We are pleased to announce that the Berkeley 10k will be held on the 13th May 2019.

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Part of the Gloucestershire AAA, The Berkeley 10k is a fast flat 10k on a RunBritain license. Based on quiet roads with good facilities and chip timing. Every finisher gets a drink from the bar and there are prizes for first three men and first three women, as well as the usual five year veteran age categories. In addition there are team prizes for best four men’s and three women’s teams.

Gloucestershire AAA

Cross Country Series Race 1 Old Down

The first in the Gloucestershire AAA Cross Country Series saw 31 DRC athletes competing from first timers at junior (George Pitts) and senior level(Rachel Brown, Julie Gowing Jo Feans Martin Bragg & Mark Owen to veterans such as Kevin Jackson & Trevor Lewis who returned to the fray after a few years away. One of the essences of cross country is that each race is totally different, even on the same course, weather & ground conditions adding to the variables of the athletes’ fitness & preparation. Glos AAA had changed the course with a small loop added for some with a long steady climb through the woods for all, the changes made for an interesting & very runnable course. As Storm Callum headed towards the UK, the runners were greeted with very strong winds & a warm day, with car thermometers showing 22 degrees at the time of the Junior races. The wooded section was very humid. For the juniors who have not raced that often judging their effort over this tough course with the conditions was a big ask & they did fantastically well, most importantly they were smiling at the end.

U11 Girls were led in by Holly Clark, all ran controlled races, with Ruby Heath doing well to pick herself up & finish after a tumble in the woods the U11G being DRCs only full Junior team. George Pitts really enjoyed his fisrt XC outing and finished really strongly. In the U13 girls race Lucy Holdsworth was determined to run well, having felt disappointed with her run at Old Down last year. Another controlled run saw her in ninth place for most of the race, and she managed to hold off a strong s challenge in the last 30 metres. James Durden ran in the U17/U20 race, a challenging range of runners for a 16 year old. He found the woods very warm and increasingly tough but he stuck at his task and also managed a strong finish. The cross country will stand him and all the other juniors (hopefully some seniors) in good stead for next summers track events. After the Juniors racing finished the Senior woman, U20/U17L and male vets over 65 were next up. Robyn Jackson(Waite) led the DRC charge with Margaret Jackson returning to competitive running after a long lay with a stress fracture pushing hard on the first lap. A posse of DRC women followed the leading two with as the race started including Rachel Brown, Tara Truman, Rachel Brown, Shona Darley, Julie Gowing, Erica Fuller, with Eileen Hieron and Jo Fearns doing the sweeping. The thorn between these roses was Trevor Lewis, participatingin the M65 plus event. It was great to see Trevor one of the club stalwarts, Dozen Race Director, sub 3 hour marathoner competing again, after a seven year gap apparently! Robyn held on (see parkrun report) for an impressive 8th position, sharpening herself up for the SW Inter Counties 10K road relays where she is representing the County! Margaret also held on after her quick start to place and impressive 2nd in category, her layoff clearly not affecting her competitive spirit too much. Rachel Brown had a great debut, just 3 and half minutes behind Margaret, and I am confident That this gap is going to reduce over the course of the series, perhaps not at the next one as Rachel as has a marathon in between times! She posted ”I ran my first cross country race today. I’m not going to lie, I found it hard. I was quite nervous at the start, lots of fast looking runners. I’d done a warm up lap so knew what to expect of the course. I felt ok on the first lap; the second lap I started to feel it; and by the third lap I struggled up the climb but recovered enough to finish strong”. In fact, Rachel said afterwards that it was the hardest thing she had ever done, and that’s XC for you, constantly adjusting your effort over testing terrain in a competitive environment. Key points from her post are the necessity to walk/run the course and that the nature of courses will tire you out, more so than on a road run where it is much easier to measure effort. With the rest of the women’s team plugging away DRC Woman’s A team were 13th and the Women’s Masters team 9th , great efforts by all, and a salutary lesson about how every run counts at cross country. An email to Glos AAA re the need for F70 and F75 categories needed. The final race of the afternoon was the senior males. A gain a good turnout form DRC although a few senior men were missing, which was likely to impact on the team result. Paul Hockings, James Everett and Mike Brown led the way for DRC disappearing off in the distance with Andy Truswell leading Dave Durden astray with quick start, whilst Tony Freer just keeping a watching brief, another DRC quintet of Kevin Jackson, Dave Wood, Martin Bragg, Nigel Sankey and Jon Tudor. Paul Hockings showed his class, finishing 18th and 3rd in category about a minute and a quarter ahead of James Everett, who admitted that his current preparation of a Coastal Marathon meant he was not a sharp as he would have liked. Mike Brown was another 2 minutes back and disappointed with his run, typical runner! Although he was pleased to be ahead of James for a bit!

