HEADLINES

• Men qualify for National 12 stage relay for first time in club’s history.
• Chedworth Roman Trail club promotion a great success in the snow ...
• … Marc Fallows 2nd overall whilst Wendy Nicholls wins ladies race.
• Stephen Elverd successfully competes in triple marathon!
• Wendy Nicholls 2nd & Cathy Cook 3rd in Wilmslow / White Horse ½ Marathons.
• Adam Harborow leads six club members home in London Marathon.
• Club record for Chris Illman as Cirencester dominates Highworth ‘5’.
• Westonbirt entries flooding in and will close this week, two months before race.

RESULTS

16 March, Bath ½ Marathon .

Further Cirencester results:

2,313 Richard Kiessler 1.45.54 (chip 1.43.35)

2,503 David Freer 1.46.58 (1.44.58). 10,054 finished. www.runninghigh.co.uk

22 March, Compton 20 mile m/t. Per Bill Leggate in the Wilts & Glos Standard, Trudy Compton was the club’s sole representative in this tough off roader over the Berkshire Downs on a day when staying upright was something of an achievement. Mind, it’s not many athletes who have a race named after them!

1 Justin Montague ( Swindon ) 2.24.31

81 Trudy Compton (Cirencester) 3.12.18. 197 finished. www.comptonharriers.cjb.net

28/29/30 March, Jurassic Coast 3-Day Challenge. As promised last month, here is Stephen Elverd’s report of an epic journey, three marathons in three days and on rough terrain – per official website “The mother of all hilly runs. Very steep rocky cliff paths, shingle, sand, mud and some tarmac if you are lucky”:

“So how did I find myself taking part in a three day event covering 78.6 miles with 10,000 feet of climbing on the Dorset section of the South West Coast Path, otherwise known as the Votwo Jurassic Coast Challenge? The truth is I’d only read about it four weeks earlier in the upcoming events page of Runners World and thought “I love running and I love Dorset . I can do that”.  

“Well, why don’t you then?” said my wife…

Day 1: After an early morning drive across a rain soaked South West England, I lined up with about 90 other runners at the race centre for a briefing by the organizers, before being mini-bussed to Lyme Regis for the start. A quick check of mandatory kit (maps, compass, torch, waterproofs, hydration system), a blast of the klaxon and we were off.  Everyone was in good cheer as we sped along the sea front, out of town, into the woods and eastwards along the coast. The rain had stopped, the sun was shining and it was easy to sprint down the hills and go for a hard slog uphill, despite the warnings of the Votwo pace makers (some of whom were ex marines). This was my first mistake. I reached the first 10k checkpoint at Seatown in good time, to find Nep (my wife) handing out drinks and snack bars. I was feeling good at this point so I simply got my number marked and time recorded before taking on the first big challenge, Golden Cap - the highest sea cliff in Southern Britain at 191m. It wasn’t long before I realised my second mistake, you need to carbo load on endurance runs. I began to flag as I tried and failed to latch onto other runners and pick up the pace. Even the gradual levelling of terrain at Chesil Beach didn’t help matters much and I started to ask myself whether I was up to this. I hauled myself along the sticky mud of the Fleet and reached the end just as the heavens opened. I’d finished in a realistic but disappointing 5.25. That evening Nep gave me a lecture on pace and energy, while I tucked into a three course meal. She had watched the tactics of the lead runners, which seemed to consist of running slowly and eating lots of food.

Day 2: An ominous start. Weymouth was being lashed by driving rain and 50mph winds and an early casualty was being stretchered onto an ambulance at the race centre. One of the early starting competitors in the walking race had slipped in mud and broken their foot. I, however, was feeling a lot fitter than I had any right to be and was very confident for this day’s race. I hooked up with a couple of runners from Worcester (Richard and Louise) and another from Winchester (Andy), whom I’d met the previous day. The run followed the rest of the Fleet before heading along the Chesil road towards the Isle of Portland for the first checkpoint. If you know Portland you’ll understand this was a grim addition to the challenge, purely to make the miles up. We then carried on at a sensible pace through Weymouth then into Osmington Mills before heading towards Lulworth Cove. This is an area I know very well, having spent many childhood holidays on Durdle Door Beach and getting married just up the road. Despite very hilly terrain and incredibly strong winds (luckily blowing me into the land and not off the cliffs), I struck out with Richard, an experienced fell runner, and made it to the finish in a respectable 14th place.

