News & Press Reports for 2011

St Stephen's Day 4 - 27/12/2011

Winston's Wish Boxing Day Challenge - 26/12/2011

Christmas Hay Handicaps & Sprint - 25/12/2012

Gloucester Athletic Club members were in action over the festive period

At the Christmas Day Estcourt Road handicap races, Matt Powell clocked 19mins 36 seconds for 3rd place in the 3-miles race before running the 180m uphill sprint in 28.4 seconds. New signing Nikki Wong recorded a time of 24:01 to finish 11th in the 3-miles race.

Six club members took part in the Severn AC-organised St Stephens Day 4-mile road race from the Pilot Inn, Hardwicke. Jeremy Mower finished 10th overall and first in the M45 category, in 23:46 whilst Peter Lloyd finished three places behind in 24:22 to take the M50 first prize. Nathan Smith finished 27th in 26:14. First Gloucester lady and 2nd in the W40 category was Michelle Stark, whose 28:31 was a new club best. Ryan Harris was next home, clocking 29:10 for 41st overall and 2nd in the U20 category, whilst Christine Campbell finished 3rd W40 and 46th overall with 29:56.

Alex and Tom George of Gloucester Athletic Club ran in the Winston’s Wish Boxing Day challenge at Cheltenham racecourse. The fund raising event offered the runners a 2 or 4 mile option with the staggered starts anticipating a combined finish. Alex and Tom took the shorter race option and crossed the line first and second respectively, shortly before the 4 mile competitors raced for the line.

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Indoor Open (Bath University) 18/12/2011

Gloucester AC’s top thrower, Gareth Winter, brought the curtain down on his 2011 season by setting a new personal best and club indoor record when winning the shot putt at an indoors open meeting at Bath University on Sunday.

GB Junior International Winter’s winning putt of 15.15m with the 7.26kg shot added just over one metre to the previous record

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Ellwood 5 mile multi terrain (Forest of Dean) 18/12/2011

Gloucester AC’s Richard de-Camps' excellent end-of-year form continued on Sunday with a comfortable victory in the Forest of Dean AC-promoted Ellwood 5 mile multi terrain race.

A perilous 300 metres of icy road at the start meant the race began at a sedate pace and it was not until the first mile marker that the leaders got into their running.

De-Camps found himself drifting into the lead, probably rather sooner than he would have liked, but was content to control the race from the front.

The last mile consisted of a very steep and muddy uphill climb and it was here that de-Camps steadily applied pressure to come home an easy victor in 28mins 54 seconds.

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Quedgeley Christmas 5 - 17/12/2011

Three members of Gloucester AC turned out for the annual December 5-mile road race around Quedgeley and Hardwicke in aid of funds for the local Methodist Church roof.

First home for the club, in 3rd place overall, was V45 Dave Gresswell who again showed he is starting to regain his form of the warmer summer months. Gresswell’s time of 30 mins 20 seconds showed there is still plenty of hard work ahead, but he would have been encouraged by his prize of a sports bag.

Someone who was very happy with his time was Matt Powell, who finished in 6th overall, in a massive new personal best of 30:54. Powell has been struggling in cross country races recently, was very happy with his time. He will be another to settle down to some hard work over the coming weeks in an attempt to reproduce this speed on the country.

The third team member was V50 Mike Anderton, who finished in a comfortable 46:55 for 54th place.

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Track & Field winter training - 13/12/2011

Even though the temperatures outside are hovering just above zero and next summer is a long way from most peoples’ thoughts, Gloucester Athletic Club’s track & field athletes are hard at work, preparing for another arduous season.

The winter off-season is when much of an athlete’s strength and conditioning work is carried out and every week between October and April, all over the country exponents of the sport can be found either lifting extraordinarily heavy weights or performing more press-ups and sit-ups than most people would find mind-boggling.

The Gloucester club is no exception and every Tuesday evening it holds circuit training sessions at the Crypt School, with weight training taking place at its Black Bridge clubhouse each Wednesday.

Senior sprint coach, Garry Hunter, explains: “We regularly have over 50 people attending our weekly sessions at Crypt, catering for all ages from the very young to the not-so-young, with at least half a dozen qualified coaches in attendance.

“Those sessions are designed so that there is a month-on-month increase in intensity for the older ones. Every now and then, we will throw in some fitness tests to see how they are improving. That can be an unpleasant surprise as we don’t give any warning!”

Hunter continues: “Basic running is, surprisingly, very technical so we include running drills in our programme to improve the athlete’s running efficiency. We also work on the important aspect of body core strength which is an area many sports clubs often neglect.

“With regards to the weight training, some of the weights being lifted are quite phenomenal, with some of the younger ones lifting well over 150% of their body weight.”

Hunter is quick to point out that whilst the conditioning part of the winter training is very important, the athletes must not forget their main event, saying “You don’t get better at running by not running.”

Wise words that many athletes will do well to heed.

Everyone is welcome to attend the circuit sessions which re-commence after the Christmas break on Tuesday 3rd January, 6:30pm.

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Gloucestershire Cross Country League (Cheltenham) - 10/12/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s youngsters continued their development, competing in the Gloucestershire Cross-Country League fixture at Cheltenham.

In the U17 mens’ event, Alex George took 2nd place behind local rival Kyran Hale of Severn AC. With twin brother Tom placing 4th and Andrew Bowers 12th, the city team took victory in the team event by the narrowest of margins from Severn.

In the U15 boys’ race, Dominic Tutton and Ryan Hearn continued their recent run of good form. Tutton finished 3rd and Hearn in 5th place. Harry Wells was the Gloucester club’s sole representative in the U13 boys’ race, placing 17th.

Bryony Goddard-Jones led the City team home in the U11 girls’ race, placing 10th. Charlotte Sprason (23rd) and Amelia Hill (28th) completed the team which finished in 6th place overall.

Abi Pearce made her first appearance for the club’s cross-country team, placing 15th in the U13 girls’ race.

After the meeting, club junior endurance coach Kerry Newell said “It was good to see a few more of our young athletes racing today. We’re trying to encourage more of them to take part in these local races as it will give them good experience of competition.”

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Gloucestershire Cross Country League, Seniors (Cheltenham) - 10/12/2011

Richard De Camps was the first Gloucester AC runner home for the second consecutive week as his team continued their improvement in the Gloucester Sports-supported Gloucestershire Cross Country League fixture at Cheltenham on Saturday.

De Camps followed up his 4th place in the Birmingham Cross-Country League from the previous week with another solid performance, finishing 7th in a good quality field on the undulating Pittville Park course.

De Camps’ elder brother, Andrew, gave further evidence that he is starting to benefit from his winter endurance work as he produced his best run of the season, finishing 13th.

Simon Fortnam was the Gloucester club’s third scorer in 37th place, despite suffering an ankle injury as he crossed a ditch on the opening lap, with Steven Haines again making the scoring team, finishing in 60th place.

Team captain Dave Gresswell showed signs that he is starting to regain his form of last winter, placing 80th and the Club’s scoring ‘A’ team was completed by Tom Randles in his first cross-country run of the season in 82nd, bringing the team home in 5th place in the team standings.

Paul Nash led the ‘B’ team home, finishing in 87th place and he was quickly followed by Ian Summers (91st) and two newcomers, Iain Fake (93rd) and Simon Barnes (107th).

Two wily veterans completed the ‘B’ team. Arthur Daley, another runner on the comeback trail, finished in 123rd with Dave Spackman finishing in 137th.

Paul Loveridge (154th), Jason Gresswell (162nd) and James Ferguson (173rd) completed the Gloucester contingent.

After the race, captain Dave Gresswell said “I was much happier with the support our runners gave the race today. We had 15 runners in the senior race, which is the most we’ve managed all season, and were still resting one or two key runners. This league is all about developing our squad and they all will have benefited from today’s race.”

In the senior ladies race, newcomer Lyndsey Hollands led the club home for the first time when she finished in 57th place, just holding off Christine Campbell who finished in 58th. Beryl Sampson finished in 63rd to bring the team home.

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English Schools Cross-Country - 03/12/2011

Two members of Gloucester Athletic Club were in the Sir Thomas Rich’s team that finished a very credible 14th overall in the English Schools Cross-Country Cup Final at Rugby on Saturday.

Dominic Tutton placed 9th and Ryan Hearn 18th over a 4.5km undulating course in sunny, but windy, conditions.

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Gloucestershire Schools Intermediate Cross-Country - 03/12/2011

Just twelve months after running his first-ever cross-country race, Gloucester Athletic Club’s Alex George is the new Gloucestershire Schools Intermediate Cross-Country champion after taking the title in convincing fashion at Plock Court on Saturday. Twin brother Thomas took the bronze medal.

The pair shall now go forward to represent the county in the Cardiff Cross-Country challenge in January.

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Birmingham & District Cross Country League Div2 (Northampton) - 03/12/2011

Gloucester AC's men's team produced a much-improved performance in the Birmingham and District Cross Country League Division Two fixture at Northampton on Saturday to keep their promotion hopes alive.

After finishing seventh in the opening fixture, they placed fifth and to move up to fifth overall in the table, just outside the promotion places with two races remaining.

Richard De Camps was the outstanding performer of the day, leading the team home in fourth place. He kept with the leaders until the final lap when the strong wind and hills took their toll and he was caught and passed by one runner, dropping from third to fourth.

Second scorer was Steve Millward, who also secured a top 10 finish in eighth place. Next to score was track specialist Andrew De Camps in 19th place, a big improvement on the first race when he finished in 36th place.

Fourth scorer was Simon Fortnam in his first cross country race of the season. After a steady start, he moved through the field gaining places on every lap to finish 42nd, Luke Herbert finished just behind in 46th having been caught and passed by Fortnam in a sprint finish.

The city ‘A’ team was completed by Steven Haines in 99th place, giving them a team total of 218 points.

The B team also improved on their showing in the first match, placing 6th overall.

Ultra-distance specialist Jeremy Mower was first home in 106th, with Club captain Dave Gresswell placing 133rd. Ian Summers was just behind in 135th, Mark Thrall (141st) and league debutant, Nathan Smith, in 150th. Matt Powell completed the ‘B’ team scorers in 172nd.

Other finishers were Arthur Daley (199th), Humphrey Phillips (208th) and Paul Loveridge in 212th.

Bridge Inn 5K Series - 29/11/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s most prolific lady racer of 2011, Christine Campbell, finished in 105th place at the Bridge Inn Winter 5km Series race in Bristol in a time of 23:00.

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Coaching boost - 28/11/2011

A £2,000 Youth Grant from Gloucester City Council is enabling Gloucester Athletic Club develop its coaching set-up in anticipation of a huge boost in recruitment in Olympic year.

Club Coaching Co-ordinator Bob Purcell was successful in his application for the grant and, as he explains, the Club is already putting the money to good use.

“We’ve just put two members - Tim Campion and Carlton Blake - through their coaching awards, and another three coaches – Kerry Newell, Garry Hunter and me – shall soon be attending specialist conferences on middle distance running, sprinting and jumps.

“We’ve also sent groups of young athletes to training sessions at Bath and Cardiff for their first experience of indoor tracks, as well as outdoor sessions in Birmingham.”

Purcell is also spreading athletics gospel around the City. Over the past two years, he has been working closely with local schools, teaching the basics of strength and conditioning in the winter months and specific athletics skills in the summer.

“The schools are very keen to allow us take coaching sessions in school-time and, through these programmes, we’ve been able to give the youngsters their first taste of athletics. The City Council grant will enable us to develop these links with the schools even further and we hope to add cross-country running to the training sessions.”

Any senior school wishing to find out more about the coaching schemes should e-mail Bob Purcell at bob.purcell@gloucesterac.co.uk

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Brighton 10K - 20/11/2011

Gloucester AC’s Simon Fortnam competed in the Brooks-sponsored Brighton 10km Road Race at the weekend, finishing 81st overall in a time of 36:21.

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2011 County Road Race Series

Gloucester Athletic Club members were successful in the 2011 Gloucestershire County Road Race series, winning three age group categories.

Michelle Stark took 1st place in the W35 age group. During the year, she won one race and backed this up with three second places and a third to win the section comfortably with 62 points.

Dave Gresswell won the M45 category. He took first place in seven races over the season to finish with 79 points, 11 ahead of his club-mate Jeremy Mower in 2nd place.

The third title for the Gloucester club came in the M65 category where Dave Spackman took 1st place with 74 points, just four ahead of 2nd placed Martin Ford of Cirencester.

In the W40 category, Christine Campbell capped her best-ever season, taking second place overall.

Peter Lloyd and Terry Onions each took 4th place in their categories, the M50 an M55 respectively, whilst Arthur Daley took 5th place overall in the M60 age group despite winning three races during the year.

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Birmingham Cross Country League Div2 (Leamington Spa) - 12/11/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s senior men’s cross-country team face an uphill struggle if they are to return to the top flight of the Birmingham Cross country League at the first attempt following their seventh place in the opening Division Two fixture at Leamington Spa.

Relegated from the first division last season, team captain Dave Gresswell was looking to bounce right back and whilst their seventh place is not the top three start they were aiming for, their 41 points deficit can be made up with solid performances in the remaining matches.

Once again, Steve Millward spear-headed the Gloucester challenge, following up his 3rd place in the previous week’s Gloucestershire League race by taking an excellent 4th place this time out. He was well supported by Richard De Camps who, in his first outing of the season, placed 7th.

The elder De Camps brother, Andrew, was next City runner to finish, in 35th and he was closely followed in by Luke Herbert in 36th.

Dave Gresswell finished in 71st place and Gloucester’s scoring six was completed by Steven Haines in 91st.

For the first time this season, the City squad fielded a complete ‘B’ team. Ian Summers led the team home in 127th, with Mark Thrall next home in 135th. They were completed by Matt Powell (147th), newcomer Dan Finn (190th), Humphrey Phillips (214th) and Paul Loveridge in 216th. 251 runners completed the course.

After the race, Dave Gresswell said “The fact that we were just 41 points behind the third placed team shows just how tight this league is and how much a difference having our very best runners racing can make. Our local rivals Severn were better prepared than us on the day and we will be looking to regain the city’s bragging rights in the next match.”

‘A’ teams:

1st Rugby & Northants 126 pts; 2nd Wolves & Bilston 168; 3rd Worcester 203; 7th Gloucester 244.

‘B’ teams:

1st Wolves & Bilston 455 pts; 2nd Rugby & N’hants 496; 3rd Severn 711; 9th Gloucester 1029.

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Guy Fawkes 5 - 06/11/2011

Six members of Gloucester AC were among the 400 runners who took part in the annual Guy Fawkes 5 mile road race at Tewkesbury on Sunday.

First back for the club was Andrew Renfree in 5th place in a time of 27:45. Renfree, is gradually returning to fitness following an injury-ravaged summer and was using the race as a fitness test before next week’s Birmingham League cross country race.

For the other City runners, this race was the final chance to score points in this year’s county road race series and all picked up valuable points towards their final tallies.

Dave Gresswell, in his second race of the weekend, took 19th place in 30:03 and fellow M45 Jeremy Mower placed 32nd in 31:16.

U20 Jack Evans finished 3rd junior and 48th overall in 32:17, whilst Dave Spackman (M65) placed 80th in 34:29 to secure another County age group medal.

Also running her second race of the weekend was Michelle Stark who finished 128th in 37:37, good enough to take the County L35 award, and Chris Campbell running her third race in six days recorded 38:57 in 158th place.

Two newcomers completed the Gloucester scoring. Natasha Poole was 176th in 39:56 and Sharon Smith was 182nd in 40:37.

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Gloucestershire Cross Country League - 05/11/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Alex George provided the highlight of an encouraging day for Gloucester’s youngsters at the Gloucestershire Cross Country League fixture at Black Bridge.

George, a product of Kerry Newell’s training group, had already made a good start to the winter season by placing second in the opening league fixture and then winning the junior mile at the recent Stroud Half Marathon, so his duel with pre-race favourite Kyran Hale of Severn AC in the U17 mens race was much anticipated.

As expected, Hale tried to force the pace throughout but could not shake off his younger rival as George stuck to his shoulder before moving clear with 400m remaining to record his second consecutive victory over Hale and his first in this league.

Alex’s brother Tom took his first ever league podium place, placing third.

In the U17 ladies race, multi-eventer Kate Davies, making her first appearance of the winter, placed 9th with Hayley Malsom following in 10th place.

There was another podium place for the City club and the Newell stable in the U15 boys race where Dominic Tutton took 2nd place, while Hannah Jones took 14th place in the U15 girls event and the youngest member of that training group, Harry Wells, continued his good start to the winter when placing 13th in the U13 boys race.

To complete a very successful day for the City youngsters, the U13 girls team of Bryony Goddard (7th), Charlotte Sprason (14th), Hannah Meheran (21st) and Jude Dowdeswell (32nd) took 4th place in their team category.

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Gloucestershire Cross Country League - 05/11/2011

Midland Counties 3,000m steeplechase champion Steve Millward led the Gloucester Athletic Club’s senior men’s team home in Saturday’s Gloucestershire Cross Country League race at Black Bridge on Saturday.

In his first competitive outing since August, Millward quickly settled into the leading group that included eventual race winner Richard Harper of Leamington and runner-up Philip Parry of Bristol & West and fought off several challenges to come home in third place.

Next to finish for the city squad was team captain Dave Gresswell in 30th position, with Steven Haines again showing the benefits of regular racing when finishing in 43rd place. Peter Lloyd was, perhaps, the surprise package as he finished in 47th place and the city scoring six was completed by Mark Thrall (75th) and Matt Aspinall in 76th.

David Edwards (104th), Paul Loveridge (140th) and Mike Anderton (172nd) completed the Gloucester line-up.

Afterwards, captain Dave Gresswell said “This was a useful run-out before next week’s opening Birmingham League fixture and I was pleased with the form of some of our runners. Next week, though, shall be much tougher and we will need every single one of our distance runners racing if we are to challenge for promotion back to Division One.”

Gloucester AC ladies captain Michelle Stark continued her return to fitness following a broken arm by placing 53rd in the senior ladies race. Emma Jeffery (67th) and Beryl Sampson (68th) completed the scoring for Gloucester whilst Christine Campbell, who had only just returned from setting a personal best in the Dublin Marathon five days before, finished in 82nd place.

Dublin Marathon - 31/10/2011

Chris Campbell concluded a successful road and track season with a personal best at the Dublin Marathon of 3:55:24. In a year that has seen her celebrate her fortieth birthday she reduced her best times at ten events with distances ranging from 800m to 26.2 miles.

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Autumn Ball - 29/10/2011

The Gloucester Athletic Club Autumn Ball that took place last weekend (29th) looks like raising over £1,000 for charity.

Event co-ordinator, Richard Blackwell, says “We raised over £850 from ticket sales, raffle and on-night donations and money is still coming in, so we will round it up to £1,000.”

The chosen charities to benefit are Lupus UK and the British Heart Foundation in memory of two former Gloucester athletes, Mark Wright and Norman Thomas, who sadly both died earlier this year.

