News & Press Reports for 2013

Nos Galan New Year's Eve 5K - 31/12/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Alex George brought the curtain down on an extraordinary year with a flourish. Competing in the 55th running of the famous ‘Nos Galan’ Elite 5km New Years Eve road race in Mountain Ash, the City youngster placed 4th overall and first Junior Man in a high class field that included many of the best road runners in England and Wales. George’s time of 15:00 (he was actually timed at 14:59.98, which was rounded up0 was a new Gloucester AC junior club record, eclipsing the previous record (16:31, held by Simon Kellie) by over one and a half minutes.

George’s coach, Paul de-Camps, said “Alex has had an exceptional year on the country and track this year and with his first GB junior international less than two weeks’ away, we thought it would be nice for him to show his worth on the road before the year end.” This result came on the back of George’s England debut, when he took an excellent 15th place in the Lotto Cup international cross-country event in Brussels.

Training partner, Richard de-Camps, like George, also competing in his first individual road race of note, placed 11th overall in the senior men’s category to draw another highly consistent year to a close. 

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Sevens Sins Multi Terrain - 28/12/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club members competed in the recent Seven Sins multi-terrain events over a series of testing hills over a seven-mile course in the Forest of Dean.

Max Sheppard completed the course in 61:49, Colin Westbury recorded 68:42, Sue Higgins 68:56 and Denise Evans 76:17.

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Forest of Dean Christmas Tree Race - 15/12/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Richard de-Camps won the annual Forest of Dean Christmas Tree race for the third consecutive year just before Christmas. The course had been extended this year and, despite thigh-deep water and relentless muddy conditions, de-Camps dominated throughout and came home 5 minutes and 20 seconds ahead of the second-placed runner.

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Rudolph's Rampage - 15/12/2013

At the Rudolph’s Rampage 7.1km Fancy Dress festive event in Painswick on Sunday (15th), Gloucester Athletic Club’s Simon Fortnam dressed in an Elf’s costume took 2nd place. Newcomer Kirsty Branch placed 24th overall and second lady to earn her first multi-terrain prize. Rob Jordan placed 42nd and Sharon Harris 169th.

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Alex George completed a remarkable week when he secured a narrow win in the second of this season’s Birmingham Cross Country League fixtures at Nuneaton’s Burbage Common on Saturday (7th).

The win came just days after the Gloucester youngster had been selected to represent the England U20 team in the Lotto Cup Cross Country international event in Brussels on 22nd December to earn his first international vest, where he will be competing against runners two years older than himself.

In Saturday’s race, George again used his proven tactic of settling in the leading group for two thirds of the race before gradually winding up the pace and unleashing a strong finish to finish four seconds clear of second-placed Chris Perrin of Cannock & Staffs and a further five seconds ahead of third-placed Richard Harper of Leamington Spa.

George’s training partner, Richard de-Camps, produced a strong performance to place fifth, an improvement of five places on the first fixture, while another member of the Paul de-Camps stable, Paul Barlow placed 43rd.

Next to finish for the Gloucester team was Simon Fortnam, in 51st, with Lee Smith (67th) and Jeremy Mower (80th) bringing the ‘A’ team home in sixth place overall on the day.

The City club’s ‘B’ team was led home by Steve Haines in 97th, followed by Tom Randles in 120th.  Arthur Daley (126th) held off spirited challenges from Ian Summers (139th), Luke Herbert (153rd) and Matt Powell (163rd) as the reserve squad placed 4th among the ‘B’ teams.

Simon Barnes placed 202nd of the 281 finishers to complete the Gloucester contingent.

After the race, team captain Omar Alim was full of praise for the team, saying “Obviously we are delighted for Alex who again showed his class, but the whole team responded well to the challenge of being without two of our leading runners. We’re fourth overall at the half way stage, so all of our attention shall be on getting our strongest teams out for the remaining two matches”

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County Schools Cross Country Championships - 07/12/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s youngsters were in action at the Gloucestershire Schools Cross-Country Championships at Plock Court on Saturday (7th).

Dominic Tutton achieved the highest placing when he took second place in the Senior Boys event. Bethan Moor placed fourth in the Inter Girls race, with Heather Christie placing 33rd and Abi Pearce 36th. Will Staddon took fifth place in the Inter Boys race.

Harry Wells finished sixth in the Junior Boys race, whilst in the Minor Girls race, Elissa Moor placed 28th.

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Park Runs - 07/12/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Mike Mansfield was a clear winner of the latest Newent Parkrun event (7th), clocking 20:18. Clubmate Dave Spackman was 11th in 23:44. Sue Higgins ran the Colwick event in Nottingham and clocked 21:43 for 17th place. 

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Jurassic Coast Half Marathon - 07/12/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Wayne Mayer and Colin Westbury travelled to Dorset to compete in the Jurassic Coast Half Marathon, which is actually run over 16 miles. Mayer placed ninth of the 337 finishers, in 2:34:36 whilst Westbury placed 163rd in 3:25:40.

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Pomphrey Sports 5K - 03/12/2013

In the November running of the Pomphrey Sports 5km winter road race series, Arthur Daley placed 40th overall and second M60 in 19:08, his fastest time for over two years and a two minutes improvement since returning from injury in the summer.

Club newcomer Kirsty Branch (19) placed 76th in 22:16, a new personal best by two minutes, whilst Nicola Hovey placed 78th in 22:24, her second fastest ever clocking over the distance.

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Gillette Coach of the Year Awards - 03/12/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Anna Robertson rubbed shoulders with the likes of British & Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland and four-time Olympic champion Sir Ben Ainslie after she was nominated for a prestigious prize at the UK Coaching Awards in London.

Robertson, 24, was nominated as a West Midlands regional finalist for Gillette Community Coach of the Year in celebration of her efforts with Herefordshire Cricket and volunteer work in athletics and netball.

It is not the first time Robertson has been honoured this year – having received an award from England captain Alastair Cook in October for her outstanding contribution to cricket development in her native Herefordshire.

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Parkruns - 30/11/2013

At the Cheltenham 5km Parkrun event on Saturday (30th), Gloucester Athletic Club’s Matt Powell placed 18th in 19:28 whilst at the Newent event, youngster Briony Bishop continued her impressive series of results when placing 3rd in 22:16. Rob Jordan placed 7th in 23:33.

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British Athletics Cross Challenge, Liverpool - 23/11/2013

Three of Gloucester Athletic Club’s middle distance runners travelled north to Sefton Park, Liverpool for one of the major domestic cross-country events in the winter calendar.  The Liverpool Cross Challenge event doubled as British Athletics’ trial race for the European Cross-Country Championships with up to 6 athletes being selected to represent the British teams in Belgrade next month.

