Another big weekend for Dursley Running Club Athletes and in particular the participants in the club’s Walk2Run Programme. Saturday the 30th saw Cam and Dursley shrouded in cold mist and as DRC athletes travelled to the Kingsway parkrun “DRC takeover” it hardly lifted. It was of course ideal conditions for running. Kingsway saw 37 DRC athletes on the start line, many members there to support the 2019 Walk2Runners “graduate” including club veteran John Spicer, running his first ever parkrun in the M75 category. The DRC W2R programme is now in its sixth year and is proud of its athlete centred approach, ensuing those new to running take a progressive approach to becoming active. Some of this year’s graduates have progressed from 1 minutes running and 1 minutes walking in January to running the whole of the Saturdays parkrun, a continuous run of around 40 minutes! The programme was coordinated by a former Walk to Runner Damian Lai he posted “Thank you very much to Kingsway parkrun for hosting the Dursley Running Club takeover for the Walk2Run graduation. For the DRC walk2runners this is the culmination of 12 weeks on a life changing journey. It was great to see all Dursley runners running the whole way around. It was a proud moment for the club when they all came in. For Dursley there were a total of 37 runners celebrating the achievements of what has been an excellent 2019 Walk2Run programme”. As a result, there was just the one DRC runner at Wotton. Matt Rogers enjoying “springy” conditions under foot to record DRC fastest parkrun of the weekend in 19:29 Lots of PB/CBs headed up with Lai, fitting for the W2R graduate turned W2R coordinator, on the fourth anniversary of his graduation run in 2014. Dave Quarterman, Carly Heath, Natalie Sankey all ran PBs at Kingsway and Paul Lee at Stonehouse. Results: Chipping Sodbury: Catherine Pinnock, 96th , 23:10, VW35-39, (F35 AG 64.53%); 132nd, 24:44; Janet Matthews, 195th, 26:56; ; Exmouth: Pete Dunn, 118th, 24:41, Kingsway: David Durden, 10th, 20:02, VM50-54, (M50 AG 76.04%); Graham Tudor, 43rd, 22:45, (M60 AG 72.38%); , Alice Lewis, 50th, 23:01, (F60 AG 83.13%); John Delafield, 51st, 23:05; Andrew Oborne, 57th, 23:23; Damian Lai, 58th, 23:30, (PB); , Huw Poppy, 63rd, 23:54; , Antony Ball, 98th, 25:24; David Quarterman, 106th, 25:44, (PB); Erica Fuller, 108th, 25:52, (F50 AG 64.82%); Steve Barnes, 119th, 26:23; Claire Searle, 129th, 26:44, (F55 AG 66.83%); Darren Smith, 140th, 27:19; Carly Heath, 155th, 27:57, (PB); Julie Froggatt, 165th, 28:20, (F55 AG 63.06%); , Nikki Pallister, 187th, 29:28, (W2R- First Timer); ,Lisa Ind, 188th, 29:30, (W2R First Timer); , Kate Hrozova, 192nd, 29:42, (W2R First Timer); , Mark Mcconnell, 200th, 29:59, VM55-59, 51.70%, First Timer! Tracey Strickland, 206th, 30:14; Diana Gore, 208th, 30:18, (F60 63.15%); ,John Spicer, 215th, 30:49, (M75 AG 61.49%, First Timer); Annie Hidden, 226th, 32:03; , Julie Davies, 270th, 37:04; , Jacky Gilmour, 271st, 37:05; Natalie Sankey, 275th, 37:31, (W2R- PB); Mim Chapman, 276th (W2R); Conor Small, 277th, 37:39, (W2R First Timer); Mike Hanman, 278th, 37:39; Josie Clarke, 280th, 37:40, (W2R First Timer); Vicki Howe, 286th, 37:48, (W2R First Timer); Sam Martin, 287th, 37:49; , Michael Froggatt, 292nd, 38:19; Emma Alesworth, 332nd, (W2R); Veronica Higgins, 320th, 45:21; Kevin Brockway, 333rd , 55:07. Stonehouse: Paul Lee, 23rd, 23:47, VM65-69, M65 71.83%, (PB): Wotton, Matt Rogers, 2nd, 19:29, VM45-49, M45 73.31%,
Frampton Globe Trot
Also on Saturday Steve and Jude Rugman were at the Frampton Globe Trot completing the 8 mile race raising money for Frampton Cottrell CoE Primary School. Steve Rugman 102nd 01:22:31, Jude Rugman 209th 01:58:49. Running at the Bisley 10K on Sunday were Mark Springings and Sam Stevens. Sprigings reported it was “A well organised small event with only around 160 runners in total”, the athletes running around the attractive village of Bisley on a course described as “undulating” it was not a fast course and Sprigings commented that it “was certainly testing with a fair few steep inclines!” he finished 3rd overall in a time of 39:52, Stevens 01:16:21. A final pair of 10K athletes were to be found at the Cardiff Bay 10K, Adrian Carter achieving a PB. Result: Adrian Carter, 00:58:19, 2389th , (47th M60); Dave Ashford, 01:04:08, 3188th , (260th M45).
Rogue Runs Night Series
Off Road saw two trios of DRC runners in action. On the evening of Thursday the 28th Nicki Cowle was with Rachel Brown and Caroline Whitlock competing in the last of the Rogue Runs Night Run Series.
Whitlock was first home for DRC over the 5 miles in 48:20, 53rd and 9th F45, Brown and Cowle finished together in 55.09, both 13th in their age categories! Sunday the 31st Rachel Brown, Dave Wood and Andy Probert completed the Cleevewold 14 . The Cleevewold is a tough and hilly 14-mile multi-terrain race. The race starts at the medieval Postlip tithe barn and covers the highest points of the Cotswold hills on Cleeve common, before returning to Postlip via the Belas Knap neolithic burial mound. Wood ran strongly, 5 minutes quicker than 2018, with an average pace of 8:30 minutes a mile. Andy Probert just over two and half hours and Rachel was happy with her run”. Provisional (Strava) times: Dave Wood 02:01:22; Andy Probert 02:30:38 Rachel Brown (tbc).
Merthyr, Yeovil and Dorset
Last week at Merthyr Tydfil Kris Rymer ran a tough and undulating Half Marathon course, this did not stop him running a six-minute personal best, reflecting his strong season in 2018 and his commitment to training over the winter. Result: Kris Rymer, 01:42:56, 133, (19th M40). This weekend Anne Harris ran the Yeovil Half, an attractive but again undulating ciourse. Harris had completed limited preparation and so was in her own words “very pleased to finish and collect my goodies”. Result: Annie Harris, 02:19:15, 1272nd, (162nd F40-49). Quentin Somerset New Berkeley Harriers BH founder and DRC athlete completed the Dorset Ooser Marathon his 92nd Marathon.
Titan Training
The weekend saw another big training Saturday for the DRC- Tri-team after their Westonbirt training day last weekend. The team were in Wales preparing for the Brecon Titan Middle Distance Triathlon. Twenty athletes started the in very misty and cold conditions and finished in the warm sun, the cycle of c.60 miles with almost 5000ft of elevation representing some excellent training.