That night was the start of the insane “oner”, where 38 runners attempt a non-stop race of the entire distance within 24 hours. Gale force winds meant that only a handful reached the first checkpoint in time, so the event had to be postponed and shortened.

Day 3: A beautiful, sunny day at Lulworth Cove for the final day. It would have been a comical sight watching a crowd of Lycra clad nutters limping painfully from minibuses, if I hadn’t been one of them. I started with Richard, Louise and Andy, as we had been such a successful team the day before. However, it wasn’t long before we made our first navigational error, at Lulworth army ranges, as we missed a turn onto the coast path and ended up heading inland. We now had three choices a) carry on until we hit the correct path, b) backtrack to the correct path, or c) cut across MOD land and risk stepping on an unexploded shell. We chose the last. This was the most spectacular section of the route, taking in Kimmeridge Bay before heading around the breathtaking peninsula of Purbeck Island to Swanage. It was tough going, hot, hilly and muddy. We started to lose heart when we could see the high cliffs of Old Harry Rocks rising in the distance. The overriding rule of the race was “if you see a hill in front of you, you have to climb it”. Once we’d bagged Old Harry it was the home stretch, the last 5k along the sands of Studland Bay . Richard took off, with Louise not far behind him. I had nothing left in the tank, as the entire three days had finally taken their toll of me, and I trotted to the finish totally and utterly weary.

It was a crazy, painful challenge, but one I can’t stop thinking about. If you love beautiful coastal scenery and want to push yourself to the limit, I would thoroughly recommend it. Many thanks to everyone who sponsored me, helping to raise over £700 for Cancer research UK .”

In the immediate aftermath of the race, Elverd stated: “No injuries apart from 6 black toenails (about to fall off) and a touch of sunburn. I am very tired though and can’t stop eating chocolate biscuits at the moment.”

Despite his inexperience at such events, it is clear that Elverd paced himself very well over the three days as the excellent results below show:

Day 1: Lyme Regis to Chickerell

1 Steve Hilton 4hrs 35mins

31 Stephen Elverd (Cirencester) 5hrs 24mins. 89 finished.

Day 2: Chickerell to Kimmerage Bay

1 Oliver Sinclair 4hrs 19mins

14 Stephen Elverd 5hrs 17mins. 91 finished.

Day 3: Kimmerage Bay to Sandbanks

1 Oliver Sinclair 4hrs 50mins

16 Stephen Elverd 5hrs 59mins. 79 finished.

Overall:

1 Oliver Sinclair 14hrs 12mins

13 Stephen Elverd 16hrs 40mins. 64 finished. www.votwo.co.uk including some dramatic photos.

29 March, Gloucester Open 4km Cross Country, Plock Court.

1 Alistair Lockey (Bourton) 12.57

26 Alice Thomas (Cirencester, 5th lady) 16.50

41 Barbara Thomas (3rd FV45) 20.18. 43 finished. www.severnac.co.uk

30 March, Wilmslow ½ Marathon . Although the lashing rain and gales from the previous day had abated, conditions were not easy in bright sunshine but a very strong wind. Wendy Nicholls had another lucrative race on the half marathon circuit, leaving three current UK internationals in her wake. Unfortunately she couldn’t get the better of current nemesis, Bourton 10k winner Michelle Ross-Cope who ran superbly under the conditions. Nicholls ran with the race winner for the first few miles and was still on 72½ pace after eight miles. A mystery stitch in her rib cage then put any thoughts of a pb out of her mind as she eased off and ensured that no other ladies got past.

1 Gareth Raven ( Sale ) 1.06.29

18 Wendy Nicholls (Cirencester, 2nd lady/FV35) 1.14.59. 3,449 finished. www.wilmslowhalf.org.uk including photos.

30 March, Cleevewold ‘14’ m/t. Given the current popularity of multi terrain races, it is a surprise that this race in magnificent countryside gets relatively few entrants. It is, however, extremely hilly.

