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New and Renewing members - Click here
Almost Athletes is a members only closed group
New and Renewing members - Click here
Almost Athletes is a members only closed group
Almost Athletes kicked off 2020 at parkruns across the county, with over 50 club members completing two New Year’s Day events. Ian Williams was first Almost home in 20:34 at King George V Playing Fields, followed by Martin Foster, 20:53 and Dave McGrath, 21:30. Catherine Daly was top Almost lady in 24:57, then Jo Foster, 25:05, and Joanna Wisniewska-Barreto, 26:02.
At Cheltenham, Nick Lewis finished in 20:18, while Martin Foster bettered his earlier time with 20.25. Matthew Hickman ran 20.40 and Williams finished in 21.09. Daly, Wisniewska-Barreto and Jo Foster were again the club’s top females with respective times of 24.34, 26.29 and 26.57.
Robert Foord, Neil Tring and Lorraine Taylor chose Gloucester City for their second event, finishing in 22:12, 22:34, and 29:21 respectively. Chris McMahon ran 24:42 after completing Stonehouse, while Nicole Hope and Patricia Dendy ran the event having earlier completing Lydney.
The Gloucestershire AAA Cross Country Championships were held at Rendcombe College. An impressive performance by Ingrid Harris saw her cross the line in 34.41 to win the FV55 category. Josh Hand finished the men’s course in 41:00, with Martin Foster next in 41:49, then Gary Farquharson, 46:55. Shaun Carr finished in 47:45, narrowly ahead of Duncan Mounsor (47:49). Danny Carroll completed the men’s team and finished in 51:01.
Mark Stojanov and Dylan Peters ran off road at the New Years Dirt Run, Croome Park. Stojanov completed the 5k course in 40:47, while Peters ran the 10k in 1:05.
The New Year meant another marathon for Allan Green, this time at Hillingdon Cycle Circuit. He ran the 14 lap race in 4.36.
This year the Almost Athletes New Year Club Run was held along the trails of the Cotswold Way. Starting at Painswick, runners completed the 13 miles to Cheltenham, with others joining in along the way to run 9 and 5 miles options.
There was more parkrun action for the club with the first Saturday events of the year. Matt Polson was 1st (19:57) at King George V Playing Fields. Mike Bryce was 3rd (21:54) and Catherine Daly was 2nd lady (24:56). Prashanth Sripathi finished Cheltenham in 20:27, and Kim Mansell was 2nd lady at Mallards Pike (22:40). Ben Taylor ran Kingsway in 19:16, followed by Ben Stone (19:33), Danny Carroll (22:06) and Chris McMahon with a PB (23:00). Rob Rennell and Andrea Hardy travelled to Cirencester, and Dave Nelson was at Chipping Sodbury, and Rich Smith at Evesham.
There was tourism for Rita Crane at Dinton Pastures, Adam Smith at Newark, and Ed Brandley at Brueton. Lou Tring was at Heaton, Matthew Bevan at Marlborough Common, Hattie Jenkins at Worthing and Nicole Hope at Woolacombe Dunes. Glenda Gill, Claire Gallagher and Lisa King ran at Cromhall parkrun. Deb Cartlidge was in New Zealand at Queenstown, and Nick Lewis was 3rd at Mount Edgcumbe (20:58).
Almost Athletes kicked off 2020 at parkruns across the county, with over 50 club members completing two New Year’s Day events. Ian Williams was first Almost home in 20:34 at King George V Playing Fields, followed by Martin Foster, 20:53 and Dave McGrath, 21:30. Catherine Daly was top Almost lady in 24:57, then Jo Foster, 25:05, and Joanna Wisniewska-Barreto, 26:02.
At Cheltenham, Nick Lewis finished in 20:18, while Martin Foster bettered his earlier time with 20.25. Matthew Hickman ran 20.40 and Williams finished in 21.09. Daly, Wisniewska-Barreto and Jo Foster were again the club’s top females with respective times of 24.34, 26.29 and 26.57.