Alex George entered the U20 Men’s race with an outside chance of finishing in the top six and produced a typically gutsy performance.  Despite an early tumble which caused him to lose ground on the leading group, he made his way through the field on the second and final lap, gaining a number of places before producing his trademark strong finish to claim a highly creditable 8th position in his first year in the age group.  Although finishing just 9 seconds away from a position on the Great Britain junior team for Serbia, this performance should improve the Abbeymead youngster’s prospects of earning international recognition later in the cross-country season.  

Also in the U20 Men’s race was Alex’s twin brother, Thomas, who also performed strongly.  Wisely sitting off the lead group, he used the second lap to surge through the field, picking off runners as they tired from the fast early pace and soft underfoot conditions.  Thomas finished strongly claiming 25th position to put another solid cross-country performance under his belt before he turns his attention to his more favoured indoor racing in the New Year.

In a highly competitive Senior Men’s race, Richard de-Camps went up against the UK’s top distance runners and employed the same tactics as his younger training partners by starting off steadily before moving through the field. De-Camps progressed his position throughout the race to produce a much improved performance on his previous cross-country outing at the Birmingham League event at Leamington Spa two weeks ago, eventually placing a respectable 118th  of the 500 starters to round off a good day for the Gloucester trio.

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Park Runs - 23/11/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club members were in action in Parkrun events across the county at the weekend.

At Cheltenham, Matt Powell placed 9th in 19:10 whilst juniors Jude and Imogen Dowdeswell both reduced their personal bests. Jude, clocking 23:08 in 67th place and Imogen 30:54 in 166th.

At the Newent event, Mike Mansfield clocked 22:01 in second place, Beryl Sampson placed 8th in 23:02 and Rob Jordan placed 14th in 23:10.

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Swindon 10K - 17/11/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Simon Fortnam has been in a rich vein of form this autumn and on Sunday (17th) he ran his fastest 10km for three years when placing 9th in the Swindon 10km in atime of 35:43. Club-mate Max Sheppard knocked over one and a half minutes off his personal best when clocking 40:18 for 58th place.

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Park Runs - 16/11/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club members ran in the latest round of 5km Parkrun events around the county on Saturday (16th).

At the Newent event, Matt Powell, in his first race for nearly two months, crossed the line in first place in 20:56. Junior Briony Bishop set a new personal best of 22:04 in 6th, Rob Jordan placed 17th in 23:51 and Mike Mansfield 39th in 31:07. 

At Cheltenham, Alidia Vaile placed 52nd in 23:41 whilst Jude Dowdeswell set a new personal best of 24:22 in 66th place. Imogen Dowdeswell also set a new personal best in 165th place, clocking 31:47.

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Birmingham Cross Country League - Race 1 - 09/11/2013

A splendid win by youngster Alex George in his first senior cross-country race saw Gloucester Athletic Club’s men secure second place in the team event in the opening Birmingham Cross-Country League Division Two race at Newbold Comyn in Leamington Spa on Saturday.

Over the past 18 months, George has established himself as one of the country’s top juniors and Saturday’s race was his first opportunity to step up and pit his wits against the best senior cross-country runners in the region as all of the clubs in the Birmingham League compete against each other in this, the opening race of the campaign.

A good start saw the Abbeymead youngster take early control of the field and with solid support from twin brother Thomas and training partner Richard de-Camps, the City team were in a strong position at the half-way stage.

Alex crossed the line in 36:38, just seventeen seconds ahead of nearest rival Chris Perrins from Cannock & Staffs, Thomas finished in 8th place and Richard in 10th.

Further back, Simon Fortnam continued his run of good form to finish in 37th, with Paul Barlow finishing in 45th and Jeremy Mower completing the scoring six in 52nd place. The team finished with 153 points, 17 behind Bournville Harriers (136). Cannock & Staffs finished in 3rd place with 180 points.

The City reserves all performed well. Lee Smith led the ‘B’ team home, in 59th place, with Matt Boon placing 72nd. Steve Haines, in his first race back for the City in two years, finished just outside the top 100, in 106th, with Dave Gresswell following closely in 111th. Arthur Daley placed 134th and Ian Summers 139th to secure 3rd place for the squad in the ‘B’ team competition with 621 points.

Gloucester’s other finishers were Tom Randles (170th), Luke Herbert (171st), Simon Barnes (195th), Paul Loveridge (258th), Merlin Tolley (259th) and Rob Jordan (274th).

Team captain Omar Alim said after the match: ”It was important that we got a good result today and I thought our youngsters were superb. It’s given us the start we needed if we are to give ourselves a chance of promotion and the ‘B’ team showed that we’ve got strength in the reserves. But we can’t be complacent, this is a tough league and we must be at our very best if we want to go up.”

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Parkruns - 09/11/2013

A group of Gloucester Athletic Club’s promising junior athletes competed at the Cheltenham 5km Parkrun on Saturday.

Alidia Vaile placed 69th in 23:46, whilst Jude Dowdeswell set a new personal best for the distance of 24:27 in 84th place.

Imogen Dowdeswell clocked 32:55 for 195th place in her first parkrun and Gabrielle Vaile finished just behind in 197th in 33:00.

At the Newent Parkrun event, junior Briony Bishop placed 6th in 22:40 and Beryl Sampson finished in 66th place in 45:58.

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Tewkesbury Guy Fawkes 5 - 03/11/2013

A group of Gloucester Athletic Club members, many of whom had competed in the Gloucestershire Cross-Country League fixture at Cheltenham, took part in the Tewkesbury AC Guy Fawkes Five-mile road race on Sunday (3rd).

James Head placed 27th in 31:07, Beryl Sampson finished 81st overall and first W55 in 35:01 and Dave Spackman placed 110th overall and 2nd M65 in 36:47. Spackman’s placing gave him 1st place in this year’s County Road Race series for the M65 category.

Rob Jordan placed 126th in 37:47 and Denise Evans 130th overall and second L50 in 37:56 to take silver medal in the County Series.

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Gloucestershire Cross Country League - 02/11/2013

Seniors:

Gloucester Athletic Club sent a development squad to contest the second of the season’s Gloucestershire Cross country League fixtures at Pittville Park in Cheltenham on Saturday (2nd).

With the senior team’s leading runners preparing for next Saturday’s Birmingham League opener, the Gloucestershire League gives the fringe runners the opportunity to feature in the scoring team.

Simon Fortnam has made a promising start to this campaign following a year out through injury and he led the team home in 39th place. After wards, he said “I was satisfied with that run because the conditions were difficult, but it was a good pointer to my fitness level and I’ll be looking to secure a regular place in the Birmingham League scoring team during the coming winter.”