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Chocolate Biscuit 4 mile (Plock Court) - 29/10/2011

Gloucester AC's oldest competitive athlete was the club's first finisher in Severn AC's Chocolate Biscuit 4 mile cross country race at Plock Court on Saturday. Starting at a steady pace Dave Spackman used all of his racing experience to make a conservative start before overtaking several younger athletes over the latter stages of the 3 lap course. He eventually finished 14th overall and first M65 in 28:30. Mike Anderton finished 16th in 38:21 and gained first M55 prize.

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Gloucestershire Cross-Country League - 08/10/2011

Alex George was Gloucester Athletic Club’s stand-out performer in the opening Gloucestershire Cross-Country League fixture of the 2011-12 season at Guiting Power on Saturday.

Running in the U17 Men’s race, the City youngster stormed to a splendid second place, behind Alex Carter of Team Bath with Kyran Hale of Severn AC down in 3rd place. George’s brother, Tom, was involved in a tight finish and took 5th place, whilst Andrew Bowers finished 18th.

In the senior men’s race, Luke Herbert was the Club’s first finisher in 22nd. Team captain Dave Gresswell was next home in 43rd, closely followed by Steven Haines whose 47th place was a league best. Peter Lloyd and Jeremy Mower were neck and neck at the finish, with Lloyd getting the nod in 68th place. Omar Alim completed the Gloucester scoring team in 78th place to give the squad 7th place on the day. Further down the field, Matt Aspinall finished in 80th place, Matt Powell 89th, Mark Thrall 107th and Paul Loveridge 157th.

The senior ladies race was notable for the number of newcomers running in the red & white of Gloucester. Established member Becky Summers led the city ladies home in her first senior cross-country race, in 57th. Emma Jeffery was next home in 59th and Christine Campbell continued her recent run of good form when finishing in 66th. Beryl Sampson made a return to racing, finishing in 72nd, whilst newcomer Lyndsey Hollands placed 75th. Helen Davies was next home for the Gloucester team, finishing in 80th, with another cross-country debutante Paula Jones crossing the line in 95th place to complete the scoring.

In the U15 boys race, Ryan Hearn took an encouraging 6th place to get his winter season off to a good start and Hannah Jones finished in the U15 girls race.

In the U11 girls race, Charlotte Sprason finished 10th.

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Gloucestershire County Cross Country Relays - 01/10/2011

The County AAA held its Cross Country Relay 2 miles Championships in conjunction with Severn AC in blazing summer weather. Gloucester AC's new middle distance young athlete's coach Kerry Newell presence is being felt for the first time for many years the club had a team in the U17 men's group. Lead off by Alex George (9:36) the team came home on the first leg in third place. Andy Bowers (10:57) lost one place to Cheltenham H men's team whilst Thomas George (10:03) brought them home level at the end of the third stage. Ryan Hearn U15B (10:32) running up an age group brought them home 5th team overall and in silver medal position for the U17M. Alex George and Ryan Hearn ran the fastest leg in their age groups.

Luke Herbert (09:56) brought the senior men's team home on the first leg 20 seconds and one place behind the youngsters and Matt Aspinall recent emphasis n speed work is showing a benefit with 11:37 for 7th place on leg 2. Steve Haines and Dave Gresswell ran almost identical times (10:46 and 10:44) on the third and fourth legs to bring the team home in 7th place. Gloucester AC Cross Country Captain Gresswell was the fastest M45. Ian Summers ran the third leg for a composite City club team of 11:19 gaining one place.

Arthur Daley lead off the the Gloucester AC/ BRR M60 team producing the fastest leg time for that age group of 11:49 and handed over to Dave Spackman who in turn produced the fastest M65 time of 12:26. Norman Lane (BRR) (13:27) completed the team bringing them home first M60's. Daley then ran the third leg (12:31) for the composite Bourton RR/ Glos AC M50 team maintaining their silver medal M50 position.

Gloucester AC Awards Night - 30/09/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club concluded their 2011 summer track & field season with an awards presentation evening at the Royal British Legion club in Hardwicke on 30/09/11.

Master of Ceremonies for the evening, Garry Hunter, told the large gathering that the event and richly-deserved awards were the icing on the cake of what had been, without doubt, one of the most successful seasons in the club’s long and illustrious history.

The award recipients were as follows:

Club athletes who represented the County Schools in 2011:

Dayna Willoughy, Kelly Constable, Lurenda Mudd, Laurence Leat, Tim Campion, Alex Runciman. Dominic Tutton, Alice Conquest, Harriet Hunter.

Club athletes who represented the County team at representative matches in 2011:

Dayna Willoughy, Kelly Constable, Lurenda Mudd, George James, Laurence Leat, Shya Pinnock, Sean Beckett, Nico Constanti, Dominic Tutton, Richard De Camps, Simon Fortnam, Chloe Jones, Jennifer Hayward, Mason Tonks, Kate Davies, Katharine Chadwick, Ollie Cooper, Gareth Winter, Tim Campion, Anna Robertson, Lucy Humphreys, Mike Tommey, Jacob Lange, Charlotte Stallard.

Leading points scorers in the 2011 National Young Athletes League, by age group:

U13G - Chloe Jones 45pts; U13B - George James 36pts; U15G - Ellen Thrall 44pts; U15B - Dominic Tutton 62pts; U17L - Harriet Hunter 66pts; U17M - Alex George 54pts.

Leading points scorers in the 2011 Avon League, by age group:

U13G - Hayley Ralley 56pts; U13B - Luke Hill 90pts; U15G - Catherine Hardy 67pts; U15B - Joe Beckett 56pts; U17L - Harriet Hunter 101.5pts; U17M - Alex George 40pts; SL - Alex Purcell 81pts; SM - Tim Campion 91pts.

Top performer, U11G - Jude Dowdeswell; Top performer, U11B - Jack Holdsworth;

Leading points scorers in the 2011 Midland League (seniors only):

Ladies – Anna Robertson 71pts; Men – Steve Millward 97pts.

Most Improved Athletes in 2011:

Junior Female – Lucy Humphreys; Junior Male – Alex George;

Senior Female – Harriet Hunter; Senior Male – Gareth Winter.

Services to Gloucester AC in 2011:

Female – Paula Whitcher; Male – Richard Blackwell.

Terry Sysum Memorial Award:

Kate Davies.

In addition, awards were presented to the Club’s U15 Girls and Senior Ladies teams of 2010 that won their respective categories in the 2010 Avon League.

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Bridge Inn 5K Series - 27/09/2011

Gloucester AC's Christine Campbell took an astonishing 31 seconds off her personal best at the Bridge Inn 5k in Bristol coming home in 100th position with 21:53. Women's Cross Country Captain Michelle Stark, returning after a lay off due to a broken arm, showed that she still has speed but needs to work on stamina after a fast first mile followed by two consistent 7:09 miles finishing 10 seconds ahead in 95th place. Their coach Arthur Daley completed the out and back course in 19:11 for 44th place and first M60 award.

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Cirencester 10km - 25/09/2011

Evergreen Peter Lloyd led the small Gloucester AC contingent home in Sunday’s Cirencester Park 10km race.

Lloyd finished in 20th place overall and 2nd in the V50 category in 38 minutes 30 seconds.

Matt Powell finished in 28th place in 39:32, with Dave Spackman (V65) placing 75th in 43:12.

Terry Onions (V55) was next City runner home in 104th place, clocking 45:27, and Christine Campbell was the first Gloucester lady home in 143rd place with 47:57.

The next two Gloucester runners to finish were both newcomers. Becky Amor recorded 51:01 in 200th place, with Natasha Poole clocking 51:31.

Michelle Stark, running her last race as a V35, finished in 263rd place with 54:07 and the team was completed by another newcomer, Joanne Brown, in 325th place with 58:26.

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Midland Young Athletes Road Relays (Sutton Park) - 25/09/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s young athletes team, all members of the Kerry Newell training group, took 11th place in the Midlands Young Athletes Road Relays at Birmingham’s Sutton Park on Sunday.

Alex George, running the opening leg, brought the team home in 6th position, clocking an excellent 12:35 for the two miles leg, before handing over the Andrew Bowers. Bowers, making a return to racing after having missed much of the summer through injury, ran an encouraging 14:24 to finish his leg in 11th position.

Tom George then took over on the third and final leg, running 13:38 to bring the team home in 11th place overall and first county team.

Team results:

1st Bristol & West AC 36:22

2nd Coventry Godiva 37:30

3rd Leicester Coritanian 37:49

11th Gloucester AC 40:37

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Midland 6-stage road relays (Sutton Park) - 24/09/2011

Gloucester AC’s men’s team qualified for the National six stage road relays in dramatic style at Sutton Park on Saturday.

The team got off to a good start when Andy Renfree (19:45) returned from a long injury break to bring the team home in 27th place. Steve Millward improved five places to 22nd with 19:32, the teams fastest leg of the day. Richard De-Camps (20:25) lost two places on leg three but Luke Herbert (20:47) gained them back on leg four. Andy De-Camps, brought in as a late addition to the team, lost two places with 21:38 but at this point the team were still comfortably within the qualifying zone. Mark Ingram ran the final leg after being called into the team the night before. Despite lacking race fitness he bravely tried to keep the team within the top 25 A teams to ensure their place in the Nationals. Despite losing 10 places he managed to hold on to the final qualify spot by just 17 seconds as the team finished in 34th place overall.

Afterwards team manager Simon Fortnam said “That was very close and we almost missed out. Hopefully we can bring some athletes back into the team for the Nationals and improve on our performance.”

34 Gloucester AC 'A' 2:05:10

Andrew Renfree (27) 19:45

S Millward (22) 19:32

R DeCamps (24) 20:25

Luke Herbert (22) 20:47

A DeCamps (24) 21:38

Mark Ingram (34) 23:03

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Commonwealth Ultra Distance 24 Hour Race - 23&24/09/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s, Jeremy Mower, produced his best-ever ultra-distance in the Commonwealth 24-hour Road Race Championships at Llandudno, north Wales at the weekend.

Although he holds the record number of Welsh appearances at ultra-distance races having represented the Principality on eight previous occasions, this was 46 year old Mower’s first attempt at the 24-hours event and he acquitted himself well, finishing in 11th place covering 208km and helping the Welsh team take a surprise silver medal behind the English squad.

The conditions were not ideal as the race was held on a one-kilometre circuit that seemed to bear the brunt of a strong sea breeze as well as a road surface which took its toll on many runners due to its camber.

Mower was running smoothly for the first half of the race and at 12 hours was lying in 25th place out of the 29 runners. A tactical rest and massage at this stage seemed to re-invigorate the Gloucester runner and he was able to put in a hard effort between hours 12 and 18 at a time when his body’s levels were at their lowest and sleep deprivation was taking effect.

Mower gradually moved through the field to finish in 11th overall, an excellent performance in his first attempt at the event, though his exertions earned him a visit to the medical team on the course as he suffered with exhaustion at the end.

After he had recovered, Mower said “I am delighted with this run. Because I normally race up to 100kms, I had to really step up my training for this race. I’ve lost over half a stone in weight in recent weeks and have been on a strict diet which included cutting out alcohol, so I’m dying for a pint!”

Results:

Men’s Team Race

1. England 668.335 km (Pat Robbins, Chris Carver, Richard Quennell)

2. Wales 664.244 km (John Pares, Sean McCormack, Jeremy Mower)

3. New Zealand 661.624 km (Bryan MacCorkindale, Alex McKenzie, Wayne Botha)

4. Australia 661.125 km (David Kennedy, Anth Courtney, John Pearson)

5. Canada 595.093 km (Wayne Gaudet, Bruce Barteaux, Dave Carver)

6. Scotland 490.296 km (Steve Mason, Bill Sichel, Richard Cunningham)

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Bristol Half Marathon - 11/09/2011

At the Bristol Half Marathon on Sunday, Gloucester Athletic Club’s Alistair Wakefield finished 61st in 1hr 31:48 and Christine Campbell 1845th in 1hr 44:53, a personal best by two minutes.

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Avon League - 11/09/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s talented youngsters brought the curtain on the Club’s most successful season for many years at the final Avon League match on Sunday.

Leading the way was Jacob Lange in the U17 men’s hammer. A new member of Lorraine Shaw’s hammer coaching group this year, his winning throw of 50.43m was his first time over 50m and an improvement on his previous best by over three metres.

On the track, young sprint starlet Catherine Hardy finished her season in style, winning the U15 girls 100m in 12.9 seconds and placing 2nd in the 200m in a new personal best 26.9 seconds, an improvement of over one second. She also set a new personal best 4.21m in the long jump.

Harriet Hunter took a well-deserved win in the U17 ladies long jump with 4.81m and followed this up with a 4th place in the 100m in 13.2 seconds.

Alex George was less than half a second outside his personal best when clocking 4:25.0 in the U17 men 1500m, with twin brother Tom slightly down, running 4:31.5.

In the senior age groups, Ollie Cooper won the men’s triple jump with 12.40m to go into his winter training programme on the back of a short, but consistent season whilst there was a debutante in the ladies events when Kathryn Ralley competed in the 100m and long jump.

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Midland senior 800m champion, Andrew De Camps, showed his versatility when competing in the final Avon League match of the 2011 season at Yate. Treating the match as a light-hearted end-of-season run-out, De Camps placed 3rd in the senior 100m in 11.6 seconds before clocking the fastest 400m hurdles time by a Gloucester athlete this year, 58.6 seconds.

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Autumn 5 (Sandhurst) - 10/09/2011

A return to form saw Gloucester Athletic Club’s cross country captain Dave Gresswell take 3rd place and first M45 with 29:23 in the Severn AC-organised Autumn 5 mile race at Sandhurst on Saturday. Gresswell has been the Club’s most prolific and successful road runner this year and is now fine-tuning his preparations for the 2011-12 Winter season which shall see his team attempt to regain their place in Division One of the Birmingham Cross-country League.

Steven Haines finished 7th, taking a minute off his personal best with 31:16 and Ian Summers celebrated his first race as a M45 with 8th place and 32:18. Helen Davies returned to racing with 41:27 as 2nd W40 in 13th place.

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Apperley Quarter Marathon - 10/09/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s ‘super veteran’ Dave Spackman competed in the Apperley Quarter Marathon on Saturday.

A popular fun run in its heyday in the 1980s before suffering from the over-saturation of local road races, the run has now been resurrected and this year’s event attracted over 150 runners.

Spackman finished 37th overall and 2nd V65 in 445:50.

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Yate Sprints & Hurdles Challenge - 04/11/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club youngster, Luke Hill, was in record-breaking form at the recent Sprints & Hurdles Challenge meeting at Yate.

In the 100m, 12 year-old Hill, who is a member of Garry Hunter’s training group, clocked 12.8 seconds to set a new Club U13 age group record. The previous best had belonged to Bryn Hemming since 1986.

He then went on to win the U13 400m in 62.39 seconds, bettering the 2003 mark set by Richard Farrow by over 1.7 seconds.

Hill’s 200m 26.47 seconds clocking at the same meeting also bettered the existing Club mark, but will not be validated as a record as it was wind-assisted.

Also at the Yate Sprint and Hurdles meeting, Harriet Hunter followed up her win at Cheltenham with a second place in the U17 ladies 80m hurdles in 12.98 seconds.

Lurenda Mudd won the U17 ladies 200 metres and then took a 3rd place in the U17 ladies 300 metres.

Further medals came Gloucester’s way with Hayley Ralley taking 2nd in the U13 girls 100m and Ellie Morgan was 3rd in the U13 girls 200m

Young Athletes team manager, Garry Hunter, said after the Yate event “With just one more match to go, this has been the busiest and most successful season for our youngsters. They’ve been competing and improving since April and will be looking forward to a couple of weeks’ rest before we start our winter training in October.”

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Cheltenham Half Marathon - 04/09/2011

Dave Gresswell was the leading Gloucester AC runner in Sunday’s Cheltenham Half Marathon, placing 13th overall in 1hr 24mins 46 seconds. By his own admission, Gresswell has had a very busy racing schedule in recent months and this was, perhaps, one race too far.

Newcomer Simon Long was the next Gloucester runner home, in 61st place overall, in 1:39:42. Mark Rickard ran a personal best 1:48:49 in 27th place and Pam Storey, in a rare appearance in a Gloucester vest, ran 2:35:10 for 401st place.

Cheltenham Young Athletes Open - 29/08/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s youngsters have been in medal-winning form at a recent open meeting.

The city squad amassed a total of five gold medals at the Cheltenham meeting.

Harriet Hunter gave further signs of her hurdling potential when winning the U17 ladies 80m hurdles at the Cheltenham Open Meeting in impressive fashion, clocking 13.0 seconds. Mason Tonks also took gold, in the U15 boys 80m hurdles. In his first attempt at the event, he won in a time of 13.6 seconds. He followed this up with another win in the 200m, clocking 26.1 seconds.

Further wins went to Catharine Hardy in the U15 girls 100m in 13.3 seconds and Dominic Tutton in the U15 boys 800m, in a time of 2:14.7.

Silver medals were won by Alex George (U17 men 100m hurdles and 800m), Kelly Constable (U15 girls 200m), Oscar Davies (U17 men 100m), Lucy Humphreys (U15 girls shot putt) and Jarret Tonks (U13 boys shot putt), with bronze medals going to Tom George (U17 men 200m and 100m hurdles) and Jarret Tonks (U13 boys 75m hurdles).

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White Horse 5km (Sandhurst) - 18/08/2011

Consistency was the theme for Gloucester AC athletes running the last White Horse 5k organised by Severn AC.

Dave Gresswell who has had a season uninterrupted by injury showed that he can now run consistently at 17mins clocking exactly that to come home the first runner in 16th place. Gresswell also won the County V40 Bronze medal and gain a valuable 10 points in the County Road Series. Simon Fortnam in his second 5k of the year echoed this in his race long battle with Gresswell producing a season's best of 17:04 just 3 places behind.

Luke Herbert competing in his first 5k for 2 years came in 22nd place in 17:09 showing the finishing speed which if training went as well in 2008 would see him back in the low 16 mins. Jeremy Mower, who is racking up 70 plus miles in preparation for representing Wales produced his fastest time since 2008 with 17:45 for 31st place.

Matt Powell although disappointed in his 4th 5k of the season not to improve his PB raced in next for 41st place showing that he can always run around 18:40 with 18:37. His trademark final 880 cceleration pulled him away from V60 Arthur Daley who showed a return to form after tackling iron and vitamin level weakness with 18:47 for 47th place and first V60, winning the county championship. Daley's consistent, steady paced running pulled him and Powell away from Matt Aspinal over the last 2k of the race. Aspinal, showing the need to build up speed endurance, slowed after a fast first 2 kilometres finishing 53rd in 19:31.

