January Update

First round results are in!! Well done to everyone who competed at Cirencester parkrun, in what were challenging, muddy and cold conditions. But who said it was going to be easy!!

23 competitors took park, split into 8 groups of 3, racing head to head to head. Considering conditions were not ideal, everyone put in great efforts to try and qualify for Round 2 in February. The results are in the chart below.

The fixtures for February are as follows. Good Luck to those taking part!

The Gloucester Half Marathon on Sunday 19th January was the first race of the endurance expert championship. Starting in Quedgeley the course consisted of two laps with conditions bright overhead but icy underfoot in parts!

Ladies Competition

Four Ladies wore the RSE yellow vest with pride. Ellie Taylor came home first and took the 10 points in a time of 1:45:09. Second was Rosie Oates -9 points and then Libby Butler setting a new Pb of 2:00:53 earning 8 points with Caroline Terry taking the 7 points.

Men’s Competition

There was four men also taking part, and first home taking the 10 points was Mark Garrett in a time of 1:27:32. He was followed by David Witnall- 9 points, Andy Masser- 8 points and taking part in his first championship race with the club was Tim Wainwright- 7 points.

The next race in the Endurance expert championship is the Wiltshire 10 mile. With over 30 members entered its shaping up to be an interesting race.

Happy New Year! Hope everyone has had great Christmas and is raring to go for the 2020 Club Championship. This years races are on the website, and we’ve updated the document to show links and dates (the ones we currently know anyway!!)

But before we move onto 2020, here are the final results for the 2019 Championship, for those who missed the prize giving.

Endurance Experts 2019

This category covered races with distances above 10km and up to marathon. It was a very close competition in both categories.

Men’s results:

1. David Witnall – 48 points
2. Kevin Joynes-Creed and Andy Masser – 37 points each

Ladies Results:

1. Ellie Taylor – 49 points
2. Rochelle Ravenscroft – 45 points
3. Kirsty Pitts – 37 points.

Short Stuff Specialist 2019

Distances between 1 mile up to 10km covered in this category. Again a great competition for the prizes.

Men’s results:

1. David Witnall – 50 points
2. Mark Manley – 45 points
3. Mark Garrett – 44 points

Ladies competition:

1. Rosie Oates – 50 points
2. Ellie Taylor – 46 points
3. Sharon Smith – 43 points

Overall Championship 2019

This year saw the introduction of the Master’s prize to the overall championship, as well as top 3, a prize was awarded to the highest ranked non-placed Veteran.

Men’s results:

Masters trophy – David Whitlow 56 points

1. David Witnall – 79 points
2. Mark Garrett – 69 points
3. Ben Chapman – 63 points

Ladies results:

Masters trophy – Kirsty Pitts 62 points

1. Ellie Taylor – 77 points
2. Rosie Oates – 68 points
3. Rochelle Ravenscroft – 67 points

Well done all who raced in our 2019 championship, a great range of winners this year. I look forward to seeing how 2020 goes!

Happy Running,

Elaine, Club Captain

The Cricklade Half Marathon on Sunday 6th October was the 7th and final race in the endurance expert championship. It also doubled up as our annual Handicap time race. Conditions on the day were bright over head but cool enough for quick times. Once again our runners did not disappoint in the PB stakes and chased down the set handicap times.

For Cricklade HM points were rewarded for improvement on a handicap time instead of position. 

Ladies Competition

In the Ladies contest there were 11 participants with Ellie Taylor taking the 10 points. Not only coming home first for the Ladies she also beat her handicap time by 36 seconds. Seven Ladies were awarded the 9 points – they were Jo Wood, Jo Beames, Sarah Reynolds, Sarah Page (5 min PB), Vicki Mason (PB), Cathy Steer (2 min PB), and Vanessa Poole. Taking 8 points and narrowly missing out on the Handicap time by 14 seconds was Kirtsy Pitts. Linda Edwards (7) and Rochelle Ravenscroft (6) took the remaining points.

This leaves the standings as

1. Ellie Taylor – 48 points
2. Rochelle Ravenscroft – 42 points
3. Kirtsy Pitts – 37 points

Men’s Competition

Ten men took on the Half Marathon – taking the 10 points was Kevin Joynes-Creed improving on his handicap time by 5 min 30 seconds and also setting a new PB. Ben Chapman (9 points) also grabbed a new PB beating his handicap time by 2 mins 32 seconds. Just 2 seconds pushed Istvan Vegh into third and the 8 points. Andy Masser (7) and Ryo Taylor (6) also beat their set times. The other points were shared between Tom Razazan (5) and PB, Gareth Roberts (5) Vic Trykush (5), Mark Garrett (4) and David Witnall (3)

This leaves the standings as

1. David Witnall – 41 points
2. Andy Masser – 37 points
3. Kevin Joynes-Creed – 35 points

Brilliant efforts by everyone. Remember, you have until the end of October to submit a Marathon time if you have completed one. Just message Elaine or me the time and the details of the event. You need to complete 5 races to qualify for the Endurance Expert Championship.

Dave Witnall – Vice Captain