Newcomer John Gormley was the second runner to score, placing 60th, as he continues to establish himself in the City’s senior squad. The next two runners home were established veterans and mainstays of the Club’s endurance group Dave Gresswell and Arthur Daley, placing 82nd and 118th respectively. Daley was 2nd in the M60 category.

Behind them, Max Sheppard continued his return to fitness after injury, placing 130th, just ahead of James Head who placed 134th to complete the scoring six. The team placed 13th on the day.

Simon Barnes was the first of the reserves to finish, in 188th place, with Russell Kirby (218th), Rob Jordan (222nd), Clive Poole (230th) and Chris O’Carroll (253rd) making up the rest of the squad.

Rose-Anne Galligan was heading for a top three finish in a very competitive senior ladies race but suffered a shoe malfunction when clearing the notorious brook on the Pittville course. The spike plate on one of her shoes was damaged, causing her drop out of the race when in a strong position.

That left Beryl Sampson to lead the Gloucester ladies home in 51st place and with Sue Higgins (54th) and Nicola Hovey (74th), the City club finished a scoring team for the second time this season. Emma Jeffery (75th) and Trudy Wells (138th) provided good back-up support.

Juniors:

Gloucester Athletic Club’s junior athletes showed encouraging early season form at the Gloucestershire Cross-Country League fixture at Pittville Park on Saturday (2nd).

In the U15 Girls race, Bethan Moor ran a well-judged race to place 6th, with team-mate Abi Pearce finishing in 17th place.

In the U15 Boys race, Will Staddon led the City team home when placing 7th. Harry Wells (24th) and Andrew McPeake (35th) secured 5th place for the team.

Briony Bishop took an excellent 6th place in a tight finish in the U13 Girls race and with solid support from Alidia Vaile (16th) and Laura McPeake (17th) the team took 3rd place. Jude Dowdeswell placed 34th and Elissa Moor finished in 52nd place.

In the U11 Girls race, the City team of Gabrielle Vaile (40th), Alexandria Nicholls (61st) and Sydney Nicholls (63rd) placed 16th.

Kerry Newell, lead coach of the Club’s junior endurance group, said afterwards: “We’ve been encouraging the youngsters to compete in the local cross-country league races this season. The more experience of racing they get, the better they’ll all become, so I’m really encouraged by the performances today.”

Pomphrey Sports 5K - 29/10/2013

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Stroud Half Marathon – 27/10/2013

Nathan Smith led a large Gloucester Athletic Club contingent home in this year’s Stroud Half Marathon (27th), placing 39th overall in 81:25.

The strong winds and heavy rain did not deter Matt Boon as he crossed the line in 45th place in a new personal best 83:25, whilst James Head produced another consistent run to place 68th in 85:51, his third time inside 86 minutes in two months.

Dave Gresswell was next to finish, just behind in 72nd place in a season’s best 86:35, whilst Max Sheppard was delighted with his first run back following injury, placing 156th in 92:42.

Hayley Winters led the Gloucester ladies home. Just two weeks after a disappointing run in the Chicago Marathon, she placed 158th in 93:00. Another lady, Denise Evans, was next to finish, 431st in 1:44:56 whilst veteran Dave Spackman placed 442nd overall and first M65 in 1:45:12.

Sharron Harris clocked a personal best 1:49:10 in 571st place, Nicola Hovey placed 618th in 1:51:16 and Clive Poole 652nd in 1:52:20.

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Snowdonia Marathon – 26/10/2013

A group of six Gloucester Athletic Club runners travelled to north Wales on Saturday (26th) to tackle the Snowdonia Marathon. The event is widely regarded as one of the most arduous in the UK as it encircles Snowdon, the highest peak in Wales, as well as taking in three notable climbs, the Llanberris Pass (1,100ft), Beddgelert (2,000ft) and the 1,200ft Bwlch y Groes which is the final climb but followed immediately by a very steep downhill stretch.

Lee Smith and Jeremy Mower set off at a good pace, staying locked together for the first half of the race before Mower, using his endurance strength gained from ultra-distance running, gradually pulled away from his Gloucester colleague. During the next six miles, Mower caught and overtook four runners before taking another four on the notorious climb between miles 21 and 24. Mower clocked 3:03:10 to finish 24th overall and fourth in the M45 category but second in the Welsh Masters Championships which were being incorporated into the event. Smith remained strong to cross the line in 40th place, clocking 3:08:41.

Tom Randles, in his first race back following an Achilles tendon injury, finished 89th of the 1554 finishers in 3:19:47 while Simon Barnes placed 316th in 3:43:3. Ben Gardiner, running his first road marathon placed 467th in 3:53:41 with Phil du Plessis placing 845th in 4:29:54.

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ParkRuns – 26/10/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Simon Fortnam won the Weymouth 5km Parkrun event on Saturday (26th) in 17:54 whilst closer to home, at the Cheltenham event, youngsters Briony Bishop and Alidia Vaile placed 56th and 69th respectively.

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Chocolate Biscuit race – 26/10/2013

At the Severn AC-organised Chocolate Biscuit Cross-country event at Plock court on Saturday (26th), Gloucester Athletic Club’s Rob Jordan placed 5th of the 9 finishers in 29:58.

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Poppy Plod - 20/10/2013

In the annual Poppy Plod, organised by the RBL Hardwicke, Gloucester Athletic Club’s Sue Higgins placed 3rd overall and 1st lady in 18:11, with Andrew McPeake 5th (1st U15) in 20:42.

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BUPA Great Birmingham Half Marathon - 20/10/2013

In the Bupa Great Birmingham Half Marathon on Sunday 20th, John Gormley of Gloucester Athletic Club placed 218th in 86:06.

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ParkRuns - 19/10/2013

Parkrun 5kms events have grown in popularity since their inception in London some 10 years ago and now, many towns and cities across the UK stage these weekly, free-to-enter runs that are open to people of all abilities, from the first-timer up to Olympian.

Gloucester Athletic Club members took part in two such events on Saturday (19th). At the Cheltenham run in Pittville, Dave Greswell led home the Club’s contingent when placing 10th in 18:56. Junior lady Alidia Vaile was just outside her personal best time for 5km, placing 68th overall and 6th lady in 23:13, whilst Russell Kirby continued his return to racing placed 72nd in 23:25.

Another junior, Victoria Kirby placed 130th in 26:21 and youngster Gabrielle Vaile placed 184th of the 225 finishers in 31:10, her first attempt at the distance.

At the Newent Parkrun, junior lady Briony Bishop continued her run of good form at this event, placing 10th in 23:22, just ahead of Rob Jordan who finished 13th in 23:46. Beryl Sampson placed 33rd in 28:15.