Glos AAA Cross Country Series Race 1 The clusters of DRC runners behinds stayed together although there was some shifting of positions and Kevin was able to move away from his chasers. After too quick a first lap Dave Durden decided to ease off for the next two laps to save himself for the fourth ascent, howver this strategy went out the window with Tony and Andy Truswell closing in on him, providing an incentive to work a bit harder, and he managed to hold them both off in the final. Making his debut for DRC at XC Martin Bragg was an excllent 4th in category just in front of Dave Wood who must still have his Cotswold Century in his legs! As the images above show some very strong finishes by DRC, Andy Kilby showing off his famous sprint and Nigel showing how sharp his elbows are. He did apologise afterwards. However a key point about cross country is not making it easy for the runners behnind you to get past! The images also show that the runners gave their all, nothing left after crossing the line. A great afternnoon’s competition for DRC and the numbers out from young to old reflect the values of our our club, inclusivity encouragment and friendliness and the efforts in particular of our junior coaching team. And the big plus, Kevin’s chocolate biscuits afterwards! Plenty still do do to encourage more participation but progress is being made and I am sure the chocolate biscuits will assist! We will need to ensure we have hand for DRC Juniors as well! Results Juniors U11G:Holly Clark,31st, 12:30; Jess Poskett,39th ,13:25; Lila Heath, 41st ,13:42; Ruby Heath,43rd ,14:08; Team Result: Dursley U11G, 9th (111). U13G: Lucy Holdsworth , 9th,14:23 Male U11: George , Pitts , 52nd , U11B, , 12:50 Male U20/U17: James , Durden , 21st , MU17, 16th, 00:36:11 Seniors Senior Woman; Robyn Jackson , 8th , SenW, 6th, 30:10; Margaret Johnson , 37th , F50, 2nd, 33:59; Rachel Brown , 79th , F45, 11th , 37:33; Tara Truman , 86th , F45, 12th, 38:50; Erica Fuller , 97th , F45, 15th, 39:41;Shona Darley , 113th , F40, 14th, 42:12; Julie Gowing , 114th , F35, 11th, 42:17; Jo Fearns , 131st , F40, 16th, 51:27; Elieen Hieron , 132nd , F65+, 4th, 51:33; Team Results: DRC SenW A, , 13th (124); DRC SenW B, , 27th (296) ; DRC SenW C, , 31st (377) , DRC FV A, , 9th , (202); DRC FV B, , 17th (324) Senior Men: Paul Hocking , 18th , M40, 3rd , 38:50; James Everett, 31st , SemM, 25th, 40:35 Mike Brown , 46th , SenM, 33rd, 42:40; David Durden , 92nd, M50, 11th, 45:11; Tony Freer, 93rd , M50, 12th, 45:16; Andrew Truswell , 98th , SenM, 52nd, 45:27; Kevin Jackson , 137th , M55, 8th, 47:52; Martin Bragg, 141st , M60 , 4th, 48:09; Dave Wood , 142nd, M50, 23rd, 48:13; Jon Tudor , 147th , SenM, 63rd, 48:35; Nigel Sankey , 152nd , SenM, 65th, 49:24; Mark Owen , 201st , SenM, 78th, 58:32; Paul Lewington, 204th, M60+ 8th, 01:02:13. Team Results DRC SenM A 9th (378 points); DRC SenM B, 20th (920); DRC MV 8th (340) Male Vet. 65+ : Trevor Lewis , 94th , M70, 1st, 39:25:00

Next fixture Race 2 Saturday November 3rd 2018 Charlton Park, Malmesbury

Leicester Marathon

As you can see Hannah Osbourne is one happy camper. Travelling North to complete the Leicester Marathon. Hannah has only been training for two years and completed he first marathon, London, in 05:13. Leicester was her fourth marathon. She posted “It was torrential rain and was soaking from the moment I started, a nice route but finished on a one mile hill!! I got a massive PB of 3h 59mins bang on!!”, congratulations Hannah!