1 John Atyeo (Witney) 1.40.43

75 Kim Withycombe (Cirencester) 2.26.07. 101 finished. www.cheltenhamharriers.co.uk

5 April, Midland 12 stage road relays, Sutton Park , nr Birmingham . Following the achievement of the club in qualifying for last autumn’s National six stage relays, captain Adrian Williams decided to try to do the double by attempting the far more onerous task of getting a team together for the 12 stage equivalent. He succeeded magnificently as the team easily made the top 25 of the Midland relays, thus qualifying for a return visit to Sutton Park on 26 April. For a small club with no track or proper facilities, this is indeed a fine achievement and all who ran should be congratulated on a consistent team effort. The quality in the National will be absolutely top class – these relays attract the best in the country at all distances from 800 metres to the marathon – and Cirencester will be near the back, especially as a number who ran in the Midlands are unavailable (there was no great expectation of qualification!), but this is another stage in the development of the club and reflects the depth of talent that is beginning to emerge.

As to the race itself, Chris Illman gave the club a great start on the ultra competitive first stage, despite not being at his best. One of the runs of the day followed when Charles Woodd comfortably beat the captain’s predicted time for him. He was followed by probably the club’s run of the day: Martin Croucher, in the middle of heavy marathon training (Shakespeare, Stratford at the end of April), dipped under 18 minutes. The National is the day before Croucher’s marathon yet he volunteered to run if the club was struggling to get a team together, that’s team spirit although the captain won’t resort to this magnanimous offer, the marathon must take precedence. The rest of the team fought tenaciously throughout, including Stephen Elverd just a few days after his triple marathon exploits. A fine effort throughout which was finished with a flourish by Marc Fallows who ran the fifth fastest time on his stage. Jon Young captured the atmosphere of the day with some intriguing photographs, which can be seen on the club’s snapfish website.

1 Notts AC 3.47.57

18 Cirencester 4.24.19. Team position after each leg in brackets.

Stage 1 (5.4 miles) Chris Illman 28.23 (11)

Stage 2 (3 miles) Charles Woodd 16.27 (12)

Stage 3 (3 miles) Martin Croucher 17.58 (16)

Stage 4 (5.4 miles) Bill Leggate 30.09 (14)

Stage 5 (3 miles) Keith Firkin 18.37 (18)

Stage 6 (3 miles) Stephen Elverd 18.51 (22)

Stage 7 (5.4 miles) Adrian Williams 29.40 (19)

Stage 8 (3 miles) Jon Young 19.11 (19)

Stage 9 (3 miles) David Fong 18.22 (19)

Stage 10 (5.4 miles) Paul Barlow 31.42 (19)

Stage 11 (3 miles) Tony Shelbourn 18.48 (20)

Stage 12 (3 miles) Marc Fallows 16.11 (18). 44 teams finished.

Fastest times: Long stage, Zak Kihara (Birchfield) 25.52; Short stage, Bruce Raeside (Notts) 14.23. www.race-results.co.uk/results/2008

6 April, Chedworth Roman Trail ‘10’ m/t.

Tony Shelbourn writes eloquently about his first multi-terrain experience, an article he has also sent to his club in America : “Imagine a beautiful English Spring morning with a clear blue sky and temperatures nudging 14C (60F). The gardens are full of spring flowers and an early skylark is soaring and singing on the balmy air – well, as we gathered for this race it was nothing like that. There was an inch of snow and temperatures were nudging freezing point. A strong and biting north wind was blasting over the Cotswolds, throwing in an occasional snow flurry.

This was to be my first cross country race since I was at school so as the 350 cheerful runners gathered I was full of trepidation. I’m a flat 5k’er so the first kilometre on the roads was pleasant and as the runners settled down it was “so far so good;” then for me, but not apparently for everyone else, the going got really tough. The first farm track was a nightmare. It was a goopy soup of snow, liquid mud and cow poop and this slippery mixture increasingly coated the runners up to the knees and those with a high back lift were totally splattered.

The tracks and field edges were slick and stony with puddles, of indeterminate depth and footing, to be avoided. Downhill stretches were preludes to nasty uphill slogs and on these downhill sections your eyes watered and you were running blindly at a seemingly out of control, breakneck speed. I watched other runners in amazement as they actually appeared to be enjoying themselves. At the halfway stage, by way of making the conditions even less palatable, we splashed our way across the River Churn, neither wide nor deep but very cold and extremely wet. Now we were squelching along in shoes that had just doubled in weight and with feet that became achingly cold.