Gemma Collier finished close to Aspinal in a season's best of 19:48 in 59th place. V65 Dave Spackman also produced a season's best by 30secs with 20:45 for 72 place whilst gaining 10 points in the county series and establishing himself as a challenger for the gold medal. Gloucester Run England member James Ferguson showed the same consistency in finishing within a few seconds of his last race time with 22:41 for 103rd place. Mike Anderson completed the Gloucester showing beating his target time by 42 seconds for 131st place and 29:18.

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Midland League Div.2 (Wolverhampton) - 14/08/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s senior track & field team became the ‘Up and Running’ Midland Athletics League Division Two champions in a tense final match at Wolverhampton on Sunday.

The city team went into the match just one point ahead of the host club and with the Birmingham Rowheath Athletics and Triathlon (BRAT) team also breathing down their necks, they knew there was no room for complacency if they were to win promotion and join the Midland’s elite next year.

The men’s hammer duo of Wayne Powell and team captain Justin Sysum gave the team the start they needed, taking victory in both ‘A’ and ‘B’ strings. Sysum took further wins in the ‘B’ shot putt and discus events, and with GB junior international Gareth Winter taking victory in the ‘A’ strings, Gloucester were on their way.

In the ladies field events, Anna Robertson and debutant Charlotte Stallard took victories in the hammer, with Robertson also taking a surprise win in the shot putt. Katharine Chadwick took two second places in the long and high jumps and Harriet Hunter continued her development with solid performances in the long and triple jumps before tackling the 100m hurdles for the first time.

Elsewhere on the track, the team welcomed back Sophie Lambert and Ashleigh Naylor to add quality and experience to the sprints. Lambert, in her first race back following injury, stormed to victory in the ladies 100m and Naylor took a fighting 3rd place in the men’s event. They then took 2nd and 3rd places in their respective 200m races.

Andrew de Camps overcame a rare reversal in the men’s 800m ‘A’ race to claim a convincing victory in the 400m whilst training partner Nico Constanti recorded a double victory in the 400m and 800m ‘B’ strings. The third member of the de Camps training group, Richard de Camps, was just 4/100th of a second outside his personal best when taking second place in the 1500m.

Steve Millward had another busy afternoon, contesting no fewer than five events, including second place in the ‘A’ string steeplechase where team-mate Simon Fortnam won the ‘B’ string in a new club M40 record.

Wolverhampton & Bilston took first place overall in the match with 402 points, to Gloucester’s 377 points in second place meaning that both clubs finished the season with 20 league points. With league positions being decided on match points, Gloucester’s total of 1471 over the season against the Wolves total of 1468.5 meant that the city team took the division title by just 2.5 match points.

Afterwards, victorious Gloucester team manager Richard Blackwell said “When we started the season back in May, we could not imagine we would be in this position, given the number of youngster we had in the team. They have been brilliant all season and are a credit to their club.”

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Midland League Preview - 10/08/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s senior track & field team travel to Wolverhampton this Sunday for their crucial Midland League Division Two match knowing that a top two placing will gain them promotion to the top flight of Midlands club athletics.

The city team currently tops the division, just one league point ahead of their closest rivals Wolverhampton & Bilston AC, but with the Birmingham-Rowheath team breathing down their necks just a further one and half points behind, the Gloucester outfit will need their athletes performing to expectations if the team is to win promotion.

Midland League success will be the first leg of what the Gloucester club will be a successful period because the men’s team has qualified for the Plate Final of the British Athletics League’s premier knock-out cup competitions at Derby on 10th September. The Plate Final is for the best performing non-BAL clubs during the knock-out stages.

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Cranham Boundary Chase - 06/08/2011

Steve Millward of Gloucester Athletic Club secured his third consecutive Cranham Boundary Chase title on Saturday (6th), winning comfortably from Cheltenham’s Andrew Kaighin who he had also recently defeated at the Devil’s Chimney Chase last month.

This was the 60th annual running of the local classic and the winner was never in doubt as Millward went to the front from the gun and was never seriously challenged, crossing the line in 32 mins 17 seconds to Kaighin’s 33:44.

Behind Millward and Kaighin, there was a real scrap for third place as Severn AC new boy, Matt Atkins, Gloucester AC’s Dave Gresswell and Tewkesbury’s Simon Waters were locked together throughout the 5.8 mile course. Atkins prevailed to take third in 34:35 with Gresswell fourth and Waters fifth. Great Britain fell running international and former Gloucester AC member Kate Goodhead of Bristol & West was first lady and sixth overall in 35:28.

Gloucester runners then dominated the remaining top twenty positions as Jeremy Mower (11th), Donald McDonald (13th), Steven Haines (16th) and Matt Powell (18th) completed the scoring six and Omar Alim finished in 19th place.

Further down the field, Ian Summers and Terry Onions made up the Gloucester contingent, placing 31st and 47th respectively.

Harry Wells of Gloucester AC won the 2-lap race for juniors in 5 minutes 40 seconds.

Cranham Boundary Chase results:

1st Steve Millward (Gloucester AC) 32:17; 2nd Andrew Kaighin (Chelt & Co) 33:44; 3rd Matt Atkins (Severn AC) 34:35; 4th Dave Gresswell (Gloucester AC) 34:54 (1st M45); 5th Simon Waters (Tewkesbury) 34:58; 6th Kate Goodhead (Bristol & West) 35:28 (1st Lady).

Other Gloucester AC placings:

11th Jeremy Mower 36:47; 13th Donald McDonald 37:31; 16th Steven Haines 37:55; 18th Matt Powell 38:02; 19th Omar Alim 38:24; 31st Ian Summers 40:46; 47th Terry Onions 43:30.

102 runners finished. See Results section of website for full results

Aviva World Trials and UK Championships - 29-31/07/2011

Three Gloucester Athletic Club members travelled to Birmingham to compete in the Aviva World Trials and UK Championships at the weekend.

Midland senior 800 metres champion, Andrew de-Camps was the first of the trio in action, racing in the heats of the 800 metres on Friday evening. Knowing that a top four place would be sufficient to take him through to the semi finals, de-Camps ensured he was always in touch at the front of the field and qualified in fourth place with 1min 54.55 seconds.

The step up in quality in Saturday’s semi final was evident and the best the Gloucester athlete could realistically aim for was a personal best and, hopefully, the first-ever sub 1:50 clocking by a city runner. De-Camps was unlucky on both counts as he finished a credible 8th in 1:51.92, his fourth best ever time.

Youngster Gareth Winter was the next city athlete to enter the arena and he did not disappoint as he placed seventh in the final of the shot putt with a new personal best and Gloucester club record 15.74m, an improvement of over 1.5 metres over the season.

The third member of the trio to compete was Gemma Turtle, in the women’s 5,000 metres. Having missed much of the spring and early summer through a foot injury, she has gradually regained her racing fitness and finished 6th in the final in 16:09.41, just three-tenths outside her season’s best.

Club Chairman, Andy McKenzie, said “Again, we have proved we have athletes of true national standard in our club and again they have done us proud on the big stage.”

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Midsummer Open (Cheltenham) - 27/07/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club sprinters were in fine form at the fourth Cheltenham Mid-summer Open Meeting of the season.

Ashleigh Naylor extended his unbeaten run in this series of meetings, winning the senior men’s 100m in 11.5 seconds. Having run a season’s best 11.2 seconds at the weekend, he was hoping for something faster but all of the sprint times appeared slower than expected during the meeting. Oscar Davies recorded 13.0 secs in the U17M race.

In the U15G events, Kelly Constable took a sprint double, winning the 100m in 13.4 seconds and the 200m in 27.4 seconds, whilst in the U17W sprints, Lurenda Mudd ran 13.5 and 27.1 seconds.

The sprinters were not the only club members to impress as Dominic Tutton reduced his personal best in the 800 metres to 2:04.2 and the George twins, Alex and Tom, set new standards in the One Mile, both beating club seniors Dave Gresswell and Matt Powell in the process, despite the latter two also reducing their best times.

In the field events, U17W Kate Davies warmed up for next week’s AAA U17 Heptathlon by competing in the long jump (4.53m) and shot putt (7.97m) and there were further successes in the hammer events as Wayne Powell (SM) and Kate Yhnell (SW) took victory in their categories, with second places going to Anna Robertson (SW), Charlotte Stallard (U17W) and Jacob Lange (U17M).

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British Milers Club (Stretford) - 23/07/2011

Andrew de-Camps of Gloucester Athletic Club ran his second fastest-ever 800m to take 2nd in the BMC Grand Prix at Stretford, Manchester, on Saturday. Running in the third heat, the Midland senior 800m champion finished strongly in the windy conditions to record a time of 1:51.58, just half a second off his best time.

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BAL Super8 (Yate) - 23/07/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s senior men competed in the British Athletics League Super8 semi final at Yate on Saturday and placed 5th of the seven competing teams.

Ashleigh Naylor recorded the fastest 100m time by a city athlete for two seasons, running 11.2 seconds in a high-quality field, whilst season’s best were recorded by Nico Constanti (400m), Richard de-Camps (1500m) and Ollie Cooper (triple jump).

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Bourton 1 mile Challenge - 23/07/2011

Dave Gresswell again led Gloucester Athletic Club’s distance runners home at the Bourton One Mile Challenge. Gresswell completed the mile in 5:04 for 10th place taking 6 seconds of his best performance, and gold medal in the County One Mile championship, M45 category. Jeremy Mower was next Gloucester runner home, in 17th with 5:14, whilst an improved Arthur Daley finished 31st in 5:47 to take the M60 gold medal.

Merlin Tolley placed 47th with 6:12 and M65 Dave Spackman set a club record of 6:19 in 51st place. He was closely followed by Terry Onions in 6:24 (54th) and Christine Campbell in 62nd with 6:40.

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White Horse 5km (Sandhurst) - 21/07/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s cross-country captain, Dave Gresswell, led the city team to 3rd place at last week’s Severn AC-organised White Horse 5km road race at Sandhurst.

Gresswell set off at a more controlled pace than in recent races and clearly benefitted from this change of tactic as he broke 17 minutes for the first time since 2008 with 16:57 to take the M45 prize. Road Relay captain, Simon Fortnam, also ran his fastest 5km since 2008 to finish 20th with 17:14. Welsh ultra distance specialist Jeremy Mower showed he is still capable of running fast times over the shorter distances. His 17:39 being his fastest time since 2006.

Matt Powell continued his succession of personal bests, placing 31st in 18:23, outsprinting club endurance coach Ian Summers, who completed the course in an improved 18:29.

The next two Gloucester AC athletes broke the 18 min barrier for the first time. Matt Aspinall recorded 18:51 in 36th place and Omar Alim taking 18:54 for taking 37th place. Mark Thrall took 27 seconds off his previous best time for the course, recording 19:01 in 38th place and he was closely followed by Matt Drinkwater whose training has mainly been aimed at half marathons in 19:21 for 44th place.

Gemma Collier continued her racing comeback after taking time out for her studies and was the first Gloucester woman home in 19:42 (45th). Dave Edwards took 47th place with 19:42 and Merlin Tolley ran 20:29 for 50th placing.

Paul Loveridge took 2nd M50 position (53rd overall) with a personal best for the course, recording 21:12 whilst Becky Summers gained the U20W prize with 21:40 for 57th place.

Gloucester Run England member, James Ferguson, had a battle over the last 200m with John James of Severn AC and judges were unable to split the pair, giving them both a time of 22:34, an improvement of 50 seconds on Ferguson’s previous best time.

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Devil's Chimney Chase (Cheltenham) - 16/07/2011

Another of the Gloucester club’s senior Midland champions, steeplechaser Steve Millward, won the Devil’s Chimney Chase, a 10km multi-terrain event, in Cheltenham on Saturday.

Millward went to the front of the field from the gun, with only Andrew Kaighin of Cheltenham & Co Harriers for company. The two ran together for the first 4km before Millward pulled away towards the top of Leckhampton Hill to win by almost one minute in 36:14, a course record by 90 seconds.

Dave Gresswell continued his fine form, recording his fastest ever time over the course with 40:24 to win the M45 category.

Omar Alim judged the climbs well to finish strongly in 42:20 whilst perhaps the most impressive run of the day came from Leigh Nelmes who took over four minutes off his best time for this course to finish in 49:31. Nelmes attributed his recent improvement to regularly attending the Gloucester AC hill-training sessions.

After the race, Millward said “I must admit that I was expecting the hills to be tougher than they were, so I didn’t go off as hard as maybe I could have. I know I can run faster on this course as I was feeling very strong over the latter stages.”

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Midsummer Open (Cheltenham) - 13/07/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s senior Midland 800m champion, Andrew De Camps, and training partner Nico Constanti went head-to-head over 600 metres at the Mid-Summer Open at Cheltenham’s Prince of Wales stadium last Wednesday (13th) and produced one of the highlight’s of the meeting.

De Camps was the UK’s top ranked runner at this event last year with a 1min 19.9 seconds clocking and, knowing that he is currently in the best form of his life, he was looking to run even faster, using Constanti to push him all the way. In the event, De Camps missed his target by just half a second as he won in 1min 20.4 secs, with Constanti in second place in 1:21.2, an improvement of three seconds on his previous best.

Dominic Tutton was a clear winner of the U15 boys 600m event, whilst the George twins, Tom and Alex, and training partner Sam Evans took the first three places in the U17 men’s race.

The Georges and Evans then made their debuts in the 2000m steeplechase event where they were up against British Masters 3000m ‘chase silver medalist, Simon Fortnam. Fortnam won in 6mins 51.8, improving the club’s M40 record by 0.6 seconds.

Other Gloucester performances of note came in the men’s 100m where Ashleigh Naylor won for the second consecutive week, this time in 11.5 seconds, and in the men’s discus where Gareth Winter was again over 50 metres, throwing the 1.75kg weight 50.23m.

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BMC Grand Prix - 09/07/2011

Gloucester AC’s top middle distance runners were in action at the British Milers Club Grand Prix meeting at Solihull on Saturday.

Andrew De Camps had been looking for a fast, sub 1min 50 clocking and even though the blustery conditions put paid to that, the Midland champion still found himself in good company. De Camps struggled with the early pace and only came to life over the final 250 metres when he realised that some of the top runners in the field were also suffering. He was moving faster than the rest of the field down the home straight as he moved from 8th to 4th place in 1:51.76, his second fastest time. Afterwards, he said “I was disappointed that the high winds slowed the overall times, but I’m pleased with fourth and to have claimed a few notable scalps, especially as we shall all be a the English championships at Bedford next week.”

Training partner Nico Constanti has not been seriously tested over 800 metres in league races this year and found himself slightly lacking when it came to a true competitive race. However, he still finished 5th in his 800 metres race in 1min 56.08. Richard De Camps has been concentrating on longer distances this summer, achieving considerable league success in the steeplechase, and found the latter stages of his 800m race faster than what he is used to as he faded to finish in 1min 58.84.

In the women’s 800 metres, Rose-Anne Galligan finished 9th in 2mins 11.96 seconds whilst Gemma Turtle showed her liking for this meeting as she recorded her second fastest-ever 5000 metres clocking, 16 mins 09.16 for 3rd place behind two Americans.

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Pilot Inn 10 Mile Road Race - 09/07/2011

Gloucester AC distance runners showed their appetite for competing when they provide a quarter of the field at the Severn AC-organised Pilot 10 mile road race which doubled as the official Gloucestershire County 10-miles championship.

Dave Gresswell was the first city club runner home in a new personal best time of 59mins 08 seconds, earning him 6th place and 1st in the M45 category.

Second Gloucester runner home and second in the M45 group was Jeremy Mower in 10th place, with 61:55, whilst Steve Haines, in only his second 10 mile road race gave himself a birthday present of a new personal best taking 18 minutes off the time he set in January with 67:17 for 17th place.

Mark Thrall (M45) also set a personal best time of 68:51, beating by 17 seconds a time set in 1994. Another to take a large chunk off his best time for 10miles was Merlin Tolley, who bettered the time he ran in January by 15 minutes when running 73:32 in 35th place.

Dave Spackman ran himself into 2nd M65 place with 73:36 and silver in the County Championship. Terry Onions took 3rd M55 in 75:14 and John McClean was 2nd M60 in 76:49.

Christine Campbell's recent emphasis on speed work on training paid off with a 2 minutes improvement on her personal best for 2nd in the W40 in the County Championship. Helen Davies finished strongly for 43rd place with 82:56 whilst South Africans Phil Du Plessis and Michelle Stark (running with a plaster cast after sustaining a broken arm in a training accident) finished 55th and 56th respectively in 96:29.

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Lloyds TSB Fitness 4 - 07/07/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Matt Powell was the winner of the Lloyds-TSB Four Miles Fitness run at Hardwicke.

This summer series of races is aimed specifically at those runners who have not bettered 24 minutes for the distance and is ideal for the new or developing runner.

After a steady start, Powell found himself in the leading group throughout the first three miles. With 400m to go, Powell put in a hard effort to overhaul the two runners in front of him to win in 23mins 56, thus barring himself from running future events.

1st Matt Powell (SM) 23:56 5th Omar Alim (M40) 24:57 7th Mark Thrall (M45) 25:18 16th Leigh Nelmes (SM) 27:09

24th Gary Jackson (SM) 28:24 33rd John McClean (M60) 29:31 39th Helen Davies (L40) 29:47

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Midsummer Open (Cheltenham) - 06/07/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club members were prominent at the first Midsummer Open Meeting at Cheltenham’s Prince of Wales stadium.

Competing in the men’s 100 metres, Ashleigh Naylor stormed to victory in 11.3 seconds, an excellent performance given this was only his second race of the season.

In the U17 ladies events, new signing Alice Conquest was in impressive form. A member of Kerry Newell’s young athletes group, she ran a season’s best 13.3 seconds in the 100m (2nd) and 27.1 seconds for the 200m. Lurenda Mudd ran 13.5 seconds to place 3rd in the 100m.

The George twins, Tom and Alex, finished 1st and 2nd respectively in their U17 men’s 800m race. Alex’s 2mins 16.4 was a personal best and just 0.4 seconds down on his brother’s time. V45 Dave Gresswell stepped down from his longer distance events to record 2mins 20.4, whilst in the boys U15 race, Dominic Tutton further underlined his potential, running 2mins 12.3 seconds.

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Army Divisional Championships

Two Gloucester AC members ran in the recent Army divisional championships.

Steve Haines completed his first 5000m track race, finishing 4th in 18mins 00.6, faster than his fastest road time.

Matt Aspinall, showed that he is clearly benefiting from coaching by Midland Counties steeplechase champion, Steve Millward, took over 40 seconds off his 3000m steeplechase personal best to finish 4th in 11mins 48.0 seconds.

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Midland League Div.2 (Birmingham Rowheath) - 03/07/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s senior track & field team placed third in Sunday’s Up and Running Midland Athletics League Division Two fixture at the Birmingham University to set up an exciting finale in next month’s crucial fixture.

Subject to scrutiny, the city outfit, which is a composite Gloucester and Severn team, lies in second place overall just one point behind the division leaders, Wolverhampton & Bilston AC, but with Birmingham-Rowheath breathing down their necks.