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Midland League 2014

Gloucester Athletic Club have appointed Steve Millward (pictured below) as their Midland League track & field team manager for the 2014 summer season, replacing Richard Blackwell who has stepped down after three seasons in the role.

Millward, a former Midland 3000m steeplechase champion, has been the club’s leading male points scorer in the league for the past three seasons, competing in as many as five events in a match.

Millward says “I’m really looking forward to this new challenge. Our main aim shall be to win promotion back to the top division in the league. We were very close last season and I’ll be working closely with the coaches to make sure we give ourselves a good chance next year.”

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Chicago Marathon - 13/10/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Nathan Smith and Hayley Winters travelled across the Atlantic to compete in the Chicago Marathon on Sunday (13th). 

Smith finished in 3:03:45 and Winters, suffering from stomach cramps throughout, ran 3:56:19. 

The race winner, Kenya’s Dennis Kimetto, crossed the line in 2:03:45, just 22 seconds down on compatriot Wilson Kipsang’s recently-set world record.

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Bugatti 10K - 13/10/2013

At the Bugatti 10km race in Cheltenham on Sunday (13th), Gloucester AC’s Dave Spackman finished 66th overall and 3rd in the M60 category in 47:35, just ahead of club mate Denise Evans, who placed 67th overall and 2nd in the W50 category in 47:42.

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Park Runs - 12/10/2013

At the Cheltenham 5km Park Run on Saturday, juniors Alidia Vaile, Jude Dowdeswell and Victoria Kirby all recorded new personal bests as did another youngster, Briony Bishop, at the Newent Park Run.

Russell Kirby and Rob Jordan set new personal bests at the Cheltenham and Westonbirt events respectively and Beryl Sampson competed at the Newent race.

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Brit Insurance Annual Achievement Awards - 10/11/2013

Anna Robertson, Gloucester Athletic Club’s leading female thrower this year, has been recognised for her cricket-coaching skills.

Anna won the Chance to Shine Coach of the Year Award for 2013 at the Brit Insurance Annual Achievement Awards ceremony held on 10th October at the Oval ground in London for her outstanding services to cricket development in schools in Herefordshire.

“I am thrilled to bits,” said the Gloucester athlete. “I knew I was in with a chance of the award as I was in the final three but I never thought I would actually win!”

Our pictures show Anna receiving her award from England players Jade Dernbach (l), Chris Tremlett (2nd left) and captain Alistair Cook (r), with Alistair Cook, and in shot putt action for Gloucester AC. 

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24-hour track race

The Gloucester 24-hour track race has been confirmed for the weekend of Sat/Sun 14/15th June 2014.

The event shall take place at the Blackbridge Jubilee Athletics Track, the same location where in 1982 Gloucester AC’s Dave Dowdle set a then world record of 274.480km (approximately 170.5 miles) a distance which is still the British record.

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Cardiff Half Marathon - 06/10/2013

Two Gloucester Athletic Club members competed in the Cardiff Half Marathon on Sunday (6th). Mike Mansfield placed 158th overall in 1:20:09 and Kerry Newell finished in 1912th place in 1:42:20. Former member and club U17 and U20 hammer throw record holder Kate Yhnell also ran, finishing in a time of 2:37:50. Yhnell's performance was all the more impressive as she was running with cracked ribs sustained in a recent accident. She had recorded a pb of 2:26:09 in the Bristol Half Marathon on 15th September.

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Cricklade 10K - 06/10/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Martin Hobson placed 66th in Sunday’s Cricklade 10km in 47:41.

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Gloucestershire Cross Country League - 05/10/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club members travelled to Guiting Power on Saturday (5th) to compete in the opening Gloucestershire Cross-Country League fixture of the new winter season.

The course, around the Cotswold Farm Park, has become the traditional setting for the season’s opener and Saturday’s competitors faced unseasonably warm and sunny weather, with temperatures in the high teens.

The senior men’s race saw the City club field a developmental squad, including two brand new signings John Gormley and Clive Poole and Russell Kirby who was making his first cross-country appearance for many years, with all three runners acquitting themselves well.

The team was led home by Simon Fortnam in 38th place, giving further evidence that he has overcome the injury problems that beset him last winter and that he should be a regular scoring member of the senior team in the more challenging Birmingham Cross-Country League matches that lie ahead.

Second man home for Gloucester was Dave Gresswell, in 68th position, who defied doctor’s orders to run, despite still suffering the effects of concussion. Gresswell was followed home by Gormley in 81st place, who had only signed up for the Club in the week leading up to the race.

Fourth and fifth scorers, Matt Powell and Arthur Daley were in close proximity throughout the 9.5km race with Powell coming home in 102nd place and Daley 105th and 1st M60.

Russel Kirby was the sixth scorer to finish, in 181st, and Clive Poole brought the team home in 211th place.

The team placed 13th overall, a satisfactory result given they were far from being at full-strength.

The Club’s senior ladies finished a full team for the first time in a couple of seasons, demonstrating the Club’s desire to field more ladies in these events. Beryl Sampson was the first City lady to finish, in 36th place, just ahead of Sue Higgins, in 39th position. Nicola Hovey completed the scoring team in 64th place with Emma Jeffery (69th) and Trudy Wells (116th) being the remaining club runners.

There were plenty of Gloucester Athletic Club vests on show in the junior races at the Gloucestershire Cross-Country League fixture at Guiting Power on Saturday (5th).

In the U15 boys race, Will Staddon made an encouraging start to his winter campaign when placing 7th with training colleague Harry Wells finished in 24th place. In the U15 girls race, Bethan Moor finished in 7th place and Abi Pearce in 14th.

Cressida May led the City team home in the U13 girls race, placing 12th, with Alidia Vaile (24th) and Elissa Moor (32nd) completing the scoring team, Jude Dowdeswell placed 46th as the team finished in 6th place.

In the U11 girls race, Gabrielle Vaile placed 35th and Lucy Jeffery 40th.

Junior endurance coach, Kerry Newell, said afterwards “I’m really pleased with the turn-out by our youngsters today. They all put in 100% effort and I can’t ask for any more than that.

Wrexham Final Fling - 29/09/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Anna Robertson struck gold at the Wrexham Final Fling open throws meeting on Sunday (29th) to bring the curtain down on her most consistent-ever season.

She won the hammer throw with 45.41 metres, the shot putt with 9.99 metres and discus with 28.21 metres.

Robertson, who was the Club’s leading female points scorer in the 2013 Midland League campaign, will now be taking a short rest before embarking on her winter training programme.

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Berlin Marathon - 29/09/2013

Denise Evans of Gloucester AC placed 1115th in Sunday’s Berlin Marathon in 3:44:31.