On the course it was great to see so many club members marshalling and shouting encouragement. Equally many locals had turned out to watch (particularly at the river) and there were numerous folks enjoying their Sunday morning walk. After the river crossing and an uphill stretch we got a breather on some woodland tracks but payback time was waiting in the form of a savage, rocky, slippery, steep and never ending hill and I’m ashamed to say that I walked bits of it. As I looked up the hill it reminded me of the photos of the long line of miners on the Klondike mountain trail. Runners were grinding their way up, gasping and wheezing, leaning forward as if they were burdened, just like those miners. While some of us walked many kept running and passed us but sounded close to coronaries. Finally back on the hill tops and with 3k still to go I remembered the race info sent out by Race Director, David Edelsten. He’d said, “The distance is approximately 10 miles – it will only seem like more.” He never spoke a truer word.

Race over we tried to wash off some of the mud and muck in showers that could only manage a trickle and then (and American readers this is true) we had tea and cakes served up by the ladies. The awards were prompt and we, Cirencester Athletic Club, were proud to have the winning lady, Wendy Nicholls who finished seventh overall in 1:05:27 and the second place man, Marc Fallows with an excellent 1:00:32, and he had raced the previous day [ed: as had this modest writer who also managed 1st V60]. All the sensible club members were marshalling.

Writing these words and looking back is an enjoyable experience but at the time it was probably the toughest race I’ve run. For those in Toledo Road Runners who have done Dances with Dirt in Michigan, this was like combining two of their nasty stages together and adding attitude. Road racing, after the first half mile or so, can become a procession: you overtake very few and few overtake you. This race was definitely different as a steady flow of runners passed me all the way round: crosscountry challenges your strengths and weaknesses – uphill and down, sticky mud and slippery surfaces or plain roads and, most of all, your endurance.”

There were some very positive comments posted on Runners World’s website www.runnersworld.co.uk relating in the main to the superb course, fine marshalling and even the high quality of the cakes!

1 Tom Fisher 59.46

2 Marc Fallows (Cirencester) 1.00.32

7 Wendy Nicholls (1st lady/FV35) 1.05.27

69 Mark Langman 1.17.02

71 Tony Shelbourn (1st V60) 1.17.05

108 Trudy Compton (2nd FV40) 1.19.54

116 Andy Bradley 1.20.51

134 Bryan Reid 1.22.16. 349 finished. www.cirencester-ac.org.uk

6 April, White Horse ½ Marathon , Grove, Oxon. Good to see Cathy Cook back racing competitively again.

1 Owain Bristow (White Horse) 1.11.57

38 Cathy Cook (Cirencester, 3rd lady / 1st FV35) 1.26.48.

220 Dave Cook 1.50.24. 383 finished. www.whitehorseharriers.org

13 April, London Marathon . None of the promised reports have yet been forthcoming from our shy marathoners. Hopefully an article or two will appear next time. Despite a bit of a knee injury leading up to the race, Adam Harborow ran a fine time, earning him maximum points in the club championship subject to anyone beating the time later in the year. The same applies to regular London entrant Yvonne Binks, who now leads the ladies club championship, but see Miscellany below as well!

1 Martin Lel ( Kenya ) 2.05.15 – course record

1,394 Adam Harborow (Cirencester) 3.04.29

10,989 Wallace Ascham 3.58.17

14,505 Darren Dent 4.11.43

14,673 David Freer 4.12.24

18,940 Yvonne Binks 4.28.13 – inaugural club FV60 record

31,035 Christina See 5.39.41. 34,420 finished. www.london-marathon.co.uk

20 April, Highworth 5m . Club Championship race. A total of six club records, including a rare absolute record from the ever improving Chris Illman (clearly there are more to come), summed up another superb performance by the club. With seven finishers in the top 18 of a competitive field, Cirencester AC was able to show the best that North Wiltshire has to offer that this is a rapidly improving outfit. The aforementioned Illman got a bit of a shock when the (unknown) lead runner ran a touch outside 4.30 for the first mile – it turns out that this is a class athlete from London . Nonetheless, taking another club record shows how he continues to improve rapidly, just a few days after his 21st birthday. Illman got great support from Adrian Williams, with another podium finish, and Bill Leggate for an utterly dominant team victory. Wendy Nicholls comfortably won the ladies race and it was good to see Joe Barrowclough back in action finishing like a train up the final tortuous hill. Further down the field the big head to head was in the Edelsten family as David asserted bragging rights at the Sunday lunch table by beating Sophie in their first ever battle. Another to be gloating will be Bob Ferris over Tony Curry, following the former’s demolition by 15 seconds of the latter’s club V55 record – sparks might fly!

