Broadway, Newent & Ashton-u-Hill.
Tewkesbury Running Club members were out in force last weekend as they competed in various different races within the local area, despite the preceding very wet weather and local flooding. The Newent Nine road race, Broadway Trail Half and Full Marathon and the Ashton Under Hill 5K road race were the main focus for the TRC athletes.
Newent Nine
Now it its 5th year, the Newent Nine as become a popular early winter road race over an unusual 9 1/2 km. Although the recent weather made the initial lap of the playing field testing, the roads were mainly flood free over this undulating course starting and finishing from Newent Community School. The race also provided the final chance to grab points in the TRC Road Race Championship of 2019
Owen Grant has been in outstanding form this Autumn and after his Club Record breaking run in the Guy Fawkes 5 mile race, he was looking forward to a strong run at Newent. Renewing his rivalry with Gloucester AC’s Steve Kenyon, the 2 racers were locked together until about the 4 mile marker, where the eventual race leader pulled slightly away. Owen however maintained within sight of Steve Kenyon, as he only finished 25 seconds behind him to claim a noteworthy second place in 32mins 47secs.
As with Owen, Matt Flynn has impressed this autumn, showing the best form of his life over the past few weeks - capped off with his sub 80mins Stroud Half Marathon. Having seen the front 2 runners distance themselves, Matt worked in the second group of runners to force the pace. Coming into the final straight towards the school, Matt held a fine 4th place to time in with 34mins 44secs to continue his progression.
Simon Meadows has had a few disappointing results recently as he battles to overcome a few running issues. Simon started the race in a conservative matter and then built the pace gradually throughout the race and finished with a pleasing time of 39mins 9secs for 17th place. Simon can now hopefully build on this performance for his spring campaign.
Showing TRC’s current depth in Veteran Male runners at the minute, Ty Berg was only 1 place behind Simon in 18th position in a time of 39mins 31secs. With remarkable previous race times, Ty, at his peak a few years ago, would have been an easy winner of this race. After a long spell on the injury bench for over a year - Ty’s recent training looks as if he will be a contender for many a top 10 finishes next year.
Noel Green is certainly no stranger to the Newent area being a regular at the Newent parkrun and a regular at Newent 9 in previous years - this being his 3rd running of the race. Having had a good solid run of parkrun efforts, Noel should have been confident of a good showing - and he did as he timed in at 44mins 24secs - his first sub 45mins Newent 9 race.
Chris Nicholls is now able to show his true race performances after his early season injuries, and with many changes in his training and diet, this is starting to demonstrate with his increased athleticism. Chris was happy to finish in a time of 49mins 21secs as his improvements continue.
Linzi Dyer returned to the scene of her schooldays as she toed the line to this race within her old schoolyard. Tackling the initial hills with her usual relish, Linzi yet again showed her increasing confidence with her running as she pushed on down the hills to the finish line in a satisfying 51mins 14secs.
Jude Rodrigues has shown great durability this year, regularly competing in most county races through the year starting from early January and is still racing whilst most have hibernated for the winter. Jude was looking to his Stroud Half Marathon behind him and ran a far better race, clocking 51mins 34secs.
Caroline Corbett has made a welcome return to regular running for Tewkesbury Running Club this year and was lucky to gain a late place for the race. Racing well over the course Caroline timed her run to perfection as she beat the hour mark to perfection, clocking in with 59mins and 58secs.
Lesley Allaway, being no stranger to the Newent roads either, was lining up for the third time in this race as with Noel. Having had one of her best years running. Lesley’s confidence and knowledge of the course standed her in good stead as she pressed through the final stretch to the school to record a course PB of 61mins 13secs.
A recent Tewkesbury Running Club’s “Runner Of The Month”, James Aubrey, buoyed with his latest accolade, tackled the race with full aplomb. Whilst carefully managing his asthma problems halfway round the course, James was happy to finish the race in 63mins 11secs - even happier that he was 1 place ahead of his friendly rival Vicky Earls!
Vicky has not been in the her best form of late, as a recent fall in a training run has hindered her running. However Vicky has been carefully selecting her races this year, and eased her way round the course for 63mins 24secs along with some vital TRC Championship points.
Dan Chandler has certainly not been shy of a challenge since his graduation from the club’s Coach to 5K programme earlier in the year. After a great performance in the Guy Fawkes 5 mile race, Dan took on the more testing Newent Nine course well and the determination was clear to see as he ran through the finish line with a turn of foot to claim an excellent time of 67mins 56secs.
Broadway Trail Half and Full Marathon
With the recent very wet weather, the extreme terrain of the Broadway races were made even more demanding with a lot of the trails becoming slippy, boggy and just all round very, very muddy !
Tackling the Half Marathon, Gary Duxbury was the first of the TRC runners to emerge from the quagmires of the Broadway hills to dip under the finish line in a time of 2hrs 4mins 21secs. Defying his years, Gary once again finished 1st V60 in the race.
Alec Vincent is also no stranger to the Broadway challenge, this being his 3rd year of competition - alas Alec has not had the best year of training this year but still enjoyed the challenge - clocking 2hrs 8 mins 49secs through the mud.
Elaine Vincent’s 2019 has been one of her best running years and the Broadway Half was to be surely one of her greatest challenges of the year. Timing in at 2hrs 30mins and 1secs, Elaine showed her well known mettle to battle through the conditions and finish smiling !
As the Half Marathoner’s lined up full of trepidation, Nigel Tillott must have been thinking what he had let himself in for as the Marathoners had already set set for 26 + miles of gruelling challenges ahead. With previous course knowledge and a vast experience of trail running, Nigel somehow emerged with some energy left to finish in an impressive 4hrs 31mins and 39secs - certainly an impressive feat of endurance!
Ashton-Under-Hill 5k
There aren't any definitive results for this village fund-raiser just yet. However, we do know that Mark Gardiner took 4th place overall and quite remarkably 2nd male! Carol Cowley and Wes Reid had decent runs. Duncan Tharme continued to impress and there was a couple of very nice performances from Sarah Smith and Emma Smith - Sarah having now completed both Alderton and Ashton-U-Hill 5km village runs this year.