Royal Parks Half

Garry Strickland ran the above Half raising money for the International Seafarers Welfare and Assistance Network His posted prior to the event “Anything you can do to help the Plight of Seafarers would be appreciated. Please bear in mind than the majority of all global trade moves by water, just have a look at your worldly possessions to see where they originate!” All in a good cause Garry ran it in a time of 01:38:18, 1241st position and 201st MV45, I am guessing wide age range in this category! He was then off to Ronnie Scotts for some Jazz, NICE! For more info; http://seafarerswelfare.org

Boward Duathlon

Nigel Burford completed his first Duathlon despite a quick parkrun the day before placed 11th and 1 st in category, so clearly his warm up worked, the results seem rather strange , very short transition and bike and very long run 2 so assuming they will be amended. Run T1 bike t2 Run2 Finsh Overall Cat Nigel Burford 10:22 11:03 43:44 01:28:16 11th 8th

 

Chester Marathon

Three DRC Runners lined up for the 9th MBNA Chester Marathon. James Price running his first Marathon, Ben Cardinale and Andrew Kirby. The conditions were ideal for Marathon running with a slight breeze and the temperature just 9oC at the start James Price whose training had been seriously dented by work commitments, went out with the 3.15 pace group; but after being tripped during the 4th mile he decided to push in front of the main group to give him more space. From this position he worked with a small group and started to progressively increase their pace and move their way through the field. At mile 16 James eased back the pace to ensure that he was able to get back safely he continued stongly, moving through the field. At mile 23 James started to lose a bit of pace when he came to the second to last climb he rallied but then struggled on the climb at mile 25 and wasn’t able to recapture his pace from earlier in the day in the final mile. James finished first DRC in a time of 3.13.25, an absolutely brilliant performance given his disrupted training and the fact it was his first ever marathon. Ben Cardinale, who has a background in long distances triathlon, was hoping for a time in between 3.30 and 3.45, but was concerned as had not had the level of training that she would of liked going into a Marathon. She went out strong at 3.30 pace leading from the front, at the half way point she was still feeling strong and felt that she could achieve a sub 3.30 time if she worked hard. She pushed hard & got to the 20-mile mark with the 3.30 time in sight. She was fully aware of how tough the last 10k was going to be but she gritted her teeth & attacked the hill sections with vigour which put her in a fantastic position. Ben pushed hard over the last mile & was able to finish in an amazing 3.28.54.

Both James and Ben paced their runs very well, with possibly Ben pipping James on this score with 10K splits of 49:52, 49:25, 48:32 and 49:38, also coming 23rd in her category! Behind these two young guns Andy Kilby was running at Chester with Kate Sackett from Ciren AC. Being “old Skool” Andy started hard and held on finshing in 04:14, with Kate doing the same just quicker, Andy wasn’t in a position to use his famous sprint finish in this instance! Results: James Price 03.13:25, 403rd (105th SenM), Ben Cardinale 03.28:54 717th (23rd FV35); Andy Kilby 04.17:41 1879th, 46th MV60.

Warwickshire Triathlon

It was a great turnout at the Warwick Tri with at least 20 finishers from DRC Tri. Fran Amigoni was a very proud DRCTriathlete today finishing 4 th woman overall and 1st in her category and it was all pretty close with just two and half minutes separating her from third place! And she wasn’t far off being quickest DRC triathlete overall. It was also a close race between the DRC men, with Paul Breen and Luke Russell battling it out. Paul just edging it by 4 seconds, with Luke working very hard over the run to almost pull it back. There were other close run placings a 6 second gap between Teresa Walton and Annette Heylings of just 6 seconds and 9 seconds between Karen Eadon and jo Lewis. Currently Chris Young results are missing, with start list alphabetical by surname he was almost the last person off so maybe the timer had gone home for him. As ever lots of smiles both during and after the event.

Results Women: Fran Amigoni 01:06:37 4th; Sue Peachy 01:18:08, 44th; Hannah Osborne 01:23:35 77th; Sandra Lewis 01:23:51, 80th; Michelle Ball 01:26:31, 89th; Jess Lewis 01:31:45 124th; Teresa Walton 01:32:20, 127th; Annette Heylings 01:32:26, 129th; Karen Eaden 01:38:16, 147th; Jo Lewis 01:38:25, 148th; Liz McConnell 01:42:52, 158th .

Men Paul Breen 01:06:26, 32nd; Luke Russell 01:06:30, 33rd, Andrew Oborne 01:11:12, 78th , Richard Lewis, 01:14:51, 120th; Julian Peachey, 01:15:33; Ian Fendt, 01:17:26 153rd; Kevin Brockway 01:17:48, 159th; Terry Cother, 01:30:13, 253rd ,

Spartan Windsor Sprint

Mark Sprigings had a little a warm up for the Obstacle Course Racing World Championships in two weeks’ time. He posted: “Today just a little warm up ready for the real deal in 2 weeks’ time! Was great to wear and compete in my United Kingdom top for the first time and bump into a few other representing the country at the World Champs. Decent result today, and had I not stopped on the final obstacle at the top of a 9ft wall for a photo opportunity and wave to my kids I would’ve won the event! Mark S said this hi under no illusion that the “worlds are going to be a whole different ball game!” Well done Mark!