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Cotswold Challenge Marathon - 28/09/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Jeremy Mower was the first finisher of 50 runners that took part in the Cotswold Challenge Marathon on Saturday (28th).

The multi-terrain course takes in just under 27 miles of the Cotswold Way, starting at Birdlip and taking in various villages in a loop before finishing back in Birdlip.

Mower’s time was 3 hours 52 minutes 18 seconds which was satisfactory, given that he suffered a nasty fall during the race, resulting in sore ribs, an injury that he hopes to overcome ahead of the Snowdonia Marathon at the end of October.

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Newent ParkRun - 28/09/2013

Mike Mansfield placed 2nd at the Newent Parkrun on Saturday (28th) in 19:44 whilst Briony Bishop (U13) placed 7th in 22:40.

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Gloucester AC Awards Night - 27/09/2013

The Irish national 800 metres record-holder and Gloucester AC member, Rose-Anne Galligan, was the special guest of honour at the Club’s annual Awards Night last Friday (27th).

Galligan ran 2:00.58 at the Anniversary Games in London in July, breaking Sonia O’Sullivan’s record that had stood for 19 years.

Now back into her training following a short break after her appearance at the World Athletics Championships, Galligan’s focus over the winter months shall be aiming to qualify for the Ireland team for the World Indoors Championships in Poland in March.

Compere for the evening, Garry Hunter, told the assembled audience that 2013 had been one of the most successful in the Club’s history with many regional honours being won and no fewer than 32 new Club records being set during the year. The Club also had a record number of new members making their competitive debuts during the summer.

Award winners:

AVON LEAGUE top points scorers:

U13B Lewis Nicholls

U13G Alidia Vaile

U15B Luke Hill

U15G Bethan Moor

U17M Joe Beckett

U17W Catherine Hardy

Sen M Tom Beckett

Sen W Kate Davies

YDL Lower Age U13/15 top points scorers:

U13B Lewis Nicholls

U13G Amelia Hill

U15B Luke Hill

U15G Chloe Jones

YDL Upper Age U17/U20 top points scorers:

U17M Ryan Hearn

U17W joint Ellen Thrall + Libby Taylor

U20M Jacob Lange

U20W Kate Davies

MIDLAND LEAGUE top points scorers:

Men Steve Millward

Ladies Anna Robertson

MOST IMPROVED ATHLETES:

Junior Boy- Harry Wells

Junior Girl - Jude Dowdeswell

Inter Men - Alex George

Inter Women - Dayna Willoughby

Sen Track - Paul Barlow

Sen Road Men - Nathan Smith

Sen Road Women - Hayley Winters

Masters - Denise Evans

CROSS-COUNTRY "Best In Field":

Steve Millward.

Terry Sysum Memorial Award for high level competition - Alex George.

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Youth Development League - Promotion for Gloucester AC

Gloucester Athletic Club’s U17/U20 team has won promotion to Midlands Area West One in the National Youth Development League after being involved in a “paper match” against Halesowen. Both teams finished level on points after the regular season and their best performances over three of the four matches were then taken into account.

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Midland Road Relays - 21/09/2013

With many of their leading distance runners taking a well-earned rest following a long, arduous track racing season it was a weakened Gloucester Athletic Club team that competed in the Midland Six-Stage Road Relay at Sutton Park in Birmingham on Saturday (21st).

The team placed 48th overall in 2hrs 17mins 05 seconds. Individual times as follows:

Nathan Smith (44th) 20:40

Tom Randles (45th) 21:39

Dave Gresswell (45th) 21:51

Mike Mansfield (43rd) 21:26

Arthur Daley (46th) 24:16

Rob Jordan (48th) 27:13

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Cheltenham ParkRun - 21/09/2013

Alidia Vaile recorded 23:30 to finish first in the U13 Girls category.

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Chippenham Half Marathon, Cheltenham Half Marathon - 15/09/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club members were taking part in Half Marathon events around the region over the weekend (14/15th).

Lee Smith led the city contingent home in the Chippenham Half Marathon, placing 18th in 1:20:38. Behind him, Matt Boon recorded 1:23:58 in 34th place, Matt Powell set a new personal best when finishing 39th in 1:24:33 with Max Sheppard completing the team in 159th place with 1:34:24.

Closer to home in the Cheltenham Half Marathon, Nathan Smith took over two minutes off his personal best when placing 18th in 1:18:30. Hayley Winters won the Senior Ladies category, recording 1:29:27 and newcomer Sue Higgins knocked five minutes off her best, clocking 1:34:46 for second place in the F50 category.

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Tipton Games - 08/09/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Marion Loveridge was in top form at the Tipton Games on Sunday, setting a new personal best 42.59 metres for the 3kg hammer throw. This bettered her previous best by three metres.

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Winter Training schedule announced

Gloucester Athletic Club have released details of their winter training programmes.

Indoor circuit training sessions shall start on Tuesday 1st October at the Crypt School Sports Hall. There will be two sessions, the 7-10 year olds session shall run from 6-7pm, with the 11 and older strength & conditioning sessions running from 7-9pm.

On Thursday evenings, the Club shall be training from 6:30-8pm and on Sunday mornings, from 10:30-12:30am, on the Blackbridge track.

More details can be obtained by ringing 07817 974630, or by checking the Club’s website – www.gloucesterac.co.uk.

The endurance running sessions are unchanged, training commencing at 7.00pm on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at Blackbridge.

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Yate Sprints and Hurdles Fest - 01/09/2013

Many of Gloucester Athletic Club’s young athletes were in the mood to revise their personal bests when they competed in the Sprints & Hurdles Fest at Yate on Sunday (1st).

This meeting has established itself as one of the last competitions of the season in recent years, allowing many athletes one last opportunity to compete before they say goodbye to the summer season and head into their arduous winter training programmes.

One of the Club’s unsung performers in 2013 has been 400 metres runner Andrew Bowers and he has made steady progress since moving to Paul Pepler’s training group at the Blackbridge track. The U20 athlete has been the Club’s most consistent athlete over one lap this season and he made a significant breakthrough on Sunday, dipping under 53 seconds for the first time as he lowered his personal best time to 52.74 seconds.

Another athlete to improve was sprinter Nasdeep Purewal. A newcomer to the sport this season, he has steadily reduced his personal best times over the shorter sprint distances to establish himself in the Gloucester club’s promising sprint squad. At Yate he lowered his times further to 11.69 and 23.64 seconds for the 100m and 200m respectively. Sprinter Catherine Hardy was also in top form, lowering her personal best for the 200 metres to 26.08 seconds. Both are members of the sprint group led by Garry Hunter and Richard Blackwell.