A host of injuries and non-availabilities meant that this was a very different line-up to the one that stormed to victory in the previous match, but the athletes drafted in performed beyond expectations.

Sixteen-year old Harrison Sayer belied his youth to take 4th place in a highly competitive men’s 100m in a new personal best of 11.3 seconds, the fastest time by a city athlete this summer, whilst in the ladies team, 15-year old Danni Mulraney reduced her best over 400 metres in her first ever senior competition.

The club’s Midland champions again produced the goods when it mattered. Andrew de Camps won his speciality, the 800m, before winning the 400m in a new personal best of 50.0 seconds. It shouldn’t be too long before he goes “sub-50.” Steve Millward was just outside his own personal best in the 400m hurdles, but reduced his best in the 110m hurdles and Gareth Winter recorded a customary double in the shot and discus as well as setting a new personal best in the 100 metres.

Once again, the men’s team swept all before them, winning their section for the third time this season and a strong performance by the ladies’ throwers kept the city team in the hunt all afternoon.

After the match, team manager Richard Blackwell said “This was by far our toughest test of the season. We were hit by late injuries and sickness and had to do a lot of juggling about with the team to make sure we filled as many of the events as we possibly could. Fortunately, they’re a very willing bunch and they made sure we did just that. If we get our best athletes fit for match four, we stand a very good chance of promotion to Division One.”

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ESAA Championships - 01&02/07/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club youngsters Lurenda Mudd and George Salter were both in action at the Aviva English Schools Championships at Gateshead last weekend.

Competing in the Intermediate Girls 200metres, Mudd placed 4th in her heat in a time of 26.19 seconds.

Salter, whose father Gary represented the Gloucester club in the 1980s, is a new recruit to the club and a member of Lorraine Shaw’s training group. He placed sixth in the Inter Boys hammer with a new personal best throw of 57.37 metres.

Aviva U20/U23 Championships - 25&26/06/2011

Gareth Winter of Gloucester Athletic Club won silver and bronze medals at the Aviva UK U20s and U23s Championships at Bedford at the weekend.

Competing in the U20s shot putt, Winter threw 16.47m for 2nd place and then threw the discus 52.03m for 3rd place.

Training partners Tim Williams and Mike Tommey were also in action. Williams finished just out of the medals in the U20s hammer, placing 4th with a throw of 62.60m, whilst Tommey finished 6th in the U23 hammer, throwing the heavier 7.26kg weight 49.90m.

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South West Schools Combined Events Championships - 25&26/06/2011

Kate Davies, Gloucester Athletic Club’s top junior multi-event athlete took silver medal in the South-West Schools heptathlon in Exeter at the weekend, setting a new Gloucester club record in the process. Davies set no fewer than six personal bests in the seven-event competition and her overall total of 4014 points places her 4th in this year’s U17 UK ranking list.

Despite setting a new personal best in the opening 100m hurdles event, Davies found herself in 10th place in the competition. She improved to 5th place after the high jump, in which she set another personal best of 1.54m. Another personal best, in the shot putt (8.33m), saw her slip down to 7th place but a gutsy performance in the 200m saw her finish the first day in 4th place with 2390 points, 244 behind the leader, Jordanna Morrish from Cornwall.

Day Two opened with a solid long jump which saw Davies hold her place, before she recorded the longest javelin throw of the competition to move up to 3rd place. She finished with another personal best in the 800metres to finish 2nd overall with 4014 points.

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BMAF Championships - 25/06/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club members were in medal-winning form at the recent British Veterans’ Championships at Birmingham.

Competing at the British Masters Championships at Birmingham, Simon Fortnam competed in the M40 3000m steeplechase. A British Police and Sussex county champion in his day, this was Fortnam’s first appearance on the national Masters stage and he took the silver medal in a season’s best time of 10mins 57.10 seconds.

Arthur Daley had, what was for him, a disappointing run in the M60 5000 metres. Daley had swept all before him in 2011 in cross-country, road and track age group races but found he just couldn’t produce that form at Birmingham where he finished 5th in 19mins 36.33 seconds, some 45 seconds down on his season’s best. Being a prolific racer, it won’t be too long before Daley puts that disappointment behind him.

In the field events, Beverley Jones threw a season’s best 8.84m to take 4th place in the Ladies W35 shot putt and won the silver medal in the discus with a throw of 28.22m. Marion Loveridge was also on the podium after throwing a season’s best 36.79m to win the bronze medal in the ladies W45 hammer.

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Cotswold Way Relay - 25/06/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club took the mixed team prize in the Cotswold Way Relay at the weekend.

Now in its 19th year, the race is run over the full Cotswold Way route from Chipping Campden in the north, to Bath Abbey in the south – a distance of 103 miles divided into 10 legs of varying length and ascent – and this year attracted a total of 74 teams.

From the start, the Gloucester mixed team became involved in a race-long battle with Bristol-based Bitton Road Runners mixed team, before pulling clear over the final stages to win their category by 21 minutes and finish 5th team overall, in 13hrs 11:56.

The Gloucester men-only ‘B’ team finished 17th overall and 9th men’s team in 14hrs 25:47.

Gloucester ‘A’:

Lucie Woodyatt 1hr 34:51 (fastest lady on leg 1)

Steve Millward 1hr 21:16 (2nd fastest time ever recorded for leg 2)

Anne-Marie Edwards 1hr 18:59

Tom Randles 1hr 31:42

Ian Summers 1hr 26:54

Gemma Collier 1hr 20:56

Dave Gresswell 52:29

Wayne Mayer 1hr 29:42

Richard Moor 1hr 09:40

Luke Herbert 1hr 05:27

Gloucester ‘B’:

Matt Powell 1hr 33:51

Alex Toseland 2hr 09:51

Omar Alim 1hr 05:09

Arron Newell 1hr 59:10

James Rose 1hr 17:53

Mark Thrall 1hr 14:06

Dom Malsom 56:00

Don MacDonald 1hr 36:56

Matt Wade 1hr 12:12

Merlin Tolley 1hr 20:39

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BMC Regional Races - 22/06/2011

Europen Team Championships - 18/06/2011

BMC Gold Standard Races - 15/06/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s international middle distance athletes, Rose-Anne Galligan and Gemma Turtle, have been busy racing in recent weeks.

At the BMC Gold Standard meeting at Watford on 15th June, both were racing in the ladies 1500 metres ‘A’ race, which saw Galligan come home the victor in a season’s best 4mins 18.60 seconds. Turtle was making her first track appearance of the season, following a foot injury, and was delighted with her run, finishing 3rd in 4min 22.84 seconds.

The following week, Turtle recorded an outdoor personal best for the 1500m of 4min 15.81 when placing 7th in the BMC Meeting at Crawley on 22nd June.

Galligan was in international action for Ireland at the European Team Championships, 1st Division, in Izmir, Turkey, on 18th June. Running in the 800 metres, she placed 7th in 2min 05.57 seconds.

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YAL (Radley) - 19/06/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s youngsters competed in the final McCain’s Young Athletes League fixture of the season at Radley on Sunday.

Team manager Garry Hunter has worked tirelessly in encouraging the Club’s younger members to compete more this year and they have responded well, producing a staggering total of over 100 personal best performances and three club age group records throughout the league season.

Sunday’s performance again highlighted the improvements the youngsters have made by competing more regularly and whilst there were many performances of note, the stand-out result was the U15G 4 x 100m where the city quartet of Kelly Constable, Dayne Willoughby, Jenny Hayward and Catharine Hardy reduced the six year-old club record by over half a second.

Gloucester Details:

U13Boys

Harry Wells - 1500m 4th - 5.32:4

U15Boys

Laurence Leat - 100m 1st 12.1s. 200m - 2nd - 25.1s pb. SP 1st - 9.81m

Luke Stephens - 100m 4th 13.4s. 1500m 2nd - 5.28:5. SP 3rd - 6.88m pb

Dominic Tutton - 800m 2nd - 2.14:1. 400m 1st - 59.6. LJ 3rd - 4.27 pb.

Joe Beckett - JV 5th - 10.16m. LJ 5th - 3.50m pb. DT 2nd - 15.72m pb.

U17Men

Tom Beckett - LJ 5th - 4.16m. TJ 5th - 10.29m pb. JV 3rd - 24.04m pb.

Tom George - 1500m 3rd - 4.51:6. 3000m 1st 9.36:2 pb.

Alex George - 1500m 2nd - 4.46:9. 3000m 3rd - 9.39:3 pb. 800m 2nd 2.16:8pb

Ollie Clarke - 100m 4th - 12.3s pb.

Harrison Sayer - 100m - 1st 11.7s. 200m 3rd - 23.9s.TJ 4th - 11.33m

Josh Jakeway - 200m 5th - 26.7s. LJ 4th - 4.27m

U13Girls

Hayley Ralley - 70mH 2nd - 14.2s pb. 75m 5th - 11.9s. 150m 3rd - 23.3 pb.

Chloe Jones - 70mH 5th - 15.6 pb. LJ 3rd - 3.47m pb. SP 2nd - 6.33m pb.

Joanna Gresty - 800m 2nd - 3.02:8

Shya Pinnock - 75m 1st - 10.3s. 150m 1st - 20.3s pb

U15Girls

Catherine Hardy - 100m 3rd - 13.2s. HJ 2nd - 1.40m

Kelly Constable - 100m 2nd - 13.1. 200m 2nd - 26.6 pb

Dayna Willoughby - 200m 3rd - 26.8 pb

Jenny Hayward - 75mH 3rd - 15.1s. LJ 5th 3.53m. 800m 3rd - 3.15.0 pb

Hannah Jones - 1500m 2nd - 5.47:1. JV 4th - 13.30m.

Cerys Bradley - 800m 4th - 2.59:8 pb. HJ 4th - 1.05m

Lucy Humphreys - SP 2nd - 8.61m pb. DT 2nd - 17.97m pb.

Ellen Thrall - SP 3rd - 6.86m. DT 1st - 18.56m pb. JV 3rd 13.86m

4x100m relay (K Constable, D Willoughby, J Hayward, C Hardy) 1st 52.4 Club rec.

U17Ladies

Harriet Hunter - 80mH 1st - 12.8s pb. LJ 1st 5.01m pb. TJ 2nd 10.19m

Kate Davies - 80mH 2nd 13.7s pb. LJ 2nd 4.74m. SP 2nd 7.39m

Katharine Chadwick - HJ 2nd 1.50m. DT 3rd - 19.33m pb.

Lurenda Mudd - 100m 1st 27.0s. 200m 1st - 13.0s

Danni Mulraney - 300m 1st - 47.8s. SP 4th - 5.17m pb.

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Midlands Senior and U20 Championships (Birmingham) - 18&19/06/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club members were in medal-winning form at the Midlands senior and U20 championships at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium at the weekend.

There were high hopes in the senior men’s 800metres as the Club’s trio of Andrew and Richard de-Camps and Nico Constanti had all shown they were rounding into good form at the right time with recent impressive performances. And so it proved as all three comfortably progressed from their heats to Sunday’s final.

The final itself was a slow-run affair with the elder de-Camps, Andrew, always to the fore. When the pace did pick up, he held off the fast finishing Thomas Gayle of City of Stoke AC to win his first senior outdoors title in 2 minutes 00.33 to Gayle’s 2mins 00.44 seconds. Constanti finished 7th in 2:01.91 and Richard de-Camps 8th in 2:04.61.

Afterwards, the victorious de-Camps said: “The time doesn’t matter when it comes to championships, it’s all about the racing and I’m really pleased to finally win this title. I knew I was in good form going into the event having set a personal best at Watford last week and I’m now looking to run under 1 minute 50 seconds.”

Following his surprise bronze medal in the 3000m steeplechase at last month’s Inter-Counties Championships, Steve Millward was hoping to make a successful defence of the Midlands title he won last year and he did not disappoint as he ran a season’s best 9mins 37.55 seconds to take the gold medal.

In the ladies 2000m steeplechase final, Gemma Collier and Becky Summers both made their championship debut at this event and came home in 4th and 5th place respectively.

In the field events, Gareth Winter continued his winning streak in the shot putt, taking the U20 gold medal with 16.47 metres. He backed this up with a silver medal in the U20 discus with a throw of 50.26m.

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Humph's Hilly Half (Bourton on the Water) - 18/06/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club members were in action at the recent Bourton “Hilly Half” which forms part of the County Road Race Series. As the name suggests, this is not a course where runners go for a fast time but for a testing challenge around the Cotswolds village.

David Gresswell was the first Gloucester club runner home, in 7th place. His time of 1hr 21mins 24secs earned him the V45 prize and a maximum 10 points in the County series to increase his lead after four races.

Two and a half minutes behind was Jeremy Mower, in 13th place. Mower’s time of 1:23:52 was the fastest he has run on the course in six attempts and earned him 9 points in the V45 category.

Next home was Michelle Stark, whose time of 1:44:23 gained her the L35 prize and a maximum 10 points towards her County total.

One of the club’s most prolific runners, Terry Onions, was next club runner to finish, in 1:45:15, with Christine Campbell completing the Gloucester representation in 1:50:24, gaining maximum County series points in the process.

Details:

7th Dave Gresswell 1 hr 21 mins 24 secs

13th Jeremy Mower 1 hr 23 mins 52 secs

96th Michelle Stark 1 hr 44 mins 23 secs

102nd Terry Onions 1 hr 45 mins 15 secs

131st Christine Campbell 1 hr 50 mins 24 secs

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White Horse 5km (Sandhurst) - 16/06/2011

The second of this year’s White Horse 5km road races in Sandhurst on Thursday saw Gloucester Athletic Club assemble one of its largest teams for several years when 15 members toed the start line.

The Sandhurst 5km course is generally recognised as one of the fastest in the county but the windy conditions put paid to any targeted improvements that the club’s leading runners had set themselves nevertheless, there were many performances of note.

Tom Randles was the first city runner home. In his first 5km road race of the year, Randles finished just outside the top 10 in 11th place with a time of 16 minutes 55 seconds.

Dave Gresswell was the next runner home, in 16th place. He had been aiming for a sub-17 minute clocking, but the conditions put paid to that as he finished narrowly outside with 17:03. Simon Fortnam was just behind, in 17th place in 17:26, whilst ultra-distance specialist Jeremy Mower dropped down in distance to record 18:05 in 23rd place.

Steven Haines produced possibly the performance of the evening, reducing his personal best time for the distance to 18:14. Coach Arthur Daley said “Steven’s still new to racing, so we have been experimenting with various tactics in recent races to broaden his racing knowledge. He’s making great strides and is showing promise for next winter’s cross-country season.”

Daley had been involved in a cat-and-mouse tussle with Matt Powell during the race and it was Powell who showed the greater strength over the latter stages to pull away and record a personal best time of 18:42 in 30th place. Daley finished with 18:52.

There then followed a cluster of red and white-vested runners as Ian Summers (37th, 19:06), Omar Alim (39th, 19:17), Matt Drinkwater (40th, 19:17) and Mark Thrall (42nd, 19:28) crossed the line in a flurry. Drinkwater and Thrall both set personal bests in the process.

Leigh Nelmes finished in 52nd place with 20:30, Paul Loveridge 64th in 21:20 and John McClean placed 69th in 21:44.

Michelle Stark took 2nd place in the L35 category and 73rd overall in 22:06.

James Ferguson of Gloucester Run England, another runner advised by Daley and running his first 5km race since starting.

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Avon League (Yate) - 12/06/2011

Like many sporting events on Sunday, the first Avon Athletics League match at Yate fell foul of the weather and was abandoned before fewer than half of the events could be completed.

However, several Gloucester Athletic Club members still had time to record some encouraging performances before the rain set in.

There were a host of personal bests in the hurdles races. In the senior men’s 110m event, Sean Beckett set a new personal best time of 21.8 seconds when securing 2nd place. Harriet Hunter reduced her best time by 0.7 seconds when taking 2nd place in the U17 ladies 80m and Mason Tonks, in his club debut, went one better to win the U15 boys 80m.

There was a double first in the senior and veterans men’s 3000 metres events from Steve Millward and Dave Gresswell respectively, whilst the George twins Alex and Tom took second and third places in the U17 men’s category.

In the ladies hammer, the City club took a clean sweep as Kate Yhnell, Beth Sewell and Anna Robertson filled the first three places, with Welsh Veterans hammer champion Marion Loveridge taking 5th place.

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BMC Elite International (Watford) - 11/06/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Andrew de-Camps produced an outstanding performance at the British Miler's Club Elite International meeting at Watford on Saturday. Running in the 6th heat of the 800m, de-Camps lowered his personal best by almost a second, recording a time of 1:50.95 to move second on the Gloucester all-time list.

After the race, de-Camps, usually known for his tactical nous, said "Although the time is pleasing at this stage of the season, I ran far from a perfect race. I was clipped 3 times, so would hope to run quicker in the coming weeks.”

De Camps now turns his attentions to this weekend’s Midlands Championships where he will go into the 800m as one of the favourites. Interestingly, for the first time, he will go head to head in a senior competition against his brother Richard and their training partner Nico Constanti.

Gloucester’s Rose-Anne Galligan recorded a season’s best 2:04.87 when finishing seventh in the headline women’s 800m race.

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Welsh Masters Championships - 05/06/2011

Beverley Jones and Marion Loveridge were winning medals at the Welsh Masters Championships last month. Jones won the W35 discus with 27.08m and Loveridge won the W45 hammer, throwing 36.36m.

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Midland League Div.2 (Yate) - 04/06/2011

The Gloucester/Severn AC composite track and field team produced another impressive display to win the ‘Up and Running’ Midland League Division Two match at Yate on Saturday.

With two of the four matches now gone, the city team leads the division by two points from Wolverhampton & Bilston AC and is in a strong position to win promotion to the top division.

The city team combined a blend of youth and experience with quality and commitment as they stormed to victory by nearly 30 match points over their illustrious rivals.

This team victory was built around another strong performance by the Gloucester ladies and dominance of the middle distance and throwing events by the men.

Leading the way was GB Junior international Gareth Winter who continued his remarkable season by setting new personal bests and club records when winning the shot putt (15.40m) and discus (49.15m), the latter beating the old club record that had stood since 1970. Winter was not the only thrower to shine as Tim Williams set a new personal best in winning the men’s hammer with further victories being recorded by team captain Justin Sysum in the ‘B’ shot and hammer and Beverley Jones (ladies ‘B’ shot putt) and Kate Yhnell and Anna Robertson in the ladies ‘A’ and ‘B’ hammer.

The men’s middle distance runners also impressed, with double victories being recorded by Nico Constanti, Ben Coldray and Richard de Camps, whose elder brother, Andrew, also won the 400m.

The ladies team welcomed back Ireland international Rose-Anne Galligan who took a second place in the 200m ‘A’ race before storming to victory in the 400m. A host of second and third placings ensured the ladies achieved their highest-ever placing in their category, making a huge contribution to the overall team score.