1 Simon Plummer (Woodford Green) 24.49

2 Chris Illman (Cirencester) 25.42 – absolute men’s club record

3 Adrian Williams 27.07

7 Bill Leggate 27.41

8 Wendy Nicholls (1st lady / FV35) 27.50

13 Joe Barrowclough 29.14

16 Paul Barlow 29.22

18 David Wright (1st V50) 29.36

36 Jane Wassell (5th lady / 2nd FV35) 31.33

37 Keith Firkin 31.34

38 Jon Young 31.35

44 Tony Shelbourn (2nd V60) 31.53 – club V60 record

47 Mark Langman 32.27

65 Bryan Reid 33.52

77 Jenny Manners 34.38 – club FU20 club record

78 Bob Ferris 34.49 – club V55 record

97 Alice Thomas 35.38

143 Dick Waldron 37.25 – club V65 record

189 Jane Thomas 40.03

261 Barbara Thomas 43.02

268 Lynn Ferris 43.19

278 Yvonne Binks 43.43 – inaugural club FV60 record

283 David Edelsten 43.52

295 Jane Stevens 44.36

322 Sophie Edelsten 46.06

328 Amanda Pizzey 46.39. 434 finished.

Teams: 1 Cirencester (Illman, Williams, Leggate) 11pts. www.highworthrunningclub.com

ROAD / MULTI-TERRAIN FIXTURES (Sunday unless stated)

Severn AC promotions can be entered on the day of the race, most others need to be entered in advance.

26 April (Sat), National 12 stage Road Relays, Sutton Park , Birmingham . www.race-results.co.uk/results

7 May (Wed), Stroud Beer Race 7.2m, Minchinhampton Common at 19:00 . Part of Gloucestershire Road Race Championship. www.stroudac.org.uk

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

12 May (Mon), Berkeley Power Station 10k at 19.30. Return of a once very popular evening race, after a gap of a couple of years, with free beer afterwards. www.g4cio.demon.co.uk/berk10

15 May (Thu), White Horse 5k, Sandhurst , nr Gloucester at 19:30 . Club Championship race. www.severnac.co.uk

26 May (Mon), Whitsun 5m, Sandhurst , nr Gloucester at 11.30. www.severnac.co.uk

1 June, Fairford Festival 10k at 10:00 . Note no entries on the day. Course reverts to former clockwise direction circuit this year. Club Championship race. www.fairford.org

9 June (Mon), Westonbirt Arboretum Trails 10k at 19.30 (see club promotions below).

28 June (Sat), Bourton Hilly ½ Marathon at 18.00. A bit bumpy. www.bourtonroadrunners.co.uk

CLUB RANKINGS

Here are the current rankings at 5km, the distance being run at the next club race at Gloucester :

U20: 16.41 Chris Illman, Bexhill 2006; FU20: 21.52 Alice Thomas, Gloucester 2007;

Male senior: 15.22 Chris Illman, Gloucester 2007; Female senior: 16.59 Wendy Jones (Nicholls), 2000;

FV35: 16.24 Wendy Nicholls, Shortwood 2007;

V40: 16.30 David Wright, Gloucester 1999; FV40: 17.51 Jane Wassell, Gloucester 2007;

V45: 17.23 David Wright, Gloucester 2006; FV45: 23.53 Ruth Fulford, 1998;

V50: 17.26 David Wright, Gloucester 2007 x 2; FV50: 23.31 Ruth Fulford, 1999;

V55: 20.32 Chris Riches, Shortwood 2007;

V60: 18.49 Tony Shelbourn, Gloucester 2007.

ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIP 2008

With another bumper turnout of 25 club members at the Highworth ‘5’ on Sunday, plus six runners in the London Marathon, this year’s championship is certainly being well supported. Scores after three events plus London :

Men

Adrian Williams (incl. 27 bonus points) 84pts, Adam Harborow (18) 69, Bill Leggate (13) 67, Paul Barlow (8) 58, Chris Illman (9) 49, Jon Young (10) 48, David Wright (7) 37, Stephen Elverd (8) & Martin Croucher (8) 36, Darren Dent (8) 30, Marc Fallows (8) 27, Ian Pople (8) 26, Mark Langman & Dick Waldron (1) 20, Wallace Ascham 19, Andy Bradley & Bryan Reid 18, David Freer & Joe Barrowclough 17, Keith Firkin (2) 16, David Edelsten (8) 15, Bob Ferris 14, Chris Brough 13, Tony Shelbourn 12, Dorian Matts & Chris Good 10, Tim Willson 9, Chris Berry 2, Brian Barrowclough 1.

Women

Yvonne Binks 59pts, Jane Stevens (7) 47, Christina See (3) 44, Jenny Manners (8) 43, Wendy Nicholls (2) 42, Jane Wassell & Trudy Compton (3) 38, Carol Clarke (3) 36, Lynn Ferris (1) 27, Alice Thomas (8) 25, Sarah Cooper (5) 23, Nicola Denning 20, Sophie Edelsten 19, Renata Sharp & Amanda Pizzey 17, Jessica Nethercott & Jane Thomas 16, Barbara Thomas 15, Sue Brown 13, Ruth Fulford 10.

Next fixtures:

15 May (Thu), White Horse 5k, Sandhurst , nr Gloucester (details above)

1 June, Fairford Festival (details above)

14 July (Mon), Frampton-on-Severn 10k www.stroudac.org.uk

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

24 July (Thu), Malmesbury 5k

6 August (Wed), Bugatti 10k, nr Winchcombe www.cheltenhamharriers.co.uk

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

12 October, Chichester 10k www.chichester10krace.org.uk

26 October, Stroud ½ Marathon www.stroudac.org.uk

In addition, times recorded at any marathon between the dates of February 24 and October 26 will score points in the same format as the races above i.e. as though all competed in one race. The Chichester race, which should be entered early as it’s very popular, has been inserted as a suggested idea for a club trip away for the weekend. Of the 13 races, including 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 2006 and 2007. 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. If no qualifying times have been recorded in the last two years, the first run in a championship race in 2008 will form the benchmark for any subsequent bonus points. To qualify for points, runners must be fully paid-up members, be entered under Cirencester AC and be wearing a club vest.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE COUNTY ROAD RACE SERIES 2008

This county series follows a similar format to the club championship and also shares some of the same races. There have already been two fixtures and the next one will be the very sociable Stroud Beer Race on Wednesday 7 May (see fixtures above). For a full race listing, rules and up to date positions, look up www.runnerduck.co.uk/running

CLUB RACE PROMOTIONS 2008

Cirencester AC will once again be promoting three races this year. The Chedworth Roman Trail has now been successfully staged (see above and Race Director David Edelsten’s comments below) leaving Westonbirt as the next fixture:

“I would like to thank everyone who braved the chilly Chedworth winds to marshal at the Roman Trail race, especially those at the finish. Despite the early morning snow, which put off many entrants, the race was a great success and the cheerful marshalling was appreciated by many runners. Special thanks must go to everyone who responded to my plea for home made cakes. The quantity and quality were excellent and again contributed greatly to the success of the event. So very many thanks to everyone for their support in whatever form it took.”

9 June (Mon), Westonbirt Arboretum Trails 10k at 7.30pm . Entry limit 700. As regular readers of the club website will have spotted, entries have flooded in and will be closed imminently if not by the time this message is read. At the time of writing, 660 entries have been received. Members wanting to run must enter immediately for any chance of obtaining a number.

28 September, Cirencester Park 10k at 10.30am. Entry limit 600.

David Edelsten comments: “For both races I will be responsible for entries and all pre-event administration and promotion. On the day organisation and marshall recruitment will be the responsibility of me plus Tony Curry (Westonbirt) and Bob Ferris ( Cirencester Park ). Full details as ever can be found on www.cirencester-ac.org.uk .

