gonzalez-Diaz (1.10.19, 5.57.42, 3.23.42) 10.38.07

1,242 Bob Ferris (1.07.24, 6.05.51, 6.01.40) 13.20.18. 1,503 finished

9 July, Beaver Half Ironman, Belvoir Castle , Leics . (2km swim, 90km bike, 20k run). Looks like a good effort by Niel Dunnage last Sunday.

1 Paul Mountford (Parker Intl) (28.52, 2.22.29, 1.22.52) 4.14.13

43 Niel Dunnage (Cirencester) (34.17, 2.37.28, 1.42.37) 4.54.22. 212 finished. www.justracinguk.com

9 July Hereford (400m swim, 15k bike, 5k run).

1 Garry Hughes (Tri-team, Glos) (5.15, 25.42, 16.47) 47.44

62 Ben Cox (Cirencester) (5.46, 34.11, 21.01) 1.00.58

130 Carol Clarke (8.25, 37.04, 22.38) 1.08.07. 181 finished. www.herefordtriathlonclubco.uk

Summer fixtures as follows:

Castle Combe mid week duathlon series Wed evening May – Sept. www.bathamphibians.co.uk

16 July Bath sprint 750m – 20k – 5k www.bathamphibians.co.uk ( Bath hold an Olympic distance on the same day, pool swim.)

6 August Worcester sprint tel- 01905 840082.

27 August Malmesbury 400m – 22k – 5k www.nwll.co.uk

3 September Faringdon 800m – 50k – 8k www.soll-leisure.co.uk

10 September Cotswold tri open water, 750m – 20k – 5k or 400m – 20k – 2k www.triferris.com

MISCELLANY

… Sandra Elphick is in the process of arranging for membership renewal letters to be despatched. She has asked that the new subscription rates are published, so here they are (effective 1 July 2006 ):

£30 new individual member (includes club vest)

£30 new family membership (no vest, which can be purchased separately for £18)

£20 renewal of individual membership

£30 renewal of family membership

£15 junior membership (joining & renewal)

£15 club vest for junior members

… latest photos on the club's photograph archive website include the AAA 10,000, Westonbirt 10k (courtesy of Chris Riches) and Fairford 10k (Jon Young).

David Wright: wrights@tesco.net or 01285 641224