Team captain Justin Sysum, who had another busy day, said afterwards “This was another great team effort. We’ve brought in many youngsters this summer and they are all adapting well to senior athletics. We’re very pleased with them.”

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Lloyds TSB Fitness 4 - 02/06/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club members were out in force for the second of this summer’s Severn AC-organised Lloyds-TSB Four Mile Fitness Runs, at Hardwicke last Thursday.

The run attracted a field of over 130 starters and saw Gloucester runners Matt Aspinal, Matt Powell and Steven Haines leading at the one mile stage, which was reached in a brisk 5 minutes 40.

Haines took the race by the scruff of the neck after one and a half miles and maintained his lead to compete the course in 24:06, a personal best for the distance.

Aspinal and Powell both suffered from the fast early pace as they faded over the final mile, giving way to V60 Arthur Daley who finished 4th in 24:39. Powell was next Gloucester man home in 6th place with 24:57, with Aspinall, who had run three track races for the Army on the previous day, finishing in 11th place in 25:52.

Matt Drinkwater finished in 17th place with a 26:31 clocking whilst Michelle Stark was the first lady to finish with 27:18.

Paul Loveridge ran 28:51 for 29th place whilst Humphrey Phillips, running in his first road race for several years placed 31st in 28:59. Helen Davies ran her first race since April’s London Marathon and finished 33rd overall and 4th lady with a time of 29:06.

New club signing Ryan Price set a standard of 31:31 in 53rd place, his first attempt at the distance.

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Army Championships - 01/06/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Matthew Aspinall made a rare venture onto the running track to compete in the 4 Division Army championships at Tidworth, Wiltshire.

Normally a road and cross-country runner, Aspinall competed in the 800 metres, recording a time of 2mins 36.0, 5000 metres (19min 36.0) and the 3000m steeplechase (15min 03.0).

Afterwards, Aspinall said “Three races in one day was mentally and physically tiring for someone like me who is used to just one race every few days, but it was great fun!”

White Horse 5mile (Sandhurst) - 30/05/2011

The Whitsun White Horse 5 mile road race at Sandhurst saw a reduced field with runners deterred by the heavy rain on Monday.

Peter Lloyd was the first Gloucester AC runner home in 6th place in 30mins 26, just losing out to fellow V50 Lee Christmas in the final mile after tracking him for most of the race.

Next in for the city club was Merlin Tolley in 11th place in 34:21 with M65 Dave Spackman running 34:39 for 13th place.

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Brewer Games (Cheltenham) - 30/05/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club members competed in the annual Brewer Games in Cheltenham on Monday.

The club’s senior throwers were in dominant form with Wayne Powell (hammer) and Gareth Winter (shot putt and discus) winning their respective events in convincing manner.

Two of the club’s Under 17s had busy afternoons. Multi-eventer Kate Davies competed in no fewer than five events in the U17W age group, the pick of which was a 4.81m long jump, whilst Lurenda Mudd produced solid performances in the 100m, 200m and 300m.

Gloucester AC results:

U15G

100m 3rd Dana Willoughby 13.6 secs

200m 1st Dana Willoughby 28.2 secs

Shot Putt 3rd Lucy Humphreys 7.59m, 5th Ellen Thrall 6.39m

Discus 2nd Ellen Thrall 16.96m, 3rd Lucy Humphreys 15.56m

Hammer 1st Ellen Thrall 37.33m, 3rd Lucy Humphreys 28.12m

U17W

80mH 5th Kate Davies 14.4 secs

100m 2nd Lurenda Mudd 13.3 secs

200m 3rd Lurenda Mudd 27.8 secs

300m 3rd Lurenda Mudd 43.7 secs

Javelin 3rd Kate Davies 25.50m

High Jump 1st Kate Davies 1.45m

Long Jump 2nd Kate Davies 4.81m

Shot Putt 3rd Kate Davies 7.99m

U15B

800m 2nd Harry Wells 2mins 44.7

U20M

Shot Putt 1st Gareth Winter 16.54m

Discus 1st Gareth Winter 46.20m

Senior Men

800m 5th Dave Gresswell 2mins 20.9

Long Jump 2nd Leigh Hayes 5.31m

Hammer 1st Wayne Powell 55.21m

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CAU Inter-Counties Championships (Bedford) - 29/05/2011

Steve Millward of Gloucester Athletic Club took an unexpected bronze medal in the 3000m steeplechase at the CAU Inter-Counties Championships at Bedford on Sunday.

Millward won this title last year but, after having missed the whole of the winter cross-country season due to a knee injury, he went into this year’s event with low expectations having only returned to training seven weeks ago. However, a typically gutsy performance saw the Gloucester athlete come home in third place in a season’s best time of 9mins 43.85 seconds. Victory went to Richard Morrell of the North-East.

Afterwards, Millward said “The first half of the race was run at a fairly sedate pace which suited me due to my lack of fitness, but I just didn’t have the background to go with Morrell when he picked up the pace over the final kilometre. However, I’m really pleased with the bronze medal and this will give me a big confidence boost as I’m keen to defend my Midlands and south-west titles over the coming months.”

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BMC Nike Grand Prix (Manchester) - 28/05/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s top middle distance runners, Andrew de Camps and Rose-Anne Galligan, opened their 2011 outdoor seasons in earnest when competing at the BMC Nike Grand Prix at Sportcity, Manchester at the weekend.

Racing in the third heat of the men’s 800 metres, de Camps placed 5th in 1min 54.33 seconds. Galligan placed third in the women’s 800 metres in a time of 2mins 06.72 seconds.

Both will now turn their attention to the Gloucester club’s Midland League Div Two match at Yate this Saturday (4th), where the team will be hoping to build on the excellent start it made in the opening match at Stoke at the beginning of May.

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YAL (Stourport) - 22/05/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s youngsters travelled to Stourport to compete in the 2nd round of this season’s McCain Young Athletes League on Sunday.

This season’s team manager, Garry Hunter, has rallied round his athletes in recent weeks, emphasising the importance of regular and varied competition at this early stage of their careers and they responded in spectacular fashion, taking second place overall on the day and setting no fewer than 30 personal best performances between them.

Of the many encouraging performances, two in particular stood out. George James made his league debut in the U13 boys age group and ended the day with victories in the 100m and long jump with performances superior to those when he won last weekend’s county championships. He was also a clear winner in his first run over the 200m for good measure.

The second youngster to shine was Shiya Pinnock who blitzed both the U13 girls 75m and 150m fields, the former bettering the club U13 record that has stood for over 11 years.

Elsewhere, there were sprint “doubles” for Kelly Constable (U15G) and Lurenda Mudd (U17W) and Laurence Leat in the U15B 100m and shot putt and a “treble” for Jacob Lange as he took victory in the U17M hammer, shot putt and discus.

After the match, Garry Hunter said “There was a great team spirit here today and the youngsters clearly enjoyed competing together. We’ve come a long way this season and we’re already looking forward to our home match on 5th June.” 

U13 Girls

Hayley Ralley. 70mH - 4th 16.0s. HJ - 3rd 1.10m

Ellie Morgan. 75m - 3rd 11.7s. 150m - 4th 26.2s

Tiana George. LJ - 3rd 3.29m. SP - 5th 4.10m.

Chloe Jones. LJ - 4th 3.20m. SP - 2nd 5.56m. 70mH - 5th 16.1s

Verity Butler. 800m - 2nd 3.03:1s

Shya Pinnock. 75m - 1st 10.2s (CLUB RECORD) 150m - 21.8s.

4x100m Relay - H. Ralley-E.Morgan-C.Jones-S.Pinnock. 2nd place 61.9s

U15 Girls

Catherine Hardy. 100m - 3rd 13.5s. 200m - 3rd 29.1s

Jennifer Hayward. 75mH - 3rd 15.4s. LJ - 6th 3.41m

Hannah Jones. 1500m - 2nd 6.03:0s. JV - 5th 11.96m

Lucy Humphreys. SP - 1st 7.65m. DT - 3rd 12.90m

Ellen Thrall. SP - 2nd 7.07m. DT - 2nd 15.85m. JV - 3rd 16.33m

Stephanie Sinclair. 75mH - 5th 16.3s. HJ - 4th 1.15m. LJ - 5th 3.62m

Cerys Bradley. 800m - 4th 3.00:7. HJ - 3rd 1.20m

Kelly Constable. 100m - 1st 13.3s. 200m - 1st 28.5s

4x100m Relay - K.Constable-C.Bradley-J.Hayward-C.Hardy. 2nd place 56.1s

U17 Women

Harriet Hunter. 80mH - 2nd 14.3s. LJ - 1st 4.65m. TJ - 1st 9.88m

Lurenda Mudd. 100m - 1st 13.3s. 200m - 1st 27.8s. 300m - 2nd 45.9s

Danielle Mulraney. 800m - 1st 2.52:7s. 300m - 3rd 48.3s. SP - 2nd 4.49m.

Kate Davies. 80mH - 3rd 14.7s. LJ - 2nd 4.31m. JV - 1st 25.33m

U13 Boys

Harry Wells. 800m - 1st 2.43:7

George James. 100m - 1st 13.4s. 200m - 1st 29.0s. LJ - 1st 4.62m

James Sinclair. 800m - 4th 3.07:0s. 100m - 4th 16.4s. LJ - 4th 3.57m

U15 Boys

Laurence Leat. 100m - 1st 13.0s. SP - 1st 9.38m

Luke Stephens. 100m - 3rd 14.1s. SP - 3rd 6.29m

Joe Beckett. JV - 5th 6.70m. LJ - 6th 3.23m. DT - 5th 12.22m

Dominic Tutton. 800m - 1st 2.19:4s. 400m - 1st 60.8s. LJ - 3rd 4.12m

U17 Men

Tom George. 800m - 4th 2.18:2. 1500m - 3rd 4.50:6. LJ - 4th 4.05m

Alex George. 3000m - 1st 10.09:9. 1500m - 2nd 4.49:3

Ollie Clarke. 100m - 4th 13.0s. 200m - 26.9s

Sam Evans. 3000m - 2nd 10.53:9s

Andrew Bowers. 800m - 1st 2.13:7s. 200m - 2nd 26.8s. 400m - 2nd 56.7s

Tom Beckett. LJ - 3rd 4.16m. TJ - 1st 10.18m. JV - 2nd 22.63m

Jacob Lange. HT - 1st 38.10m. SP - 1st 8.65m. DT - 1st 19.35

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Ultra Running - Mower selected for Wales

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Jeremy Mower has been selected to represent Wales in the Commonwealth Mountain and Ultra-Distance Running Championships in North Wales between 23-25 September.

Mower earns his selection on the back of an impressive run in the recent Forest of Dean Ultra Marathon Trail Race in which he finished 8th overall and third Welshman.

Mower is delighted with his selection, saying “I had the option of going for the 50km Trail race or the 24-hour ultra race but have chosen the 24-hour event as I see that is Wales’s best chance of a team medal.”

Supported by the International Association of Ultra runners (IAU), the World Mountain Running Association (WMRA), this will be the highest profile international athletics event staged in Wales since the athletics component of the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, with over 25 Commonwealth Countries and over 200 athletes expected to compete.

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Loughborough International - 22/05/2011

Gareth Winter became the latest Gloucester AC member to win a Great Britain vest when he competed for the GB Junior team in the international match at Loughborough on Sunday 22nd May.

Competing in the shot putt, Winter bettered his personal best no less than four times during the competition, ending with a new Gloucester senior club record of 15.25m.

Afterwards, Winter said “This was a great experience and justifies all the hard training over the past few years. Everyone has been very supportive, especially my coach Lorraine Shaw and Terry Haines who really gave me my first chance in the sport.”

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Tewkesbury Half Marathon - 22/05/2011

Three Gloucester Athletic Club members completed the Tewkesbury Half Marathon.

First home was Alistair Wakefield, whose time of 1:30:14 saw him finish in 63rd place. Next home was Mark Richards who finished in 289th place with 1:45:11 whilst Christine Campbell made up the trio, running 1:48:33 in 355th place.

All three runners said afterwards that their pace judgment and times were affected by the strong winds that slowed the times.

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White Horse 5km (Sandhurst) - 19/05/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club members were prominent in the first White Horse 5km road race of the 2011 season at Sandhurst. The Sandhurst course is recognised as being among the fastest in the county and always attracts a good field.

Cross-country captain, Dave Gresswell, led the Gloucester contingent home in 10th place in 17 mins 11 seconds, his best 5km time of the year and only just outside his personal best. Matt Powell continued his improvement, placing 19th in a new personal best of 18:45. He had been locked in a race-long tussle with coach and mentor Arthur Daley who just did not have the legs to sprint past an athlete over 30 years his junior. Daley, however, claimed the M60 prize in 20th place overall in 18:19.

Omar Alim knocked a massive 50 seconds off his personal best time to finish 25th overall and 2nd M40, with 19:02, whilst Matt Drinkwater, whose training emphasis has been on the much longer half marathon distance, ran his second fastest 5km of 19:23 to finish in 29th position.

The Gloucester club’s ladies team flag was carried by Michelle Stark who ran a strong second half to finish 33rd overall in 20:35.

M65 Dave Spackman was next club runner to finish, 41st in 21:15, with Paul Loveridge completing the scoring in 45th place in 22:00.

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County Championships (Cheltenham) - 18/05/2011

The Gloucester AC steeplechase squad was out in force at the second part of this year’s County championships at Cheltenham.

Under the guidance of Steve Millward, the squad has continued to grow in size and quality and this improvement was evident as county titles went to Gemma Collier (SL 2000m s/chase, 8:20.2), Becky Summers (JL 2000m s/chase, 8:20.4) and Simon Fortnam (M40 2000m s/chase, 6:52.4). Mentor and chief inspiration, Millward, won the bronze medal in the senior men’s event in 6:10.3 which was a season’s best.

The second stage of the championships also the staging of the 3000m, 5000m and hammer events.

Kyran Hale of Severn AC was an impressive winner of the shorter track event, but Gloucester AC’s Alex James acquitted himself well to win the U17M bronze medal with a time of 10mins 11.4 seconds, with twin brother Thomas finishing fourth in 10:48.4.

In the senior 5000m race, Arthur Daley added the county M60 title to his growing collection when placing 10th overall in 18:48.8, a new club M60 category record and a time which places him second on this year’s UK rankings.

More titles came Gloucester’s way in the hammer competition with titles going to Wayne Powell (M35, 56.31m), Mike Tommey (SM, 50.94m), Tim Williams (JM, 63.82m) and Ellen Thrall (U15G, 37.92m). The Gloucester club’s dominance of this event was evident as silver medals went to Jacob Lange (U17M), Charlotte Stallard (U17W) and Lucy Humphreys (U15G).

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Gloucestershire County Championships (Cheltenham) - 15/05/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club members were prominent in the county track & field championships at Cheltenham on the weekend.

In the senior events there were gold medals for Ashleigh Naylor and Rose-Anne Galligan, who were making their first track appearances of the outdoor season. Naylor won a hotly-contested men’s 100m in 11.6 seconds, whilst Galligan, who had just returned from an altitude-training camp, was a clear winner of the ladies 1500m in 4mins 20.7 seconds.

Two of the club’s distance runners, Dave Gresswell and Matt Powell, dropped down in distance to run in what was, for them, a comparative sprint – the men’s 800m. Gresswell was timed at 2min 18.5 secs and Powell, 2mins 28.9 in his first ever attempt at the distance. Powell later went on to clear 1.35m in the men’s high jump.

The club’s Juniors also fared well with county titles going to Becky Summers in the 400m hurdles with a season’s best 75.2 seconds and Alex Runciman, who showed further evidence of his potential when winning the junior men’s 400m flat race in 52.3 seconds. Gareth Winter continued his local domination, winning the discus and shot putt, both with personal best performances.

In the U17s age group, there were wins for Alex George (1500m), Harriet Hunter (long and triple jumps), Katharine Chadwick (high jump) and Kate Davies, who threw a personal best to win the javelin.

There was further success in the U15s age group with Laurence Leat winning the boys 100m and Kelly Constable the girls 200m. Dominic Tutton won the boys 800m, whilst in the field events Ellen Thrall won the U15 girls discus with training partner Lucy Humphreys taking the U15 girls shot putt title. The youngest club members to win county titles this year were George James, who took gold in the U13 boys 100m and long jump, and Verity Butler in the girls 800m.

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Forest of Dean 32 - 15/05/2011

Gloucester’s Jeremy Mower competed in the recent Forest of Dean Ultra Marathon, which included the official Commonwealth Trials.

Starting and finishing at Speech House, the 31.76 miles route was a trail race, mainly over gravel roads, and with representative honours and places in the English and Welsh Commonwealth teams up for grabs, a high quality field had assembled.

Mower, better known for running distances on the road further than 50km, was running his first ever trail race and decided to go with the fast pace at the start. Despite tiring over the last eight miles, Mower finished in 3hrs 41mins 49secs for 8th place overall, 1st M45 and 3rd Welshman, just missing out on the two automatic places for Wales.

After the race, Mower said “This was probably one of my best ever races as my split time at 50km was faster than my best road time and particularly pleasing as I was able to keep up with runners whose marathon times were some 20 minutes faster than my own. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the Welsh selectors are as happy with my run as I am!”

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Midland Track & Field Div.2 (Stoke) - 07/05/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s senior team made an excellent start to their 2011 season by winning the opening Up and Running Midland Track & Field League Division Two match at Stoke on Saturday.

Work and studying commitments meant that several of last season’s regulars were missing, so team manager Richard Blackwell drafted many of the club’s promising youngsters into the line-up for their first taste of senior competition.

The newcomers did not disappoint as they featured in a strong all-round team performance that saw Gloucester hold off spirited challenges from the City of Stoke and Wolverhampton & Bilston clubs to win the match by a narrow eight points.

Gloucester’s win was built around the dominance of their throwers in the field and their middle distance runners on the track and a huge improvement by the ladies - partly due to the introduction of four U17 girls but mainly due to a greater level of commitment and desire than their opponents.

In the throws, several performances stood out. Wayne Powell dominated the men’s hammer from the outset and was a clear winner of the ‘A’ event. Team captain Justin Sysum overcame an uncertain start and was a convincing winner of the ‘B’ event. In the ladies hammer, Anna Robertson was again over 45m as she took the ‘A’ string, with Marion Loveridge throwing a season’s best to win the ‘B’ string.

Gareth Winter continues to improve, setting a new personal best of 14.93m to win the men’s Shot Putt, whilst U17 Kate Davies threw a new personal best of 29.03m to secure 2nd place in the ladies javelin.

In the ladies jumps, two U17s exceeded expectations. Harriet Hunter set season’s bests in both the long and triple jumps and Katharine Chadwick was just a whisker away from winning the high jump in her club debut.

On the track, Andrew De Camps and Nico Constanti were comfortable winners of the men’s 800m ‘A’ and ‘B’ strings and Tim Dalton and Ben Coldray were similarly commanding in the 1500m.

Newcomer Alex Runciman showed great promise in the men’s sprints, as did another U17, Lurenda Mudd in the ladies events.