Heptathlete Kate Davies showed that she is benefitting from the work she has been doing with hurdles coach Ian Willoughby and also maintaining her form ahead of the English Schools multi-event championships later this month, by setting a new personal best over 100m hurdles, recording 17.45 seconds.

The Gloucester club’s youngest representatives at the meeting were not to be outshone by their older club-mates as Alidia Vaile, Jude Dowdeswell and Lewis Drewitt all recorded new sprint personal bests in the U13 age group 

Newent Parkrun - 31/08/2013

At the latest Newent Parkrun on Saturday (31st), Gloucester Athletic Club members recorded the following times:

Matt Powell 3rd in 19:52; Rob Jordan 12th in 23:09; Briony Bishop 13th in 23:23.

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Cheltenham Young Athletes Open - 26/08/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club members were in action at the Cheltenham Young Athletes Open Meeting at the Prince of Wales Stadium on Bank Holiday Monday (26th).

In the U15 Girls 800 metres, Bethan Moor judged the pace and opposition perfectly to come home the victor in 2:32.9. Moor’s training partner Alidia Vaile was another winner, taking gold in the U13 Girls 75 metres in 11.4 seconds and the 200 metres in a personal best-equalling 29.7 seconds. Vaile also placed 3rd in the U13 Girls 800 metres and then joined forces with Grace Pitman, Amelia Hill and Jada George to win the 4x100m relay.

In the field events, there were wins for Jada George in the U11 girls ball throw and for newcomer Ben Wade in the U13 Boys discus.

Full results from Cheltenham:

U11G

75m 2nd Jada George 13.1, 6th Amber Hill 14.6

600m 4th Jada George 2:10.6

Ball 1st Jada George 27.17m, 9th Amber Hill 11.31

LJ 2nd Jada George 3.50, 11th Amber Hill 2.70

Bounce 3rd Jada George 45

U13G

70m H 6th Amelia Hill 15.9

75m 1st Alidia Vaile 11.4, 3rd Amelia Hill 11.6

200m 1st Alidia Vaile 29.7

800m 3rd Alidia Vaile 2:42.0

4x100 1st (G Pitman, A Vaile, J George, A Hill) 61.2

LJ 11th Amelia Hill 3.30m

Shot 4th Amelia Hill 5.31m

U13B

Discus 1st Ben Wade 23.45m

U15G

100m 3rd Tianna George 14.6

800m 1st Bethan Moor 2:32.9, 8th Abi Pearce 2:54.5

LJ 6th Tianna George 3.90m, 11th Bethan Moor 3.73

Shot 3rd Tianna George 6.44m

U15B

800m 5th Harry Wells 2:27.9

U17M

800m 3rd Dom Tutton 2:10.6

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Birchfield Summer Open - 25/08/2013

At the Birchfield Open Meeting on Sunday (25th), Christine Campbell placed 6th in the ladies 100m in 16.71 seconds and 4th in the 200m in 35.12 seconds, a personal best.

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City of Stoke Open - 25/08/2013

Another thrower to show good end-of-season form was Anna Robertson at the City of Stoke Open Meeting on Sunday (25th). She took first place in both the hammer and shot putt competitions, throwing 43.78m and 9.75m respectively, before setting a new personal best 28.29m for second place in the discus.

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Internationaal Antwerps Atletiek Gala - 24/08/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Gareth Winter placed 3rd in the shot putt at the International Athletics Gala in Antwerp, Belgium on Saturday (24th) with a best putt of 16.04m. He was pleased with this effort as the circle was extermely slippery and most athletes were some 1 metre down on their normal performances.

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Thames Meander Full and Half Marathons  - 24/08/2013

Nathan Smith of Gloucester AC placed 3rd in the Thames Meander Marathon in Kingston-on-Thames on Saturday (24th) in a new personal best time of 2:53.55. Hayley Winters was second lady and 19th overall in 3:18.46, also a personal best.

In the supporting half Marathon, Denise Evans placed 56th overall and 1st W45 in 1:52:58. 

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County Relay Championships and 10,000m / 1 mile - 21/08/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club were in dominant form at the County Relays Championships at the Blackbridge Jubilee Athletics Track last week (21st).

In the U13s 4x100m events, the boys team of Lewis Drewett, Joe Langbridge, Sam Earl and Lewis Nicholls struck gold whilst in the girls’ race, the City club fielded two teams. The ‘A’ squad of Amelia Hill, Saskia Barnett, Jude Dowdeswell and Alidia Vaile won the gold medal with the second-string team of Ellie Emerson, Stephanie Fox, Annabelle Richardson and Gabrielle Adams taking the silver medal.

There was another double celebration in the U17s 4x100m events as the ladies team of Adela Hill, Siobhan Barnes, Imogen Maguire and Catherine Hardy and U17s men’s team of Ben Potts, Julian Richardson, Luke Hill and Jevaughn Gayle both took convincing victories.

The hastily-assembled Senior Men’s 4x100m team of Nas Purewal, Tom Beckett, Andrew Bowers and Ian Willoughby won the silver medal.

There were three further successes in the 4x400m races. The Gloucester U20 Men’s team of Andrew Bowers, Tom Beckett, Ben Potts and Julian Richardson were untroubled as they took the gold medal whilst there were gold medals for the U13 Girls team (Saskia Barnett, Jude Dowdeswell, Amelia Hill and Alidia Vaile) and U13 Boys team (Lewis Drewett, Joe Langbridge, Sam Earl and Lewis Nicolls). Both the U13 relay times were new club records.

The meeting also incorporated the County 10,000 metres track championships. Peter Woodward of Bristol & West AC was a convincing winner, with Gloucester’s Mike Mansfield placing 4th overall and 1st M40 in 37:04.5 and Beryl Sampson finishing 14th overall and first LV55 in 45:36.4 - the first time in the club's history that a female has completed the 10000m event on the track..

In the supporting Jubilee and open one mile races, Gloucester athletes placed as follows:

Jubilee Mile, race one: 8th Matt Powell 5:24.9

Jubilee Mile, race two: 7th Arthur Daley 6:02.5; 11th Beryl Sampson 6:20.9 (club F55 record); 17th Dave Spackman 7:04.5.

Jubilee Mile, race four: 5th Alidia Vaile 6:08.3.

Open Mile: 10th Mike Anderton 7:44.8. 

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White Horse 5K - 20/08/2013

Several Gloucester Athletic Club members recorded new personal bests at the August White Horse 5km road race in Sandhurst.

Nathan Smith, in his last race before the Thames Meander Marathon, equalled his personal best 16:43 in 17th place.

Dave Gresswell continued his return to form, placing 36th in 17:56, just ahead of Matt Powell whose 18:06 in 38th place was a personal best.

