Gloucester 10km

This year’s Gloucester 10km ran spectacularly. Now in the 4th year since Nigel Tillott took the reins, the bumper field of 707 starters were treated with some beautiful weather; by the 09:00 start time the temperature had risen to 22 degrees centigrade. The MP for Gloucester addressed the masses before they accelerated from Gloucester Park and into the city centre taking in some famous landmarks.

But it was very nearly a watermark that became infamous as the lead runners charged through the Docks to see the Llanthony swing bridge up! With seconds to spare, the bridge closed and the gates opened – it was like an action scene from a James Bond movie. The spectators had swelled by the time the runners had returned from the Hempsted loop and traced the Canal back towards the Cathedral. The view along Southgate Street nearing the 9 km mark was a contrast with tourists and early shoppers leisurely wandering around while runners were trading pain with performance.

There was certainly a little pain inside Alec Vincent as he led the Tewkesbury Running club contingent back to Gloucester Park. Not only did Alec secure a top 20 placing but also a notable 2nd in the hotly contested male 40-49 category. A fine performance that set a new PB for the 10km distance. He lately stated it “felt good”!

Hoping to keep within touching distance of Alec in case a sprint finish was needed was Russell Steele. Russell has been slowly finding his form again after a wayward few months so a top 50 placing and a couple of minutes shy of Alec is reasonable and a platform to build on.

Jane Sauer and Natalie Jenks were thrown together again and this is always a main event. Jane, still suffering from whip-lash after a car accident found the streets of Gloucester paved with pain and couldn’t run at her best. Jane’s effort was pure bravery.

Natalie however, performed at her best and surprised herself with an age-group win ahead of Jane. Not for the first time the voices in Natalie’s head were saying ‘I can’t be bothered’ however, she refused to listen and let her legs do the talking.

Then later during bizarre scenes, Natalie was rewarded with chocolates during the prize giving stage before the ‘voices’ spoke and she rushed back to the stage screaming for wine!

Both girls finished inside the top ten in their gender.

Elaine Vincent ran fabulously and laid down another fine time as her good form continues.

She had Carol Cowley for close comfort and the Gloucestershire County champion piped her along Spa Road to take a convincing V65 first place.

David Aguirre and Chris Duckworth had contrasting runs. David found the going good and finished strongly in arguably his best run in Tewkesbury colours.

Chris started off spritely but found the energy depleted from his legs during the later stages.

Sheena Moseley and Samantha Robinson were on fire and both had impressive runs; Sheena looked like she could cover the course again after she finished in what was a good time but not her best as she’s not a lover of warm weather running.

Sam though, flourished with determination and recorded a pleasing finish time.

Laura Kent completed the course well; along with her partner in crime Linda Younger, Laura crossed the finish line just outside the hour.

Hard-working Pete Davies finished inside the top 500. Pete would have preferred cooler conditions however, Pete is relatively one of the club’s hardest worker runners so, it was just a normal morning’s work.