Runciman later teamed up with De Camps, Constanti and Dalton to form what has the potential to be a top-rate 4 x 400m team as they took second place in their first outing.

Afterwards, ladies captain Alex Purcell said “Today was all about introducing the youngsters to senior competition and they all performed out of their skin. This took a lot pressure off the older hands and the team produced the goods.”

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Lloyds TSB Fitness 4 - 05/05/2011

Severn Athletic Club’s first four-mile Fitness Run of 2011 held from the Pilot Inn at Hardwicke last Thursday attracted a record entry of 144 runners, including several Gloucester Athletic Club members who were setting numerous records of their own.

These events are unique among local road races as anyone who betters 24 minutes for the distance is barred from competing in the race again, thus catering for the “slower”, but no less competitive, runner.

V60 Arthur Daley became the oldest runner to be barred from future events when he recorded 23mins 52 seconds in 3rd place. This was his fastest four-mile time since the late 1980s and 45 seconds faster than his “recent” best time, set in 2007. It was also a Gloucester club V60 best by over 30seconds.

The second Gloucester runner to be barred from entering this race again was Matthew Aspinall who dipped under the 24-min barrier, running 23:57 in 5th place.

Steven Haines was next home for Gloucester, setting a personal best for four miles with 24:51. He was closely followed home in 12th position by Matt Powell, who also ran a lifetime best, with 24:52, whilst in 13th place and taking his first V40 prize was Omar Alim, whose time of 24:53 was an improvement of over 30 seconds on his previous best.

The Gloucester runners were packing well, for just two places down, in 15th place, was Matt Drinkwater with another personal best of 25:02.

Mark Thrall was first V45, in 19th place overall, with a new personal best of 25:10, and Leigh Nelmes also set a new best time with 26:35.

The first lady home, and yet another Gloucester runner to set a personal best time for the distance, was Michelle Stark in 30th place. Her time of 26:36 was a 30 seconds improvement.

Paul Loveridge was 2nd in the M50 category, improving his best time by over 30 seconds.

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Stroud Beer Race - 04/05/2011

A small number of Gloucester Athletic Club members were among the eighty runners who toed the line at this year’s annual Stroud 7.2 miles Beer Race on Wednesday.

Leading the Gloucester Athletic Club contingent home in his second race in three days, was Peter Lloyd who finished in 5th place overall and 1st in the V50 category with a time of 45 mins 13 seonds.

Next home for Gloucester, in 11th place, was Alistair Wakefield in a time of 46:58, with Terry Onions the next club man home in 53:23 for 41st place.

The final Gloucester runner home, making her debut for the club, having taken up the sport through the Women’s Running Network, was Becky Amor in 51st place with a very encouraging 58:17.

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Birmingham Rowheath Open - 02/05/2011

Gloucester AC members were in action at the Birmingham Rowheath open meeting at Birmingham University on Bank Holiday Monday, setting several personal bests in the process.

Kate Davies broke her personal best in the U17 ladies shot putt, throwing 7.97m for 3rd place, before taking 2nd place in the javelin with a throw of 28.34m.

Ellen Thrall had a busy day. She won the U15 girls hammer with 34.95m, before setting personal bests in the shot putt (6.86m) and javelin (15.29m).

In the men’s hammer, Wayne Powell won the senior men’s event with a throw of 56.56m and Jacob Lange set a new personal best of 39.60m when taking 2nd place in the U17 men’s event.

The Birmingham meeting also incorporated a 1500m event, organised by the British Milers Club. In this race, Richard De Camps placed 6th in 4mins 09.20.

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Blaisdon Bluebell 10km - 02/05/2011

Dave Gresswell was Gloucester Athletic Club’s top performer in the Blaisdon Bluebell 10km road race held on the May Day Bank holiday, when he finished in a very creditable 4th place with a time of 37 mins 12 seconds, less than 10 seconds outside the top three positions.

Peter Lloyd continued his fine Spring form, finishing in 7th place and 2nd V50 in 39:04, whilst Gemma Collier finished in 12th place overall and 1st senior lady in an excellent 41:34, an improvement of nearly one minute on her previous best for the distance.

Just behind Collier, in 13th place, was Matt Powell whose time of 41:58 was just outside his personal best. The evergreen Dave Spackman finished in 23rd place overall in 44:35, giving him yet another V65 category win.

The Gloucester squad was completed by Leigh Nelmes who finished in 26th place, in 46:01.

Results:

1 Mike Smith - Bourton V40, 35:56. 2 Simon Waters Tewks, 36:59, 3 Freak van Arkel FOD, 37:03.

Team: Severn AC 83 pts; Tewkesbury 118 pts.

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National Junior League (Eton) - 01/05/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Gareth Winter (19) was in record-breaking form when he made a guest appearance in the National Junior League match at Eton on Sunday.

In the 6kg shot putt, he threw over 16 metres for the first time, recording 16.05m for 2nd place. He went one better in the 1.75kg discus, winning with a throw of 51.15 m, to cement his position at the top of the UK Junior rankings.

British Universities Championships (Bedford) - 30/04/2011

Gloucester Athletic club members were in fine form at the British Universities Championships at Bedford last weekend, taking two bronze medals.

Competing in the men’s hammer event, Tim Williams took 3rd place with a throw of 55.18m, a new personal best and club record by an Under 20 with the 7.26kg weight. That position was emulated by training partner Kate Yhnell who threw 50.03m in the ladies event, the first time she had bettered the 50m mark for over two seasons.

Two more members of Lorraine Shaw’s training group, Mike Tommey and Anna Robertson, also made their respective finals. Tommey threw a new personal best 49.54m in the qualifying round before throwing 49.49m for 7th place in the final whilst Robertson also continued her fine start to the new season, throwing 45.05 for 7th place in the ladies final.

Those results would have been some consolation for coach Lorraine Shaw who saw her UK record of 68.93m broken after eight years by Blackburn’s Sophie Hitchon, who was competing at Bedford as a guest. Hitchon threw 69.43 metres.

On the track, Andrew De Camps and Nico Constanti were in action in the 800metres. Both comfortably progressed from their heat to the semi finals where Constanti placed 7th in his race with a time of 1min 56.60 seconds. De Camps was 5th in his semi with 1min 53.19 seconds, narrowly missing out on a place in the final.

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Bridge Inn 5K Series - 25/04/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club members competed in the first Bridge Inn 5km Summer Series road races in Kingswood, Bristol.

In excellent racing conditions, Dave Gresswell continued his recent good form, finishing 2nd V45 and 15th overall in 17mins 29 seconds, his best time since 2009.

Arthur Daley lowered his own club V60 best for the distance when placing 28th overall and first V60 with a time of 18:35.

Next in was Matt Drinkwater in 35th place, whose time of 19:19 was an improvement of some 14 seconds on his previous best.

Gloucester’s sole lady representative was Michelle Stark who finished in 52nd place with a time of 21:04, slower than her best performance but commendable, given that she was treating this race as a gentle run-out following her London Marathon exploits.

Before the race, Stark and Daley were both presented with their trophies for winning the Bridge Inn’s Winter Series W35 and V60 categories.

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Easter 10km (Sandhurst) - 23/04/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s road runners celebrated St George’s Day in style as their senior men finally won the team prize at the Severn AC-organised Easter 10km road race at Sandhurst on Saturday.

Leading the team home, in 6th place, was Tom Randles. Even though he was relatively fresh from a warm-weather training trip to Portugal, Randles was one of many runners affected by the un-seasonally hot and humid conditions. However, he was happy with his time of 37 minutes 05 seconds.

There was a very competitive tussle for the next three scoring places as Jeremy Mower (9th) was closely followed home by Peter Lloyd (12th), who just held off Arthur Daley in 13th. All three runners were rewarded for their efforts by winning their respective age groups, with Mower finishing 1st V45, Lloyd 1st V50 and Daley 1st V60.

Next home for Gloucester, in 16th place, was Matt Aspinall. A member of Arthur Daley’s training group, Aspinall went off hard from the gun, but suffered in the heat as he slipped back through the field. However, he showed his strength and resilience to recover well and finish strongly over the last mile.

Chasing Aspinall hard was Gemma Collier, in 19th place and 2nd lady. Her time of 42:32 was a personal best for 10km and augurs well for the forthcoming summer season.

Mark Thrall made up the scoring six with a good run to claim 2nd in the V45 category and 20th overall.

Next Gloucester runner home was Matt Drinkwater (27th) whilst V50 Gary Hamilton (41st) and Leigh Nelmes (42nd) had their own private battle.

The club’s finishers were completed by Christine Campbell, who finished 47th overall and 2nd L35, and Mike Anderton in 51st place.

Gloucester AC details:

Tom Randles 6th 37min 05sec; Jeremy Mower 9th 38min 47sec;

Peter Lloyd 12th 39min 29sec; Arthur Daley 13th 39min 32sec;

Matt Aspinall 16th 41min 36sec; Gemma Collier 19th 42 min 32sec;

Mark Thrall 20th 42min 42sec; Matt Drinkwater 27th 45min 06sec;

Gary Hamilton 41st 50min 26sec; Leigh Nelmes 42nd 50min 27sec;

Chris Campbell 47th 51min 53sec; Mike Anderton 51st 61min 28sec.

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Birmingham Rowheath Open - 20/04/2011

Members of Gloucester Athletic Club’s hammer throwing squad continued their excellent starts to the 2011 season when competing at the Birmingham Rowheath Open Meeting Meeting at Birmingham University.

Tim Williams was once again over the 60-metre mark, throwing 63.73m to win the U20 men’s event. Kate Yhnell took 2nd place in the senior women’s event with 46.24m and Charlotte Stallard was a clear winner in the U17 women’s competition, throwing 32.21m.

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Charnwood AC Open (Loughborough) - 17/04/2011

Gloucester AC’s top junior throwers were in record-breaking form at the Charnwood AC-organised open meeting at Loughborough on Sunday.

Gareth Winter (18) bettered his own U20 shot putt and discus records with 16.45m and 50.89m respectively. The latter being the first throw by a city junior to better the magical 50-metres mark.

Tim Williams (19) also bettered his own one week-old personal best and club record in the U20 hammer, throwing 64.24m.

Both are now firmly established in the nation’s top 10 for their age group.

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Kidderminster & Stourport Open - 17/04/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s younger members were in action at open meetings on Sunday. At the Kidderminster & Stourport Open Meeting, Andrew Bowers continued his impressive start to the new summer campaign, placing 3rd in the U17 men’s 600m (94.7 seconds), a new personal best. In the rarely run 1200m, he placed 4th in 3mins 46.6 secs, a new personal and club best.

Harriet Hunter placed 4th in her U17 ladies 80m race with a new personal best and club record 11.2 seconds, shaving 0.2 off the previous record. She followed this up by winning the long jump with an excellent 4.50 metres.

Youngster Hayley Ralley set three personal bests in the U13 girls 80m (13.0 secs), 150m (24.2 secs) and long jump (3.68m).

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Yate Sprints & Hurdles Challenge - 17/04/2011

At the Sprints and Hurdles Challenge meeting at Yate, U20 Sean Beckett tackled the senior-height hurdles for the first time. He recorded 78.6 seconds in the “man-killer” of track events, the 400m hurdles, and 23.65 seconds for the 110m hurdles.

Two of the club’s promising young sprinters, Lurenda Mudd and Kelly Constable, enjoyed encouraging runs. Mudd took victory in the U17 ladies 100m (13.31 secs) and 3rd place in the 200m (27.37 secs), whilst Constable ran 13.22 secs in the U15 girls 100m and 27.96 secs in the 200m.

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London Marathon - 17/04/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club were well represented at this year’s Virgin London Marathon.

Wayne Mayer was the first club runner home. His time of 2 hours 59 minutes and 06 seconds was the first time he had broken the 3-hour barrier for the distance and a personal best time by almost 10 minutes.

The next Gloucester runner to finish was Richard Moore, whose 3 hours 34:24 clocking was also a personal best time for the distance.

Alistair Wakefield had set himself a pre-race target of 3 hours 15. However, he suffered from the humidity on the day and finished in 3 hours 40:09.

Club cross-country captain, Dave Gresswell, running for the CLIC Sargent charity, donned a fairy fancy-dress costume for the day and ran a comfortable 3 hours 54:24. Also running for the same charity and wearing a similar costume, was Michelle Stark who finished just outside her 4-hour target, with 4 hours 05:2.

Sandwiched in between Gresswell and Stark was Terry Onions, running his second marathon in eight days, having run the Brighton marathon the previous week. Onions also dipped under 4 hours, running 3 hours 55:18.

The final Gloucester club runner to finish was Helen Davies, in 4 hours 13:29. Helen had missed a lot of pre-event training due to studying and only decided a few days before the race that she would actually compete. Despite this, she paced herself well and finished strongly, passing many runners on the run in.

A member of the Quedgeley-based “Run England” group run by Gloucester AC coaches, Arthur Daley and Christine Campbell, also finished the marathon. Paula Jones only took up running in January and completed the course in a creditable 4 hours 48:29, well under her target time in her first ever marathon.

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Tipton Games - 10/04/2011

Meanwhile, more Gloucester club members were in action at the Tipton Games in the West Midlands on Sunday.

Anna Robertson was in fine form in the senior ladies hammer, recording a best throw of 41.45m, whilst her younger training partner, Lucy Humphrey, threw a personal best 25.29m for the U15 girls hammer. Both girls are members of Lorraine Shaw’s Blackbridge-based throws group.

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Radley AC Open (Abingdon) - 10/04/2011

Four of Gloucester Athletic club’s young athletes competed at the Radley AC Open Meeting in Abingdon at the weekend.

Andrew Bowers continued his impressive start to the season, setting his 3rd personal best in eight days, when recording 58.8 seconds in the U17 men’s 400m for 5th place. He followed this up with his second fastest-ever clocking in the 800m, finishing 2nd in 2:13.2.

In the U17 men’s 5kg hammer event, Jacob Lange placed 4th with a throw of 37.12m.

In the U17 ladies events, Harriet Hunter leapt a very promising 4.51m to take 3rd in the long jump before finishing 4th in the 100m in a time of 13.5 seconds. Lurenda Mudd followed up her solid season’s opener from the previous week when taking 4th in the 200m (27.7 secs) and 3rd in the 300m (44.9 secs).

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Chedworth Roman Trail 10 multi-terrain - 03/04/2011

Five Gloucester Athletic Club members took part in the Chedworth 10mile multi-terrain race on Sunday.

Leading the Gloucester team home, in 13th position overall and 2nd V50, was Peter Lloyd in 67:17. Ian Summers was next Gloucester runner home, in 27th place and 4th V40, with a time of 70:09. Matt Powell, in his first attempt at this race, was next to finish, in 30th place, with 71:02, while Terry Onions finished in 100th position overall and 4th in the V55 category with 78:51. Ruth Hill completed the Gloucester team, placing 250th overall in a time of 95:56.

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Stroud Open Meeting (Yate) - 03/04/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s young athletes were in fine form at the early-season Open Meeting at Yate on Sunday, producing a host of personal best performances.

In the field events, Gareth Winter was the star performer setting new club age group records in the shot putt (15.90m) and discus (49.46m) with junior weight implements.

Tim Williams was also in outstanding form. Competing in the Junior Men’s hammer event, the Loughborough University student threw a mightily impressive 63.65 metres to shatter his personal best and the club record and firmly established himself towards the top of the UK early-season ranking list.

Two younger members of Lorraine Shaw’s throwing squad also competed. Ellen Thrall improved her personal best in the U15 girls hammer by over four metres with a throw of 36.82m, whilst Lucy Humphreys was just 4cms off her best with 7.71m in the U15 girls shot putt.

The youngest member of the Gloucester contingent, Hayley Ralley, set a new personal best of 3.55m in the U13 girls long jump.

The stand-out performer on the track was Andrew Bowers who took large chunks off his personal best times for the 200m (25.6 secs), 400m (61.5 secs) and 800m (2:12.0 secs), whilst Sean Beckett lowered his personal best in the 200m to 26.8 seconds.

Kelly Constable set two new personal bests in the U15 girls 100m (13.1 secs) and 200m (27.3), whilst training partner Harriet Hunter equalled her 100m personal best with a 13.5 second clocking before dodging the showers to record a distance of 4.33m in the U17 girls long jump.

Coach Garry Hunter said afterwards, “Considering we haven’t introduced any speed work into their training sessions yet, I’m really pleased with the times that the youngsters recorded today. It promises to be a good season.”

Additional Gloucester AC members’ results:

75m U13 girls Chloe Jones 11.9 secs, Hayley Ralley 11.9 secs

400m U20 men Sean Beckett 67.1 secs

1500m U15 girls Hannah Jones 6:08.0

Hammer U15 girls Lucy Humphreys 21.24m

Hammer U17 girls Charlotte Stallard 32.72m

Hammer F45 Marion Loveridge 35.17m

Hammer U20 men Tim Williams 63.65m

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Grocery 4 mile - 02/04/2011

Tom Randles was Gloucester Athletic Club’s top performer in the 36th annual Gloucester Grocery 4-mile Road Race held in Sandhurst last week, taking an excellent 5th place in 22:46.

Omar Alim continued his development and reduced his best time for the distance to 25:23 as he finished in 17th position with Leigh Nelmes finishing in 28th with 28:00.

Whilst Alim and Nelmes are relative newcomers to the sport, their club mate Dave Spackman has graced the local scene for nearly 30 years and shows no sign of ending his career yet, as he finished 1st V65 and 31st overall in 28:16.

The Gloucester contingent was completed by Mike Anderton in 40th position, with a time of 36:36.

There was a minute’s silence at the start of the race in memory of ex-Gloucester AC distance legend, Norman Thomas, who tragically died the previous week. Thomas was one of the club’s leading runners in the late 1970s and 1980s and was a familiar face at many local road races in recent years.

Bridge Inn 5K Series - 29/03/2011

Three Gloucester Athletic Club members competed in the final race of the Bridge Inn Winter 5km series in Bristol, with two of them gaining titles in the series.

Arthur Daley continued his recent rich vein of form to place 41st overall in 18:41, an improvement of one second on his V60 club best, to clinch the V60 category prize.

Next home was Matt Drinkwater, two days after running a half marathon, in 59th place. His time of 19:45 was just 15 seconds off his personal best for the distance.

The trio was made up by Michelle Stark in 74th place overall and 2nd L35 with a time of 20:46. Though disappointed with her time, she won the L35 category for the series.

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Forest of Dean Trails Half Marathon - 27/03/2011

Three Gloucester Athletic Club members took part in the Forest of Dean Trails Half Marathon on Sunday and each came away having taken large chunks off their personal best times.

Matt Powell was first Gloucester runner home in 1:32:30 which was good enough for 129th position overall of the 1800-plus finishers and 69th in the senior men’s category.

Next in for Gloucester, and another in a personal best time, was Matt Drinkwater who finished 160th overall and 84th in the senior men’s category with a time of 1:34:36.