Hayley Winters placed 47th in 18:40 which was just two seconds off her personal best, whilst Arthur Daley finished 59th in 19:26, an improvement of 34 seconds on his last 5km three weeks previously. As this race incorporated the County 5km road race championships, Daley took the M60 title.

Rob Jordan placed 79th in 21:52 and Dave Spackman 82nd in 22:27, placing 2nd M60 in the County championship.

The race was notable for the performance by Martin Rees of Cardiff-based Les Croupiers, his 16:08 claiming to be a new World age-group best time.

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Midland Counties U15/U17 Championships - 17&18/08/2013

At the Midland Counties Championships in Birmingham (17/18th), sprinter Kelly Constable continued her run of good form, winning the U17 Ladies 100 metres in 12.82 seconds. She then took the silver medal in the 200 metres in a new personal best 25.39 seconds.

Dayna Willoughby was another medal winner at the Midlands event, taking the silver medal in the U17 Ladies 300 metres in 40.73 seconds. Earlier, she had placed 4th in the 200 metres final in 25.59 seconds.

Ellen Thrall won gold in the U17 hammer with 36.60m.

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British Athletics Jumps & Throws Fest - 17/08/2013

Lange followed his winning performance at the recent South West Championships with another medal, this time at the British Athletics Jumps and Throws Fest at Bedford (17th), where he won the bronze medal in the U20 Men’s hammer with 55.84m.  

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BMC Grand Prix Final, Stretford - 17/08/2013

Strong winds and heavy rain put paid to any chance of revised personal bests at the BMC Grand Prix Final in Stretford on Saturday (17th) for Gloucester Athletic Club’s leading male middle distance runners.

Alex George returned to the scene of his fastest-ever runs over 1500 and 3000 metres to contest the shorter distance, placing 8th in the ‘C’ race in 3:54.78 whilst training partner Richard de-Camps placed 6th in the ‘E’ race in 3:57.66.

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British Ultrafest - 17/08/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club's Jeremy Mower took third place at the British Ultrafest 24 hour track race at Radley College, Abingdon.  He covered 184.827km (114.8 miles) for a new track personal best and break the club's over 45 age group record. His distance was some way off his road PB of 208km but it was a good distance with hot and humid conditions during the day, plus he had stomach issues in the early part of the race which nearly forced him to quit after he'd run marathon distance.

The high humidity ment Mower had to change top and socks five hours into the race as they were soaking wet. Mower's rough patch lasted several hours and he was lying in 9th place at one stage. Mower said "I thought of quitting several times but at the back of my mind I told myself just to hang in there and see what happens as in 24 hour races things can change suddenly".

After 9 hours of running the temperature cooled during the night and with the stomach issues gone he was able to move up to 3rd place after 18 hours of running. During that time the other athletes paid the price for pushing the pace too hard early on under the weather conditions, whilst Mower's fresher legs enabled him to push on through the night. Three international ultra runners dropped out of the race and one of the race favourites ended up in hospital with dehydration showing how tough the race conditions were. One of the other competitors said it was like running in a sauna.

Mower backed off a bit when in third as he could not catch those ahead but finished the last 30 mins strong including a sprint final lap for the spectators which had them cheering. Italian international Antonio Tallarita won the race with 204.9km.

Mower received plenty of encouragement from the sidelines which included Gloucester ultra legend Ken Leyshon and his brother Greg. Mower was very pleased with his run as his normal monthly training mileage for a 24 hour race would be 300 and he has only been able to manage 150 the last few months.

Gloucester AC marathon runner Jane Leckebusch has unfortunately had to drop out of the Snowdonia Marathon in October but has kindly donated her place to Mower so he will now be able to defend his Welsh Master Marathon title he won last year at Chester. Mower will  be joined at Snowdonia by fellow runners Ben Gardiner, Wayne Mayer, Tom Randles and Lee Smith. They will be hoping for a good display to have a chance of the team award for one of the UK's biggest marathons

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South West Championships & Inter-Counties - 11/08/2013

At the South-West Championships in Exeter (11th), Catherine Hardy took the gold medal in the U17 Ladies 100 metres final in 12.69 seconds, whilst club-mate Jacob Lange won the U20 men’s hammer with a throw of 56.73m. Ellen Thrall claimed two bronzes, in the U17 ladies hammer with 37.75m and the U17 ladies discus with 23.99m.

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Cranham Beast MT5 - 10/08/2013

Smith & Winters triumph at Cranham

Gloucester Athletic Club staged the Cranham Beast multi-terrain race on Saturday, with members recording the following times:

1st Nathan Smith 30:48

4th Hayley Winters 35:24 (1st lady)

18th Kate Browning 39:54 (1st L35)

23rd Denise Evans 42:14 (1st L45)

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BMC Gold Standard, Stretford - 06/08/2013

By George! Another record smashed

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Alex George travelled up to Stretford to compete in the 3000 metres at the Trafford AC Open Meeting and BMC Gold Standard event last Tuesday (6th) and produced another superlative performance.

On the track where he set a 1500 metres personal best in June, he stopped the clock at 8:18.90 seconds to lower his previous best by almost 15 seconds and beating Basyl Martyniuk’s long-standing Club U20 record, set in 1977. The performance propelled George to 3rd in the U20 age group for the season and 6th in Europe and is all the more remarkable given that the Abbeymead youngster still has another two seasons in this age group. George went into the race aiming for a sub-8:30 clocking and for six of the seven and a half laps race was on target for a time of around 8:27 but with 600 metres remaining, he lit the “afterburners”, leaving several more seasoned runners in his wake.

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Avon League - 04/08/2013

Kelly Constable and Alidia Vaile were Gloucester AC’s stand-out performers at the Avon League match at Yate on Sunday (4th).

Constable took her good form of the previous week into the match and recorded a convincing sprint treble, winning the U17 ladies 300m, 200m and 100m – the latter in a new personal best 12.4 seconds.

Vaile placed second in the U13 girls 1500 metres in 5:28.7 seconds, an improvement of over 30 seconds on her previous best. She followed this up with another personal best, this time in the 200 metres where she clocked 29.7 seconds.

Team manager Bob Purcell said afterwards “There were some outstanding performances today from our youngsters, proving that this league is the ideal environment for letting them gain valuable competition experience.”

Cheltenham Midsummer Open - 31/07/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club members were in record-breaking form at the final Midsummer Open Meeting at Cheltenham last week (31st).

Leading the way was sprinter Kelly Constable, whose 18.5 seconds clocking for the 150 metres was not only a Gloucester club U17 ladies record also the fastest-ever clocking over this rarely run distance by a City lady. She later backed this performance up with a personal best 42.3 seconds in the 300 metres.