Another date for the diary is Tony Curry's cancer charity event in Cirencester Park on September 6/7. More details to follow on this major weekend of racing in a future newsletter. 

Members should keep all these dates free as they will be expected to be available to marshall if they do not wish to run.”

TRIATHLON RESULTS

6 April, Swindon Duathlon, Wroughton . (run 10k, bike 40k, run 5k)

1 Daniel Corner (Rochford) (32.27, 1.03.36, 16.54) 1.52.57

93 Martin Pitts (Cirencester) (40.25, 1.21.39, 21.24) 2.23.28. 156 finished. www.triferris.com

TRIATHLON FIXTURES

Bob Ferris sets out the main fixtures for the summer, he comments: “Yet again it’s the time of year to throw off your clothes and plunge into icy waters, or in other words, the start of the triathlon season. Below I have listed some local events (within an hour’s travelling) that you may wish to try. For a more extensive list go to www.britishtriathlon.org”

25 May, Gloucester Tri – pool swim – 400m swim – 18k bike – 5k run. www.triteamglos.co.uk

25 May, Salisbury Tri – pool swim – 400m swim – 19 miles bike – 6.5k run. www.conceptsports.co.uk

1 June, Westonbirt Tri – 400m pool swim – 22k bike – 5k run, does clash with Fairford 10k. www.dcleisurecentres.co.uk

8 June, Wantage – 800 or 1600 swim/35 or 70k bike/12 or 17k run. www.soll-leisure.co.uk

8 June, Cotswold ladies only, distance varies beginner to elite, open water. www.triferris.com

22 June, Marlborough – 400m pool swim – 32k bike – 8k run. www.conceptsport.co.uk

22 June, Worcester 750 or 1500 open water swim – 26 or 50k bike – 5 or 10 k run. www.worcestertriclub.co.uk

6 July, Hereford – pool swim 400m – 18k bike 5k run. www.herefordtriathlonclub.co.uk

9 August, London – 1500 swim open water – 40k bike – 10k run www.thelondontriathlon.com

7 September, Cotswold Sprint tri open water – 400 or 750 swim – 20k bike 2.5 or 5k run. www.triferris.com

21 September, Highworth – 400m pool swim – 20k bike – 5k run. e-mail tadpoletoys@aol.com

For mountain bike fans you may wish to try the Xtreme Terrain Festival on 29 September in Camberley, Surrey . Off road tri and duathlons plus 10k trail runs www.allabouttriathlons.co.uk

For local duathlons checkout www.bathamphibians.co.uk

NEW MEMBERS

Welcome to Avril Haseler and junior Rebecca Oates.

MISCELLANY

… regular post Tuesday training watering hole Somewhere Else is soon to close for eight weeks for major refurbishment works – reflecting the need for more space to cater for Cirencester AC no doubt – but will be moving their facilities a few doors away to Relish café during this work, so there will be no discernable disruption for the club.

… a few months ago the newsletter recorded the yachting successes of family club members, siblings Sophie and Iain McKeeman. They have both continued their successes with Sophie recently winning the National Youth Championships in the Laser Radial class and Iain third in his Laser Standard category.

… the Wilts & Glos Standard reported recently on Yvonne Binks’ preparation for her 12th and final marathon at London (see results above), before finally “hanging up her running shoes”. Surely not, Yvonne, and wasn’t something similar written in the WAGS before your 2006 London ?!

… Rupert Chesmore writes: “The Last 100 in aid of Trampled Rose. On the weekend of 17/18 May I am going to run 100 miles back and forth between Winstone and Sapperton (10 trips five miles each way) in aid of Liza Darroch's charity in Addis Ababa (see her blog at www.liza2vso.org.uk for details). This is not a request for donations but if anyone wants to join me anytime over the weekend, starting at 10am on the Saturdayfrom Winstone they are welcome to do so. Please wear something reflective especially at night and ring my mobile 07973 159218 over the weekend to be told which end of the trip I am. It should take 24-26 hrs..... Any company however short will be appreciated, on foot or on a bike.”

… Wendy Nicholls has received an elite athlete invitation to the Great Manchester Run 10k on Sunday 18 May. The race will be televised in full on the BBC .

David Wright: wrights@tesco.net or 01285 641224