The third city runner to finish was Mark Rickard, whose time of 1:42:15 saw him come home in 394th position overall and 170th in the senior men’s category.

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ANNOUNCEMENT - 26/03/2011

It is with great sadness that we report the sudden and tragic death of one of our former athletes, Norman Thomas.

Norman was one of the club’s leading distance runners during the halcyon days of the 1970s and early 1980s and was a regular attendee at local road and cross-country races where he effectively and efficiently manned the time-keeping and finish area.

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Gloucestershire 4K Cross Country Championships - 26/03/2011

In the recent Gloucestershire short-course cross-country championships, held over 4km at Plock Court, Gloucester Athletic Club took titles in two individual and one team categories. Arthur Daley placed 20th overall and first in the M60 age group whilst Dave Spackman finished in 24th position overall and took the M65 category. John McClean finished in 27th place, taking the silver medal in the V60 category in the process. The team took gold in the V60 section.

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100k Anglo-Celtic Plate (Perth) - 27/03/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s ultra–distance specialist, Jeremy Mower, set a new personal best for 100kms when competing for Wales in the Anglo-Celtic Plate road race in Perth on Sunday

Taking part in the event for a 7th consecutive year, thus equaling the record number of appearances in this competition for a Welshman, Mower finished 19th of the 46 runners, and third Wales runner, in a time of 8 hrs 18 mins 34 seconds – an improvement of 8 minutes on his previous best time for the distance.

England’s domination of the men’s category came to an end as the emerging squads of Scotland and Ireland took first and second places respectively. England finished third, with the Welsh team fourth.

In an exciting women’s race, Wales took the honours for the first time in the history of the event, by the narrowest of margins.

Afterwards, Mower said “This was by far the most competitive 100kms race that I have ever raced in. The standard of ultra-distance racing is improving in the UK every year and I shall have a tough job to gain selection next time round”.

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Training update - 24/03/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club re-commence their outdoor training sessions at the Black Bridge track next Tuesday (29th March) with supervised coaching for all disciplines.

Former county cross-country and road runner, Kerry Newell, has now joined the coaching team and shall take responsibility for the junior middle-distance group.

Club coaching officer, Bob Purcell, says: “Having Kerry on board will help plug a gap that we have in our coaching set-up. The junior middle distance section is one that we really want to develop this year and we’re looking forward to her joining the team”.

The club offers training for all age groups from the age of 8 years old.

Training sessions start at 6:45pm prompt until 8:00pm and shall continue through to mid-September.

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Reading Half Marathon - 20/03/2011

Christine Campbell was Gloucester Athletic Club’s sole competitor in this year’s Reading Half Marathon and finished in a time of 1:47:02.

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SIS Lightning 12-hr Relay - 20/03/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club won the SIS Lightning 12-hour relay at Eastnor Castle, near Ledbury last Sunday at their very first attempt.

Run on a tough, hilly course around the castle and nearby Malvern Hills, the Gloucester quintet of Gemma Collier, Dave Gresswell, Wayne Mayer, Dom Malsom and captain-for-the-day, Ian Summers, completed 17 laps of the testing 5.6 mile course in 11 hours 50 minutes, a new course record.

Individual honours went to Collier and Mayer, who recorded the fastest ladies and men’s lap times of the day, whilst Malsom was competing in his first event for nearly 12 months.

Afterwards, a tired Summers said “This was the first time any of us had tried this sort of event, so we were going into it blind. It was a really well-organised event and we are absolutely delighted with the win!”

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Primary Schools Cross Country - 19/03/2011

Three of Gloucester Athletic club’s youngest members competed at various primary schools cross-country events at the weekend.

In the Minsterworth Challenge 2011, a competition that involved youngsters from the Minsterworth, Tibberton, Churcham and Huntley schools, 10 year-old Sophie Green helped her Tibberton school mates to win the team prize when she finished fifth.

Elsewhere, 10 year-olds Tegan Phelps and Ellie Cruise placed 79th and 88th respectively when representing Kingsway School in the county Primary Schools Cross-Country event at Katherine Lady Berkeley School in Wotton-under-Edge.

All three girls are products of Gloucester AC’s “FUNdamentals” scheme run by Jeremy Mower, who said “These girls are starting to show promise, especially as they were all competing against children one year older than themselves. I shall be watching how they progress over the next year”.

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Midlands Road Relays - 19/03/2011

Gloucester AC men’s and women’s teams were both in action at the Midlands twelve and six stage road relays at Sutton park on Saturday finishing in 16th and ninth places respectively.

Irish International Rose Anne Galligan got the women’s team off to a flying start taking the lead straight from the gun before handing over to Anne Marie Edwards with an 11 second advantage. Galligan’s time of 16:46 was the third fastest overall for the three mile circuit. Edwards ran 21:43 to finish in ninth place and Helen Davies (21:50) was in 16th place at the halfway stage. Gemma Collier ran a storming fourth leg of 18:40 to gain 10 postions and take the team back up to sixth. Jane Leckebush (21:57) handed over to Michelle Stark in 10th and the team captain gained one place for ninth overall and first Gloucestershire team.

The men’s 12 stage team finished in a creditable 16th place. Andy Renfree got the team off to a solid start on the competitive first long leg completing the 5.38 mile lap in 29:14 and handing over in 16th place. Track star Andy De-Camps ran a good short leg (16:46) to finish in 18th handing over to Alistair Wakefield (18:45) who dropped two places. On the second long leg Richard De-Camps had the run of the day with an impressive 28:57 which gained two places back up to 18th. Dave Gresswell (17:17) and Jeremy Mower (17:43) ran the next two legs to keep the team in 19th at the halfway stage. Luke Herbert ran the third long leg in 30:48 and 19th position was held by Wayne Mayer (18:04) and Arthur Daley (18:46) on legs eight and nine. The final long leg was run by team manager Simon Fortnam (31:05) before debutant Matt Powell (19:13) gained two places and Tom Randles (17:01) continued his return to fitness by gaining one position on the final short leg.

Results:

Ladies 6-Stage:

9 Gloucester AC 2:01:35

R Galligan (1) 16:46; Edwards Anne M (9) 21:43; Helen Davies (16) 21:50; Gemma Collier(6) 18:40; Jane Leckebush(10) 21:57; Michelle Stark (9) 20:39

Mens 12-Stage:

16 Gloucester AC 4:23:39

Andrew Renfree (16) 29:14; A De-Camps (18) 16:46; A Wakefield(20) 18:45; R De-Camps(18) 28:57; D Gresswell(20) 17:17; Jeremy Mower (19) 17:43; Luke Herbert(19) 30:48; Wayne Mayer (19) 18:04; Arthur Daley(19) 18:46; Simon Fortnam(19) 31:05; Matt Powell (17) 19:13; Tom Randles (16) 17:01

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Gloucester 20 - 13/03/2011

There was an exciting tussle at the head of the annual 20-mile road race organised by Gloucester Athletic Club around Quedgeley and Haresfield on Sunday.

Peter Freedman of Coventry Godiva Harriers set a blistering pace for the first two miles when he was caught by Michael Aspinall (Tipton Harriers), who headed the UK 20 mile ranking list for 2010. The pair ran together, testing each other, until the 15-mile mark when Freedman put in his bid for victory, winning his debut 20 mile event in 1 hour 49 minutes, 24. Aspinall, clearly easing off in the latter stages, finished second in 1:54:20.

There was also a battle for third place, where Matt Giles of Bromsgrove & Redditch held off the spirited challenge of Christopher Riley of Bedford & County to prevail in 1:59:44 to 1:56:50.

Wayne Mayer led the Gloucester AC contingent home, running an excellent 2:12:36 for 20th place. Lee Smith, running his second race in two days, was next home, in 29th in a time of 2:17:35 – an encouraging run, given his recent injury problems. Dave Gresswell, also in his second race of the weekend, finished in 74th position with 2:32:11, with Terry Onions 170th in 2:52:09.

In the ladies race, Louise Gardner of Lancaster & Morecambe AC justified her position at the top of the 2010 UK 20-mile ranking lists, winning in 2:08:45. She was pushed all the way by Westbury Harriers’ Emma D’Alton, who knocked over seven minutes off her personal best time to place second in 2:09:22.

Like many of the 300-plus competitors in the field, Gloucester AC’s Michelle Stark was using this event as a long training run for her London Marathon preparations and finished in 173rd place in a time of 2:52:57.

Gloucester AC Chairman, Andy McKenzie, said afterwards, “I was delighted at how smoothly this event ran. Our acting Race Director, Arthur Daley, has worked tirelessly in recent weeks to make sure all points were covered and he received great support from our non-running members. This is a big event in the lead-up to the London Marathon and it’s important that we show people that we can put on a good race.”

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British Masters Cross-Country Championships (Birmingham) - 12/03/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club fared well in the British Masters Cross-country championships at Perry Park in Birmingham on Saturday.

The men’s team made their debut at these championships and came away with an excellent fourth place in the 35-44 year category, run over 8kms.

Team captain Dave Gresswell (M40) was first home for the team in 79th place in 30 mins 42 seconds. M45 Lee Smith just achieved his target of a top 100 position, by placing 100th in 31:49, with Ian summers completing the scoring team in 121st place in 32:41.

M60 Arthur Daley finished 115th overall and sixth in his category, missing out on the bronze medal by just 37 seconds in a time of 32:28.

In the ladies event, run over 6kms, Michelle Stark battled bravely through a stomach muscle strain to finish 80th overall, in 28:10.

Gresswell was pleased with the club’s showing, saying “This was the first time we have entered a team at these championships and I think we were all taken back at how competitive the race was, for a Masters event. We’ll definitely be back next year and hoping to bring back some medals.”

27/02/11 Bourton 10k - 27/02/2011

Rose-Anne Galligan was Gloucester Athletic Club’s sole representative at Sunday’s Bourton 10km road race organised by Bourton Road Runners.

Making a rare appearance on the roads this winter, she stormed home in 19th place overall in 35 mins 08 seconds to take the women’s 1st prize by a convincing margin.

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White Horse 5 Mile (Sandhurst) - 26/02/2011

Several Gloucester Athletic Club members took part in the Severn AC-organised Winter 5 Mile road race at the White Horse, Sandhurst on Saturday.

The highlight was Arthur Daley’s run, lowering the Club’s M60 best to 30 mins 43 secs, in 12th place overall and first in the M60 category. Daley’s run was all the more encouraging given this was his second race of the week and that he had produced some below-par performances in training.

At the front of the field, there were solid runs from club cross-country captain, Dave Gresswell, who finished 5th overall and first M45 in 28 mins 58, and a top 10 placing for Peter Lloyd, who finished 8th in 29 mins 48 secs.

Three other members of the Gloucester AC endurance squad also managed personal best times on the fast and relatively flat Sandhurst course. Matt Powell (16th), Matt Drinkwater (20th) and Merlin Tolley (24th) all took large chunks of time off their previous bests.

Michelle Stark, picked up both the first lady and lady V35 prizes on the day when placing 27th overall in 34 mins 20.

Gary Hamilton and Mike Anderton both ran well, despite both having come straight to the race from work. Hamilton finished 33rd, followed by Anderton in 41st.

Gloucester AC finishers and times:

Dave Gresswell 5th 28mins 58secs; Pete Lloyd 8th 29mins 48secs; Arthur Daley 12th 30mins 43secs; Matt Powell 16th 31mins 37secs; Matt Drinkwater 20th 32mins 15secs; Merlin Tolley 24th 33mins 30secs; Michelle Stark 27th 34mins 20secs; Gary Hamilton 33rd 37mins 12secs; Mike Anderton 41st 46mins 21secs.

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Bridge Inn 5k (Kingswood, Bristol) - 22/02/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club was well represented at the fourth race of the 2010-11 Bridge Inn 5km Road Race series in Kingswood, Bristol on Tuesday.

First Gloucester runner home was club cross-country captain, Dave Gresswell. His time of 17 mins 46 secs giving him 24th place overall and 2nd in the M45 category.

Next in was Arthur Daley who continued his current run of good form with a time of 18:50, in 43rd position overall and 1st in the M60 age group. He was followed by Matt Drinkwater in his 5km debut in 50th position, his time of 19:33 showing excellent potential. A newcomer to racing this Winter, Drinkwater shall be aiming to lower his best times for 5km and five miles over the coming year.

Next home, in 61st place overall, was Michelle Stark – 3rd lady and 1st W35. Her time of 20:20 was another 5km personal best and another step forward to her season’s target of a sub 20 minute run. Mike Anderton was the final Gloucester athlete home in 108th place with a time of 28:17.

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RAF Invitation - 16/02/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s leading lady sprinter, Sophie Lambert, has been in sparkling form in recent indoors races. She opened her winter season at the January Open Meeting at Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena, winning the 60m in an encouraging 8.04 seconds.

On 9th February, Lambert returned to the NIA to compete for Birmingham University in the annual inter-varsity match against Brunel, Loughborough, Bath and UWIC. Competing against a top-class field, she placed 3rd in a new personal best time of 7.93 seconds. One week later, she improved that time further to 7.89 seconds when winning the 60m at an RAF Invitational match at the Sheffield Arena.

Other races are on the horizon in the coming weeks before Lambert turns her attention back to finishing her medical studies in the Spring before embarking on what she hopes will be a fruitful outdoor season.

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Dursley Dozen - 13/02/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Peter Lloyd finished 22nd overall and first O50 in the annual Dursley Dozen multi-terrain race on Sunday with a time of 92 mins 14 seconds.

Club mate Matt Drinkwater, in his first attempt at this event, was 82nd in 102 mins 42 seconds with V55 Terry Onions the next Gloucester runner home in 193rd in 114 mins 16 seconds.

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MCAA Indoor Championships - 13/02/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Ireland international, Rose-Ann Galligan, was the pick of the club’s athletes as she took an excellent 400m/800m double at the Midland Counties Indoors Championships in Birmingham at the weekend.

She opened up with a victory in her speciality, the 800m, in a season’s best 2mins 07.66 on the first day of competition before returning the next day to win the 400m in another season’s best time of 56.35 seconds.

Young multi-eventer, Kate Davies, also had a busy weekend. She took sixth place in the U17 girls high jump with a clearance of 1.45m and followed this up with another sixth place in the long jump, with a leap of 4.30m. She finished off with a seventh place in the shot putt, throwing a season’s best 7.63m.

In the U15 girls shot putt, Lucy Humphreys was just 18 cms off the bronze medal as she threw a new personal best 7.75m in sixth place. It was, however, good enough to win the South-West U15 girls title that was incorporated in the competition.

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Aviva European Trials and UK Indoor Championships - 12/02/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Gemma Turtle took an excellent 2nd place and silver medal behind established GB international Helen Clitheroe in the women’s 3000m at the Aviva European Trials and UK Indoor Championships at Sheffield on Saturday.

Turtle’s time of 8mins 57.24 was a season’s best and less than two seconds behind Clitheroe.

Also competing in the Championships was the club’s leading middle distance runner, Andrew de-Camps, who found himself drawn in the fastest 800m heat of the day. Despite producing another fast time, recording 1min 52.37 which was the 10th quickest time of the day, it was only good enough for 5th place in his heat and not quite enough to progress to the final.

De-Camps now turns his attentions to this weekend’s British Universities Indoors Championships at Sheffield where he will be aiming to improve on his best-ever placing in these championships of 8th.

Training partner Nico Constanti is struggling to reproduce his outdoor form on the boards and recorded a time of 1min 55.51 for 5th place in his 800m heat. This was, however, his first experience of competing at this level and will stand him in good stead as he now concentrates on his preparation for the outdoor season.

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Birmingham & District Cross-Country League - 12/02/2011

Despite producing a season’s best points total and a host of individual personal best placings, Gloucester AC men’s team have returned to Division Two of the Birmingham & District Cross Country League after just one season in the top flight.

As always, the team battled hard in the final fixture at Abington Park, Northampton on Saturday but their tally of 506 points wasn’t enough to avoid the drop after finishing in 15th position.

On the undulating and challenging parkland course Richard De Camps, in 46th place, had an excellent race to lead the team home in his first Division One top 50 finish. Next to finish was Luke Herbert in 72nd, two places higher than his best ever placing achieved in the previous league race.

A good battle for third, fourth, fifth and sixth scorers developed between Simon Fortnam, Jeremy Mower, Dave Gresswell and Lee Smith who found themselves running together at the end of the first lap. Fortnam and Mower pulled away in the second half of the race to finish 88th and 94th respectively in their best cross country races of the winter. Club captain Gresswell held off Smith on the last lap to complete the A team in 101st and 105th positions.

Ian Summers was first scorer for the B team in a seasons best 118th followed closely in by new comers Stephen Haines, Omar Alim and Matthew Aspinall in 121st, 122nd and 126th. The team was completed by Matt Powell in 137th and Paul Loveridge in 151st.

After the race cross country captain Dave Gresswell said “We tried our best but in the end we weren’t good enough to stay up. We had several key athletes missing through injury and we don’t have enough top quality athletes in reserve needed to compete at this very high level. We will go back to division two to rebuild and try to return stronger than we are now. It’s been a great experience for our athletes to compete at this level and now they know what needs to be done to become a good division one athlete.”

Former Gloucester resident and Severn AC member Josh Lilly finished second in the race for his new club Tipton Harriers.

Results:

1 Paul Miles (OWLS) 32:24; 2 Josh Lilly (Tipton) 32:45; 46 Richard De Camps (Glos) 36:05; 72 Luke Herbert (Glos) 37:19; 88 Simon Fortnam (Glos) 38:50; 94 Jeremy Mower (Glos) 39:18; 101 Dave Gresswell (Glos) 39:54; 105 Lee Smith (Glos) 40:04; 118 Ian Summer (Glos) 41:12; 121 Stephen Haines (Glos) 41:29; 122 Omar Alim 41:39; 126 Matthew Aspinall (Glos) 42:02; 137 Matt Powell (Glos) 43:36; 151 Paul Loveridge (Glos) 49:13.

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Inter-Varsity Indoor Match - 09/02/2011

Gloucester AC’s leading lady sprinter, Sophie Lambert, reduced her indoors personal best for 60m at the recent Inter-Varsity Indoors Match at Birmingham. Competing for Birmingham University, she placed 3rd in the 60m A race in a time of 7.93 seconds.

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May Hill Massacre - 06/02/2011

Peter Lloyd led the large Gloucester AC contingent home in the 5th annual May Hill Massacre race on Sunday. In his final warm-up race before next weekend’s gruelling Cotswold Marathon, Lloyd finished in 23rd place overall and 2nd in the V50 category with a time of 62 mins 53 seconds.

Dave Gresswell, in his second race in two days, finished in 31st place (64:45), with Ian Summers next to finish in 34th place with 65:11, whilst Arthur Daley finished in 78th position in 70:20, good enough to take second place in the V60 category.

Leigh Nelmes finished in 169th place overall in 77:20 with V50 Terry Onions next Gloucester runner home in 185th with 78:34.

