Runners of the Month, 2025

The first runner of the month for March is Ashley Wilson. Ashley joined the club 6 months ago and is a lovely young chap who is very friendly and he has fully embraced the club by regularly attending the Thursday speed endurance sessions. He has been attending Cheltenham parkrun since Christmas Day 2022 and his times were improving each year. Since joining the club the improvement has spectacularly increased! Last year he got down to 21:22 and has already taken nearly a minute off that this year to 20:30, which is a full 7 minutes quicker than his first parkrun. A sub 20 parkrun is inevitable! In every race this year he has set great times with Linda Franks in 33.08, Bourton 10k in 41:21, Brighton Half in 91:13 and then knocked 2 minutes off that at Gloucester Half in 89:09. All of these are PBs! Well done Ashley!

The second runner of the month for March is Pinky Shetty. Pinky has been a member of the club for many years. She also started her running with Cheltenham parkrun back in 2015. Since 2018 she has been tackling local races over distances of 5 miles and 10k. Back in December she got quite a surprise when she heard that her name was pulled out the hat for a club London Marathon place and she confessed to me that she was so nervous but excited too! Since then she has tirelessly been training for this race and recently had a super run at Berkeley 20 miles, where she made the cut off to lap two, was happy and strong on the day and finished smiling in 4:13.44. Pinky really has put in the hard work with dedicated training and I’m sure she will have a fabulous experience in London! Go smash it! Well done Pinky!

The first runner of the month for February is Riley Woodman. Riley is one of our younger runners who returned to racing last year. As well as representing the club in races he has also thrown himself into club activities as a regular attender of club run and the Thursday speed endurance sessions. As a result his race times are rapidly improving! Last year he popped under 20mins with a PB of 19:57 at Stratford parkrun, ran Guy Fawkes 5 mile in a PB of 32:59 and ran a PB at Berkeley 10k of 47:56. This year his main focus is training for Edinburgh marathon and the PBs have continued by smashing his parkrun PB by 47 seconds at Gloucester City to 19.10, setting a 10 mile PB at Boddington in 69.02 and a half PB of 89.54 at Warwick which he has just bettered at Gloucester half with 88:48. Well done Riley!

The second runner of the month for February is Sue Pearce. Sue is a fabulous runner who had lots of success last year which has continued into the new year. Last year she won her age category in our off-road race series, by being first in 6 of the 7 races, and came a superb second overall. She also took part in 3 of the races in our road race series and finished 3rd in her age category. She finished in the top 10 females regularly in races with 2nd at Standish Woodland Chase 10 miles in 78:17, 8th at Bugatti 10k in 46:16, and 5th at Cleeve Cloud Cuckoo in 45:29, where she was part of the winning female team. She was also first female when she ran a parkrun PB at Berkeley in 22:01. Recently she took part in 3 of the Gloucestershire League Cross Country races and won the bronze medal for her age category! She also regularly attends club run and will fill as a leader if required. Well done Sue!

The first runner of the month for January is Elliot Jordan. Elliot had a very successful year with his running last year and the improvement has continued spectacularly over recent months! Elliot is a big supporter of club activities, regularly attending club run and our training sessions, represents the club in cross country races and takes part in our handicap races. Last year he was second overall in our road race series and won his age category. He was also 2nd in his age category overall in our off road race series. He is a regular runner and volunteer at parkrun getting under 20 mins a couple of times last year and is now consistently a sub 20 parkrunner and even paced 20 mins recently! Last week he set a new PB of 19.17. He has also recently set a 5 mile PB at Linda Franks in 32.05 and a Half marathon PB at Torremolinos of 87.53 which is not an easy course! Amazing times! Well done Elliot!

The second runner of the month for January is Ingrid Harris. Ingrid is an astonishing runner knocking out great times over any distance and is also a prolific marathon runner. Last year she won her age category in both our road race series and off road race series. But more impressive was that she finished 4th and 5th overall in these series! Last year she was regularly winning her age category and did so in the following races – Cleeve Cloud Cuckoo, Bugatti 10k, Standish Woodland Chase 10 miles, Stroud Half, Bourton Half, Dymock Half, Forest of Dean Half, Westonbirt Half, Wild One Marathon and Giants Head Marathon. There was probably more too! And this year her Linda Franks time of 38.51 earned her an 8th place UK age category ranking whilst her Bath Two Tunnels Half time of 1:49.36 earned her a 105th place UK age category ranking! Simply awesome! Well done Ingrid!