 

Cardiff Half

12 DRC athletes completed the Cardiff Half, with Nick Fennell leading the team home in just under 01:49, with Pete Dunn hard on his heels and Hugh Poppy hard on his! Liz Fairall was first DRC woman in a smidgen over 2 hours with training partner Nicki Squire running a big PB behind her. Rebecca Halford ran her first ever half and posted: this was the biggest challenge that I’ve set myself so far. The pain set in between miles 6-11 and I ache all over! I am so proud to have completed it in 2hrs 48mins.

Massive thank you to everyone who supported me and especially Mum and Dad who came all the way to support me. Also my amazing running buddy Cara who I lost at mile 11!” Not all runners results are up so no official result yet for Louise Beck but she got Sam Stevens and herself to the finish, Well done both!

Results:

Nick Fennell, 01:48:45, 4353rd; Pete Dunn, 01:51:09, 5416th;
Hugh Poppy , 01:53:17, 5617th; Lucy Fairall, 02:00:16, 6809th;
Nicki Squire , 02:02:03, 7184th;Steve Barnes , 02:26:41, 12745th;
Sarah Willcox, 02:31:47, 14211th; Leigh Allen, 02:36:32, 14914th;
Katie Reynolds, 02:36:34, 14922nd; Rebecca Halford, 02:48:45, 16642nd;
Cara Zoglowek, 02:54:19, 17105th; Sam Stevens 03:11:51, 18,132nd;
Louise Beck TBC

 

 

 

The Order of the Woodwose

One of the top performances of the week was by Steve Watson, who after swapping the Great North Run for some speed golf a few week ago was on the start line for the iconic Greenman Ultra, past DRC runners Kate Browning, Rachel Topham and Dave Halford can all testify as to how tough the event is. Not only did Steve Watson complete the event he also provided a Race Report! t “The Green Man Ultra (approx 46 mile with 3,800 feet ascent) is a full loop of the Community Fores Path, starting and finishing at Ashton Park School, Bristol. All in all a really enjoyable day. The race had been cancelled twice due to snow, ice and general travel problems so the forecast of a chilly start with a promise of an 8-hour sunshine window was welcomed by all. Anyone who has ran marathons and ultra-marathons will know the familiar story – The first half of the run is quite sedate, fun and manageable (dare I say comfortable) then ever so suddenly things (in fact everything) start to hurt and ache and scream at you. Old injuries start to niggle and pull, new tweaks start to develop and the mind wanders on a weird and disturbing journey. Eventually the SEVERE pain and cramps just become normal pain and cramps so you just ignore them…….and you crack on Why the hell you we do it?!?! Well as stated above ‘ Anyone who has ran marathons and ultra marathons will know the familiar story’ It’s simple and complex all rolled into one. I completed the race in a very respectable 8hrs 59 and finished in the top 50. The medal is the biggest and heaviest that Ive ever seen and I got a certificate of completion (and a late September tan)”. Official results pushed Steve back to 09:00:26, but still in an impressive 36th position Awesome! A “walk in the park” to a man who can do an Ashpath Marathon 😉

Barnstaple Marathon

Kris Rymer celebrated his award as “Best Running Buddy” by taking himself down to Barnstaple, on his lonesome for a change. Completing his first ever Marathon Kris completed it in a great time of 03:44:57, 03:44:57, 66th overall and 21st MV40, he said “I think I have earnt the beer and chocolates”, to be fair I think he needs more than one beer! Super year of running continues for Kris.

Chiltern 50

Another member deciding to “go long” this weekend was Graham Wilkes who completed the Chiltern Ultra 50km event in 11:11:12, just one second off a number that woud have made Neil Truelove delirious! Well done Graham.

A Tale of Two “Halfs”

At the AGM we spoke about the number of Miles DRC members do each week, Sunday saw another 280 odd miles added by the Half Marathoners at Cheltenham and the Forest of Dean Autumn Trail. Weather conditions, after a warm Saturday were idea for running.

