As the club readies itself for the annual Linda Franks 5 miler on Sunday 19th January, club runners have started the year with a wide variety of training as they prepare for all manner of spring events including spring marathons. The club has been lucky enough to be chosen to take part in the England Athletics Club Run scheme where runners and coaches have benefited from the expertise of Bryan Clinton who has travelled up to Cheltenham from the Swindon Harriers. Alongside lots of hard training going on, a wide variety of running events were also enjoyed this week.

Vicky Kennedy, Mike Bryce, Catrin Davies Perkins, Lorraine Taylor and Julie Averiss all completed the RogueRuns' Night Run at Beechenhurst Lodge in the Forest of Dean. Averiss continued her great form by completing the torch lit event in 1:25.

In a relatively short event for her, Ingrid Harris also completed an event in the dark, travelling down to Bath to complete the off-road Skyline 10km. She finished as 2nd female V50 and rewarded herself afterwards by staying in a youth hostel!

No race report would be complete without the antics of Allan Green. This week he finished the Bettehanger Park Marathon in Kent. It was 6 lap route but thankfully it was in daylight and he finished in 5:26.

Many of the club were out and about parkrunning this weekend. An honourable mention should go to Mark Conway who completed his 50th parkrun in just 54 weeks. In local events Mike Bryce was 5th at Gloucester North, Rosemary Hubbard was 4th female at Cheltenham, Patricia Dendy was first female at Gloucester City parkrun with Dunc Mounsor and Josh Rimmell running PBs in the same event and Matt Polson was 2nd at the King George V playing fields parkrun in Cheltenham.

Alongside runners supporting the Cheltenham and Gloucester parkruns, runners from the club also travelled around the country:
David Nelson in Cardiff, Lou Tring at Heaton, Robert Foord at Black Park, Ben Taylor at Kingsway, Piotr Michalski and Thomas Wood at Arrow Valley, Rita Crane at Woodley, Mark Conway at Sheffield Caste, Malc Smith at Evesham, Neil Tring at Dartford Heath, Claire Hawes at Exmouth (finishing first in her age category), Steve Adams at Tetbury Goods Shed, Oliver Bell at Seven Fields and Matt Bevan at Chipping Norton School.

Travelling a little further afield, Debs Cartlidge completed the Wanaka parkrun in New Zealand.

Finally, the club are running Give it a Go in January. We’d encourage anyone thinking of taking part in our weekly club runs to come along and give it a go on Wednesday 22nd January. We’ll be meeting in the Bath Road car park at 1:45 and be organising social runs and walks of 4 or 5 miles.

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).