Robert Foord, Neil Tring and Lorraine Taylor chose Gloucester City for their second event, finishing in 22:12, 22:34, and 29:21 respectively. Chris McMahon ran 24:42 after completing Stonehouse, while Nicole Hope and Patricia Dendy ran the event having earlier completing Lydney.
The Gloucestershire AAA Cross Country Championships were held at Rendcombe College. An impressive performance by Ingrid Harris saw her cross the line in 34.41 to win the FV55 category. Josh Hand finished the men’s course in 41:00, with Martin Foster next in 41:49, then Gary Farquharson, 46:55. Shaun Carr finished in 47:45, narrowly ahead of Duncan Mounsor (47:49). Danny Carroll completed the men’s team and finished in 51:01.
Mark Stojanov and Dylan Peters ran off road at the New Years Dirt Run, Croome Park. Stojanov completed the 5k course in 40:47, while Peters ran the 10k in 1:05.
The New Year meant another marathon for Allan Green, this time at Hillingdon Cycle Circuit. He ran the 14 lap race in 4.36.
This year the Almost Athletes New Year Club Run was held along the trails of the Cotswold Way. Starting at Painswick, runners completed the 13 miles to Cheltenham, with others joining in along the way to run 9 and 5 miles options.
There was more parkrun action for the club with the first Saturday events of the year. Matt Polson was 1st (19:57) at King George V Playing Fields. Mike Bryce was 3rd (21:54) and Catherine Daly was 2nd lady (24:56). Prashanth Sripathi finished Cheltenham in 20:27, and Kim Mansell was 2nd lady at Mallards Pike (22:40). Ben Taylor ran Kingsway in 19:16, followed by Ben Stone (19:33), Danny Carroll (22:06) and Chris McMahon with a PB (23:00). Rob Rennell and Andrea Hardy travelled to Cirencester, and Dave Nelson was at Chipping Sodbury, and Rich Smith at Evesham.
There was tourism for Rita Crane at Dinton Pastures, Adam Smith at Newark, and Ed Brandley at Brueton. Lou Tring was at Heaton, Matthew Bevan at Marlborough Common, Hattie Jenkins at Worthing and Nicole Hope at Woolacombe Dunes. Glenda Gill, Claire Gallagher and Lisa King ran at Cromhall parkrun. Deb Cartlidge was in New Zealand at Queenstown, and Nick Lewis was 3rd at Mount Edgcumbe (20:58).
Two major challenges have kept many of you busy throughout the month of July, both of which have now been completed.
The Baton Relay certainly proved extremely popular and many thanks are due to both Jason Hulance and Prash Sripathi for providing such detailed summaries and statistics of the distances covered. 90 club members carried the baton for the whole distance from John O’Groats to Land’s End (and then some!), with a massive final total of 895 miles run.
Some of the many runners who took part in the final stages of the relay included Matt Proome, Jayne Adams, Graeme Stopp (several times!), Jayne Murphy, Michelle Balchin, Pete Mitchener, Prash Sripathi, Duncan Mansour, Lorraine Taylor, Jane Russell, Sue Monaghan, and Frances Ferguson.
The grand finale took place at Pittville Pump Rooms at 5pm on Friday 31st with Frances Ferguson carrying the baton home to a welcoming crowd of club members.
The Cotswold Way Virtual Relay was also completed on Friday 31st with members completing their respective leg of the event throughout the month. Participants competed as part of twelve teams of five and were able to run together, or in smaller groups, as long as social distancing was observed. Final results as to how the Almost teams fared against other clubs are awaited at the time of writing.
Several members also took part in the virtual Race to the Stones which took place between the 6th and 12th July. The options were to run a half, full marathon or 100km during that time, and Deb Cartlidge, Catherine Daly, Dave Chittock, Piotr Michaelski, Sharmila Door and Dave Nelson all successfully completed their chosen distance.