Cheltenham saw Francois Low in first for DRC. It was a day for PBs, François Low running one and just missing out on a sub 90 minute half, placing an impressive 137th out of 2931 runners, Audrey Harris joined him & her good season continues. Tara Truman was first woman home for DRC with a strong run, with Lise Hindshaw next home also running a PB despite a lack of training and a cold! Results: Francois Low, 01:30:10, 137th, (31st M350; Tara Truman, 01:47:43, 825th, (10th F45); Audrey Harris , 01:47:52, 837th, (24th F40) (PB) Chris Williams , 01:48:15, 859, (147th M35); Lise Hindshaw, 01:51:37, 1032nd, (18th F45)(PB); Nick Fennell, 01:54:31, 1187th, (322nd SenM); Hannah Brookes, 01:58:23, 1452nd, (142nd SenF); Andrew Ferguson , 02:16:56, 2241st , (262nd MV35); Steve Barnes, 02:17:23, 2254th, (29th M60); Lisa Young , 02:52:39, 2819th, (153rd F45)

Forest of Dean Autumn Half 12 DRC athletes completed the course, which is like an awesome XC course. A quick downhill start, (if you are unwise) leads to a sustained climb after which a rapid descent means there is only one way home, and it’s up! The last three miles being gentle uphill gradient, but feels steeper! Great efforts by all just getting around, and at the sharp end some seriously quick runs Matt Hazell-Livall just over 90 minutes with Ben Amigoni and Simon Jones not far adrift. Simon was really pleased with his 16th position, after a summer of little running this was a great result for Simon . As ever in the age categories DRC delivered, Martin Bragg an excellent 2nd M60 in 01:36:54 and Alice Lewis first DRC woman home and 3rd F60. Damian Lai, had the benefit of this wingman, Darren Kitchin, who had funnily enough just received the Best Supporting member! With a little bit of help from his friend Damo ran a PB, pretty awesome of this tough course. Results: Matt Hazall-Livall, 01:30:19,, 38th , (23rd Sen M); Ben Amigoni, 01:32:42, 51st , (31st Sen M); Simon Jones, 01:33:26, 54th , (16th M40); Martin Bragg , 01:36:54, 91st , (2nd M60); Darren Kitchin, 01:46:53, 229th , (39th M50); Damian Lai , 01:46:53, 230th , (69th M40) ; Alice Lewis , 01:53:32, 351st , (3rd F60); Rachel Brown , 01:56:22, 14th (14th F45; Kevin Brockway , 02:06:01, 599th (92nd M50); Paul Lewington , 02:06:40, 604th 21st M60); Claire Troy , 02:17:09, 785th (45th F45); Annette Heylings , 02:29:15, (898th (16th F60).

Brinkworth Bash

Meanwhile Alan Honey was showing all the Old Men how to take a decent selfie down at the Brinkworth Bash 10K off road race. First in the Wiltshire Off Road League Alan may have been getting some early Cross Country Training in for the Glos AAA series! I am currently struggling to find his name on the results sheet but Alan reported “The main event was over a mixture of terrain including fields, farm tracks, roads and a narrow path through a wood. There was a field of around 150 runners and a relaxed friendly atmosphere. I was pleased with my time of around 51 minutes”.

DRC Tri – The calm after the storm!

Mumbles Tri

Tony Ball was over in Wales on Saturday, a total contrast to Weymouth last week (Paul Breen described the swim as a combination of swimming and surfing to me!), the Welsh water was like a millpond. The event covered 750M swim (which was bay the look of the image downhill?), 32K bike and a 5K run. Tony was a Vintage Veteran? And finished in 2:00:16, 125^th out of 330, closing in a top quartile overall position which is always good, and was an excellent 7^th in age category.

 

K2 Tri and Exmoor Open Water Swim

Zoe Lammerton and Jo Robinson ventured to the K2 sports North Bristol sprint tri at Tockington Manor on Sunday. Zoe reported “A lovely low key friendly event. Wave times were spread out over morning so we were both in the 11:00 wave. A slightly hectic swim with them setting us off at 5 second intervals, a quick transition for me (no wetsuit) and off out on the bike. A short 300 metres climb up onto the A38 took us on two 6 mile loops with a downhill bit after each loop. The run was twice round the rugby pitch field and an out and back on a road and farm track (one sneaky climb too). Really enjoyed it DRC Tri must do this next year!!” Zoe finished in 1:11:36 and 2^nd  in age category, Jo Robinson completed in 1:22:35 Zoe said “thanks Sarah Willcox for coming to cheer us on” Anne Roberts ventured further so South to the Exmoor Open Water swim at Wimbleball Reservoir today, completing eth $km suim in 01:24:59, 2 minutes by 100m!