First Gloucester club lady home was Michelle Stark (188th overall) whose 78:45 was her fastest time ever for this course, with Nikki Marshall next lady home in 280th place overall in 84:57.

Next home, and in his first race in city colours, was another V50 Gary Hamilton in 304th place overall, in 86:42, with another lady, Christine Campbell, finishing in 356th place in 91:45.

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Radcliffe 10 - 06/02/2011

Just one day after competing in the Gloucestershire Cross-Country League race at Plock Court, two of Gloucester AC’s new signings, Steven Haines and Matthew Aspinall, travelled north to race the Radcliffe 10 mile trail race.

In what both runners described as the most challenging race they had ever done, Aspinall finished in a very credible 20th place in 70 mins 22 seconds, while Haines finished in 29th position, in 71 mins 35 seconds.

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Gloucestershire Cross-Country League (Plock Court) - 05/02/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club used the final round of this season’s Gloucestershire Cross-country League races at Plock Court to give their development squad much-needed race practise and they did not disappoint as the team took fourth place on the day.

Team captain, Dave Gresswell, was once again first club runner to finish in 30th place, closely followed home by ultra-distance specialist Jeremy Mower, in 34th position.

Next in for the city team was V60 Arthur Daley, who continued his remarkable winter, coming home in 47th place with Dave Lucas just behind in 50th place. Two newcomers were next home, with Omar Alim in 53rd place and Steven Haines in 54th, the first time that both runners have finished in the scoring six for the city squad.

Matthew Aspinall (73rd) and Matt Drinkwater in 81st place were the next runners home for Gloucester, both having only taken up running this winter, and the team was made up by Mark Thrall in 100th place.

Afterwards, Gresswell said “I’m pleased with the way the new boys are starting to race regularly. When you are new to the sport, as they are, it is important to get as many races under your belt as you can. Only then will you be able to test and judge yourself against some of the best runners in the area.”

Results:

(Individual) 1st Martin Cox (Salford H) 30mins 42; 2nd Charlie MacLean (U/A) 30:55; 3rd John Parker (CLC Striders) 30:59. 130 ran.

(Team) 1st Chelt & Co H 80 pts; 2nd Clevedon 124; 3rd CLC Striders 211; 4th Gloucester 268. 13 teams finished.

In the senior ladies’ race, the two Gloucester runners competing both achieved top 20 placings. Gemma Collier finished in 10th place whilst team captain Michelle Stark placed 19th.

Welsh Open Championships - 29/01/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Gemma Turtle ran in an open 3000m race at the Cardiff indoor centre at the weekend. She was first lady home in a season’s best time of 9 mins 06.27 seconds.

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Gloucester Christmas 5 - 29/01/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club runners – many of them new to the sport – featured strongly in the Quedgeley 5-mile road race in aid of the Methodist church roof appeal at the weekend.

Matt Aspinall was the first club runner home in 9th place. His time of 31 mins 25 seconds was a personal best for the distance. His coach and mentor, Arthur Daley, was next home in 7th place, in 31 mins 34 seconds – good enough to take him to 2nd place on the V60 national rankings for the season.

Matt Powell recorded a personal best of 31 mins 59 in 8th place, with another newcomer Steven Haines also setting a personal best in 9th place with 32 mins 12 seconds.

Matt Drinkwater, another runner in his first race in Gloucester colours, reduced his personal best by over four minutes when recording 32 mins 50 seconds in 12th place, with Merlin Tolley also setting a new best of 33 mins 45 seconds in 16th place. The group of newcomers was completed by Mark Rickard who ran 35 mins 09 seconds.

Phil Du Plessis and Mike Anderton completed the Gloucester men’s contingent, both running stronger second halves of the race to record 37 mins 15 and 45:58 respectively.

Club ladies cross-country captain, Michelle Stark, recorded her third personal best in seven days when finishing 3rd lady and 13th overall in 33 mins 34 seconds whilst Christine Campbell ran a steady race to finish in 38 mins 29 seconds for 36th.

Afterwards, Daley was delighted with the times of his runners, saying “These lads are new to running and they all set new personal best times. I’m hoping that we can get them fit and racing regularly over the next year so that they can break into the cross-country teams in the next season.”

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Track & Field team captains are named - 27/01/2011

Gloucester AC has announced its senior track & field team captains for the 2011 season.

Justin Sysum will be team captain whilst Alex Purcell will be the vice-captain for the Midland League fixtures.

In a break from recent policy, team manager Richard Blackwell says “Because of the sheer volume of work involved in managing a combined team on match days, we really need a captain and vice-captain to get around and gee-up the athletes. Justin and Alex are ideal for that role because they are very committed athletes and well-respected by the rest of the team. They will do a good job.”

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Bridge Inn 5km (Bristol) - 25/01/2011

A small number of Gloucester Athletic Club runners travelled down to Kingswood, Bristol to compete in the Bridge Inn 5km road race.

Arthur Daley finished in 29th place overall in 18 mins 42 secs, winning the V60 category and bettering his own club best by 18 seconds. His time – his fastest since 2006 – takes him to the top of the age-group national ranking for the winter season.

Michelle Stark, a member of Daley’s growing training group, finished in 50th place overall and first in the L35 category. Her time of 20 mins 32 secs was a personal best by 20 seconds.

Another member of Daley’s group, Phil Du Plessis, finished in 68th place with 22 mins 34 secs and the Gloucester contingent was made up by Mike Anderton who comfortably best his pre-race target by running 26 mins 55 secs for 97th place.

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IPC Athletic Championships - 23&24/01/2011

Silver medal for Beverley

Gloucester AC’s Beverley Jones set a new personal best to win the silver medal in the F37 category of the discus competition at the International Paralympic Committee World Games in Christchurch, New Zealand last week.

Jones’s throw of 30.62m was just 84cm down on the winning mark set by China’s Ma Ni.

Jones also competed in the F37 Shot Putt the next day and threw a season’s best 9.89m to place fifth.

Jones will now turn her attentions to the 2012 London Paralympics where she will look to go one better in the discus and bring back the gold medal.

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Gloucester 50km - 23/01/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s ultra distance specialist, Jeremy Mower, competed in the Gloucester 50km road race around Quedgeley and Longney last weekend (23rd) and finished in a respectable 3 hours 49 mins 35 seconds, a new Gloucester club V45 best time.

Mower said afterwards “I’m pleased with that run because although I was suffering from stomach cramps throughout, my legs felt full of running at the end.”

All of which augurs well as he prepares for the Celtic Plate 100 km road race in Scotland in March.

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Welsh Indoor Championships (Cardiff) - 23/01/2011

There was a sense of "deja vu" for Gloucester Athletic Club’s Andrew De Camps at the Welsh Indoors Championships at Cardiff where, once again, he picked up silver medal in the 800m final behind GB International Steve Davies of Belgrave Harriers. In a slow run final, which only came to life in the final 250m, De Camps crossed the line in 1min 56.14 seconds to win his third silver medal, to add to his three bronze medals.

De Camps’s training partner and Gloucester AC team-mate, Nico Constanti, was also in action in the 800m, recording 1min 59.13 for third place in his heat.

Afterwards, De Camps said “I’m disappointed not to win the gold medal, but my fitness is improving each week and I’m looking to run faster in the coming weeks at Birmingham and Sheffield.”

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Mower stands down - 16/01/2011

After six seasons as Gloucester Athletic Club’s senior track & field team manager, Jeremy Mower is to stand down to devote more time to his ultra-distance training. Mower’s decision coincides with his selection for the Wales team that shall contest the annual Anglo-Celtic Plate 100 km road race in Perth, Scotland, in March.

He said “Obviously, I hope that the Anglo-Celtic Plate race shall lead to more opportunities to race for Wales and, hopefully, the Great Britain team. This is too good an opportunity to turn down, but it means I shall not have the time to put in the training required for ultra-distance races as well as manage our combined men’s & ladies team in the Midland League this summer, so something had to give”.

Mower first took the helm of the Gloucester track & field team in 2004 when the club had only a small number of specialist track athletes and were in Division 5 of the Midland League. Under his guidance, the team won their division that year and, over the following couple of seasons, the team grew in numbers and stature to become one of the strongest in the county.

Mower says “We re-entered the Midland League in 2001 after a period of re-building and gradually rose up through the divisions thanks to a talented young throwing group and a couple of multi-event athletes, eventually reaching the second division. The league was then re-structured in 2008 to a combined men’s and ladies competition. This meant a lot more work but we achieved promotion in the first season of the new league and narrowly missed out on promotion in our second".

Are there any aspects of the job that Mower shall miss? “I’ll miss the daily involvement, but still plan to race in some of the meetings so I shall still have contact with the team” he says. And any aspects that he won’t miss? “The annual season’s-end ritual of being thrown into the steeplechase water jump!”

Mower shall be replaced by Richard Blackwell, captain of the successful city teams during their 1980s glory days.

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Welsh Masters XC - 16/01/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Jeremy Mower competed at the Cardiff Cross Country Challenge that incorporated the Welsh Masters championships at the weekend, finishing 15th overall and fifth in a hotly-contested M45 category race.

The 6.8km course had been badly cut up due to torrential rain and several races being held earlier in the day. Mower started off steady and moved through the field on the final lap of the three lap race, before producing a sprint over the last 100 metres to gain his fifth place.

Afterwards, Mower said that he was satisfied with his run and looking forward to the Gloucester 50km road race on January 23rd.

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Midland Counties Open - 15&16/01/2011

Several Gloucester athletes displayed encouraging winter form at the Midland Counties open meetings at the weekend, none more so than Gareth Winter who set two new club best performances in the shot putt and discus events.

The 18 year-old started the day by winning the senior men’s discus with a throw of 42.60m and followed this up by winning the senior men’s shot putt with a distance of 12.81m – both distances were club best performances by an U20 with senior-weight implements, beating the previous records which were held by Dafydd Farr.

Another junior, Tim Campion, was 3rd in the senior men’s discus with 29.07m.

The hammer throwers were also on good form. Kate Yhnell took 2nd place in the senior women’s event with 44.74m and Anna Robertson set a new personal best in 4th place with a throw of 43.41m.

Wayne Powell took 3rd place in the senior men’s hammer event with a throw of 56.88m and youngster Jacob Lange placed 4th in the U17s competition with 37.19m.

The meeting combined indoors and outdoors events and club no.1 sprinter Sophie Lambert showed excellent form to clinch victory in the ladies 60m with a time of 8.04 seconds.

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Birmingham Cross-Country League Div1 (Coventry) - 15/01/2011

Despite producing another gritty performance, Gloucester Athletic Club’s senior men were taught a harsh lesson in round three of this season’s Birmingham Cross-country League Division One at Coventry on Saturday.

Gloucester fielded their strongest team of the campaign, welcoming back Andrew Renfree, Richard de Camps and Andrew de Camps, but still found themselves ending up in 15th place of the 16 teams, highlighting the sheer quality of the league.

The Birchfield pair of Jean Ndayisenga and Biniam Ande made light of the blustery and heavy conditions as they dominated the field, as they had done in the previous races of the season, to finish first and second respectively but, behind them, the Gloucester runners all showed great character and determination.

Andrew Renfree returned to lead the city club in 69th place, his best-ever Division One performance. He was closely followed in by Luke Herbert, who had his best run of this season to place 74th.

The younger of the de Camps brothers, Richard, also achieved a top 100 placing at this level for the first time when finishing in 94th, whilst his brother Andrew took a break from his indoor competitions to place 113th.

Another runner to produce his best run in a city vest for many months was Lee Smith, who was fifth man in for the team in 122nd, with Simon Fortnam completing the scoring six, just one place behind in 123rd.

The team’s tally of 599 points was a season’s best and this was backed up by a similar performance by the ‘B’ squad, which was led home by Mark Ingram in 129th place.

Not for the first time this season, team captain Dave Gresswell and V60 Arthur Daley were involved in a race-long battle with Gresswell again taking the honours in 134th place, with Daley coming home in 137th.

Two new signings, Steven Haines and Matt Aspinall, both making their Birmingham League debuts, were next to finish in 156th and 160th respectively, whilst another “new boy” this season, Matt Powell, completed the scoring for the ‘B’ team in 165th place.

The city’s contingent was completed by the evergreen pair of Paul Loveridge and Humphrey Phillips in 185th and 186th places.

Afterwards, team captain Gresswell said “I could not have asked for any more effort and commitment from this team today and I am very proud of them all. They all ran their best races of the season but our overall position shows that you need much, much more if you are to even survive in this division. The quality throughout the division is there for all to see.”

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County Awards - 12/01/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Steve Millward was voted as the recipient of the 2010 Gloucestershire AAA Athletics Achievement Award.

Millward had an excellent 2010 campaign, with impressive wins in road and cross-country events, culminating with the individual Birmingham Cross-Country League Division Two title. He met with even more success on the track in the summer, winning the Inter-counties, Midlands and South West 3000m steeplechase titles as well as numerous races over this distance for his club and the county.

Gloucester AC members picked up a wide range of awards at the annual event.

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Tribute to Mark Wright - 09/01/2011

Mark Wright, who died on 9th January 2011 aged 44, was probably the finest young local talent of his generation.

He was first persuaded to join Gloucester AC in 1982 as a 16 year-old, by his cousin Humphrey Euwin, and became a member of the club’s renowned sprint group.

Mark’s height made him stand out from his peers (even as a young teenager, he stood well over 6ft tall), but it was his performances on the track that singled him out as an outstanding prospect.

In his first summer of competing (1982), he appeared on the club’s record books for the first time, as a member of the Youth’s (now U17s) 4 x 100m relay team. Also in that team was Daron Subryan, with whom Mark had several seasons of intense, but friendly, rivalry as they both strove for the local bragging rights as the region’s top young sprinter.

There then followed several years of committed training and competition in which Mark started to show signs of his potential and he set about re-writing numerous club age-group records.

As a junior (U20), he equalled the club’s senior 200m record (21.7 seconds) and ran 10.7 seconds for the 100 metres. He also became a regular fixture in the club’s senior sprint relay squad and was a member of the team that still holds the senior club record for that event. His last Gloucester club record came in 1988 when, as a senior, he revised his 200m record with a 21.66 sec clocking.

It is a testament to Mark’s undoubted talent that those times have never been beaten by city athletes.

Mark contracted lupus, a condition that attacks the body’s immune system, which led to his leaving athletics. He was, however, able to turn his attention to various martial arts disciplines with considerable success.

Mark returned to athletics in a coaching capacity and, in recent years, was a coach to athletes with disabilities. Such was his talent as a coach, he was invited to work with the GB team that went to the 2004 Paralympics in Athens.

He lived with his wife, Sara, and two young children, Elliot and Eve, in Essex to where he moved in the early 2000s.

In December 2010, Mark ruptured knee ligaments and tendons in a fall in the icy conditions. He had surgery to repair the damage but developed a chill over Christmas, whilst in hospital. He returned home when the chill subsided, but when it recurred in early January, he was re-admitted to hospital on 9th January. He passed away that evening.

Mark Wright is tragically no longer with us but many Gloucester Athletic Club old boys and girls shall remember with great fondness his warmth, kindness and his humour. Sadly gone, but not forgotten. Bless you, Mark.

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UWIC Open Meeting (Cardiff) - 09/01/2011

Andrew De Camps opened his indoor season with a victory in the senior men’s 800 metres A race at the UWIC open meeting in Cardiff, with a time of 1min 55.56 seconds.

Former Gloucester-Severn athlete, Nick Walker, who now competes for his home town Swindon, competed in the M45 pole vault and finished 3rd, clearing 3.30m.

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Gloucester New Year 10 - 09/01/2011

Five Gloucester Athletic Club members competed in the first event promoted by the club in 2011, the New Year’s 10 mile road race.

Peter Lloyd led the way home for the Gloucester contingent in 64 mins 43 secs, earning him 12th place overall and first in the M50 category.

Club newcomer Matthew Aspinall was next city runner home, in 33rd place overall. His time of 69 mins 53 secs took some 20 minutes off his previous best time for the distance. He was followed in by another new signing, Mark Rickard, whose 74 mins 52 secs was good enough for 63rd place.

Christine Campbell’s 83 mins 03 secs gave her third place in the L35 category and 108th place.

Making up the Gloucester club’s contingent in 126th place was another newcomer, Steven Haines, in 85 mins 38 seconds.

Result:

1st Robert Fairley (Bitton RR) 58:07; 2nd Anthony Bailey (Almost Athletes) 59:04; 3rd Malcolm Treby (Team Bath) 61:17 4th Emma D’Alton (Westbury H) 61:20 (1st lady). 207 ran

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County Cross-Country Championships (Tewkesbury) - 08/01/2011

Gloucester Athletic Club’s youngsters showed further signs of their progress and improvement at the County Cross-Country Championships held at Tewkesbury at the weekend.

Leading the way was Adam Thrall in the U17 boys race. Wisely staying off the pace set by pre-race favourite and training partner, Kyran Hale of Severn AC, he became involved in a duel with Stroud’s Xander Brown. The two were locked together throughout the race before Thrall unleashed a fine sprint finish to prevail by just two seconds and take the silver medal. Further down the field, newcomer Jack Love finished in 8th place.

The U15 girls race saw Hannah Jones take 6th place, whilst Harry Wells just missed out on a medal in the U11 boys event, finishing in 4th place.

In the U11 girls event, Bryony Goddard-Jones continued her fine season against girls nearly two years older than herself, when finishing in 7th place.

Despite sending only a small team to compete, the senior members still came away with age-group medals.

In the men’s race, Jeremy Mower led the Gloucester contingent home in 21st position, to take silver medal in the V40 category. Arthur Daley continued his rich vein of form to finish 27th overall and take the V60 title. The race also saw a long overdue and welcome return to racing by Paul Nash who was involved in a race-long tussle with club-mate Matt Powell. Powell eventually prevailed in 36th place, with Nash one place back. Mike Anderton completed the Gloucester team in 57th place.

Michelle Stark was the club’s sole representative in the ladies event. She finished 13th overall, good enough to take the silver medal in the L35 category.

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Rudolph's Revenge 4 - 02/01/2011

Four members of Gloucester Athletic Club braved the cold to take part in the 1st annual open running of Cotswold Allrunners’ “Rudolph’s Revenge” four mile multi-terrain race at Painswick on Sunday.

In near-perfect conditions, the field set off at a gentle pace before the leading pack, including Gloucester’s Dave Gresswell and Ian Summers, began to inject some pace over an undulating, demanding course. Despite making a navigational error in the last mile of the race, Gresswell held on to the leading group to finish in 2nd place, with Summers not far behind in 4th place overall and first V40. Next home for Gloucester was the improving Matt Powell, in 7th, an excellent result as he had completed the Hereford 10km road race on the previous day.

Gemma Collier finished 2010 as Gloucester’s leading lady performer on the cross-country and road, and started 2011 in similar vein as she finished in 8th position overall and 2nd lady. Her prize for her efforts? More wine and chocolates!