Jason Hulance and Zakia Hussain were delighted to complete the Tough Runner UK Trifecta at the end of the month. This consisted of 100 ‘Beast’ miles, an altitude challenge and a final 10km run on the 26th. Throughout the event they both managed more than 10,000 feet of elevation gain.
A new challenge began on Monday 3rd August which consists of four virtual 5km handicap races – one a week throughout the month of August. Each run needs to be completed during the following periods of time, and should be on a single loop:
All times should be submitted to Philip Jeyes, and the best three scores will count towards the final result.
Finally, a reminder that Ashley Stevens will be running a marathon along the Honeybourne Line on 30th August, in aid of WellChild.
The 5k Virtual Relay 2020 summary can be seen by clicking Link.
Once again, members of Almost Athletes have continued to find inspirational and imaginative ways to keep running and to keep both themselves, and others, motivated in these difficult times
Keep safe and keep running everyone.
May and June have continued at a pace for Almost Athletes’ runners and with combinations of solo and social distanced runs being undertaken, this report will be focusing on the wide variety of different places that members have been visiting, plus some excellent individual achievements. We asked for “favourite routes” as a theme and the club’s Facebook page has been awash with idyllic pictures, inspiring stories and motivational messages.
Despite the obvious lack of organised races right now, we have seen a number of club runners take on virtual challenges and Kev Fairs and Wan Hartley led the way, earning a Trimax Virtual Medal and the “Cotswold Warrior” title for their 10 mile, Cleeve Hill efforts. Ingrid Harris also did the Trimax 14, picking up the “Immortal Sinner” medal as a reward.
David Garnett completed his first ever half marathon distance at the end of May and took in a great route. He completed the distance via Charlton Kings, Colgate Farm and Cleeve Hill and braved the warm conditions for 13.1 miles. Well done David! Also taking on the hills recently was Richard Knightley – doing the “10 Mile Twister Virtual Race” – where you take a minute off your time for every 25 metres of elevation you gain. Richard managed a great net effort of 70 minutes and the intensity level was increased by the fact he ran in torrential rain.
As a club, the highlights of the last few months have included sharing ideas for places to go for a run and there has been a real sense of reconnecting with why we all love this sport so much. Claire Hawes recommended running through Hartley Farm, where the larks have been in impressive voice. Jason Hulance shared some amazing images of Cheltenham’s murals and highlighted why Pittville Park is such a fun route to run. Karen Gomm’s dogs Bradley and Geoffrey looked like they enjoyed a run up Aggs Hill and Prestbury and Adrian Courtenay evoked memories of the club’s winter routes when he walked 10 miles of the Cotswolds Way.
We have had a number of members really embrace lockdown and get out and run some super distances. In May a number of Almosts reported some fantastic totals including: Shaun Carr (amazingly running the height of Everest in the month of May – 29,029ft and 137 miles), Melvyn Harris (60 miles in May being his best total for over 5 years), Ashley Stevens (ran 125 miles and walked 100 miles!) and Sarah Carr (ran 100 miles using #raceatyourpace as motivation).
The last few weeks have, of course, seen more events cancelled, but Almost Athletes haven’t let that bother them! Well done to Kerry Knowles who was supposed to be running the Race for Life 10k on 7th June, but with the event called off, went out and completed her first sub 1 hour time over that same distance. Mark Stojanov was in a similar mood and with the Cirencester Summer Sizzler off, he marked the occasion with his longest walk of the year, to the Severn Ham in Tewkesbury.
There really have been good news stories galore of late and Rob Rennell ran his longest ever run on a treadmill in early June – an astonishing 9.5 miles! It is also good to hear that when club runs can resume in the future, Pete Mitchener will still be leading the way, he has completed some solo runs of club routes and his pacing is as on point as ever.
These reports continue to provide a small showcase into the wide range of activities that our members undertake. It is really heartening to see how everyone has carried on, undeterred by a difficult few months, and it is evident that getting out running has really helped. With 3k challenges nearly concluding, there will be plenty more to write about next time, and the stories continue to tell themselves. Do keep them coming in!