Ben Potts also set a new U17 men’s record for the 150 metres, recording 17.8 seconds in his heat, whilst youngster Lewis Drewett set a new U13 boys age group record of 21.7 seconds.

Club Chairman, Andy McKenzie, set two new Club M50 age group records, in the hammer throw with 22.82m and javelin, 10.05m, both performances badly hampered by a bad back.

There were several more personal bests for the City athletes at the meeting. Nas Purewal won his heat of the senior men’s 150 metres in 17.7 seconds and Alidia Vaile continued her recent run of good form when setting a new best of 22.0 seconds in the U13 girls 150 metres. Vaile also set a new personal best in the 1200 metres, clocking 4:18.1.

In the field events, Gloucester athletes dominated the hammer events. Rob Wallace and Jacob Lange placed 1st and 2nd in the U20 men’s event whilst there were age group wins for Charlotte Stallard, Ellen Thrall and Marion Loveridge. 

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Record-breaker Galligan to take on the world's best

Rose-Anne Galligan has spoken of her delight after being confirmed in the 11-strong Ireland team for the World Championships in Moscow.

The Gloucester AC runner was selected for the 800m after her superb run in the Sainsbury's Anniversary Games in London, when she set a personal best and Irish record time of two minutes, 0.58 seconds to break Sonia O'Sullivan's 19-year-old mark by 0.11 seconds.

"It is great news and it has been a brilliant weekend," said Galligan, as she prepared to fly back from Dublin to her home in Cheltenham. "Racing the World Championships in Moscow was always the goal for the season and breaking the Irish record was just a bonus."

It will be Galligan's first appearance in the World Championships and will easily be the biggest challenge of her career so far. It is also a notable milestone in her relationship with long-time coach David Farrow.

"Apparently I am the first athlete who David has coached to reach the World Championships (at senior level) so that is really nice," added Galligan.

"He knows what works for me and has put in a lot of time and effort into devising a training programme for me to allow me the chance to get the best out of myself and the progress I have made this year shows it is working."

After Friday evening's race Galligan caught an early-morning train from London to Liverpool to catch a flight over to Dublin for the heats of the 400m in the Irish Championships. She made the final and finished fifth in a season's best time of 55.48, which was 0.11 seconds outside her 2010 PB. But it is over the two laps that Galligan has made a real stir and will be looking to make an impression in the Russian capital.

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Youth Development League U20/U17 - 28/07/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s U20/U17s team completed a hugely successful weekend for the City club by winning the final round of the season’s National Youth Development League in Newport, Gwent to win the West Division 2B.

In a thrilling match which saw the City team hold off the host Club by the narrowest of margins, the performances of Jacob Lange in the men’s throwing events and Dayna Willoughby in the ladies sprints stood out, but team manager Garry Hunter said “This was a great all-round team performance. Many of the team had been at London the previous day to watch the Anniversary Games, but they all showed tremendous character and spirit to pull out all the stops today.”

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Sainsbury's Anniversary Games - 27/07/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Catherine Hardy had a special task to perform at the Anniversary Games at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday.

The 15 year-old sprinter was a member of the Gloucester AC party that were receiving the VIP treatment, having been filmed for the BBC National Lottery programme that evening earlier in the day. Hardy had been randomly chosen from the group to hand over the baton to the Great Britain squad just ahead of the start of the men’s 4 x 100m relay event.

Ironically, that was probably the safest hand-over that the GB team made, as they failed to finish the race – having dropped the baton.

The City youngster said afterwards, “That was probably the most amazing experience of my life! To be chosen to carry out that role at this meeting is a great privilege and something that I’ll remember forever”

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Diamond League London Grand Prix - 26/07/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Rose-Anne Galligan chose the biggest occasion of her career to produce her biggest-ever performance at the Olympic Stadium on Friday (26th).

Running in the women’s 800 metres in the Anniversary Games, incorporating the Diamond League, the Gloucester AC star lowered her personal best time over two laps to 2:00.58, breaking Sonia O’Sullivan’s Irish record that had stood for exactly nineteen years by one-tenth of a second.

Choosing to stay off the frenetic pace, Galligan ran an even-paced race, passing through half-way in around 59 seconds, before moving through the all-international field to place 6th just behind Britain’s Marilyn Okoro.

The Citizen article printed 1st August:

National record for Gloucester race ace Galligan

Rose-Anne Galligan is celebrating a record-breaking run at the Diamond League Anniversary Games at the Olympic Stadium in London.

The Gloucester AC star smashed the Irish women's 800 metres record held by Sonia O'Sullivan for the past 19 years. She broke O'Sullivan's time by 0.11 seconds as she clocked two minutes, 0.58 seconds to finish sixth in a race won by the United States' Brenda Martinez in 1.58.19.

Galligan, who lives in Cheltenham, said she had a feeling she had run close to O'Sulivan's time but she wasn't aware of how fast she had actually run.

"I didn't actually see the time," said Galligan, who beat her personal best by nearly half a second. "I knew I was on 2.01 but I didn't knew exactly what, so I was running around frantically trying to find out what my time was, but it was really good. I'd had couple of 2.01 races where I'd run wide on some bends so I knew it was there. It was just getting in the right race, running the minimum distance and it happens."
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IPC Athletics Championships - 26/07/2013

Galligan’s was not the only supreme Gloucester performance on Friday. Her Gloucester AC club-mate Beverley Jones was repeating her bronze-medal winning performance from last year’s Paralympic Games, taking the bronze medal in the F37 discus at the IPC Athletics Championships in Lyon, France. Jones’s best throw was 28.54m.

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Cheltenham Midsummer Open - 24/07/2013

Two of the Gloucester club’s youngest 800–metre runners hoping to follow in Rose-Anne Galligan’s footsteps were celebrating personal bests at the Cheltenham Mid-Summer Open Meeting on Wednesday (24th).

Alidia Vaile (12) lowered her 800m personal best to 2:37.2, whilst training partner Jude Dowdeswell (also 12) knocked six seconds off her best to 2:52.7.

Full Gloucester AC results from Cheltenham:

70mH

(U13G)

Amelia Hill 5th 16.7 secs

100mH

(U20W)

Kate Davies 2nd 17.9

100m

(U13G)

Amelia Hill 3rd 15.0 (race 1)

Alidia Vaile 2nd 14.5 (race 2)

Kirsty Constable 3rd 15.2 (race 3)

(U15G)

Daniella Jones 4th 15.3

(U17W)

Kelly Constable 1st 12.8

Adella Hill 3rd 14.0

(U15B)

Luke Hill 3rd 12.1

200m

(U15B)

Luke Hill 3rd 24.9

(U17W)

Dayna Willoughby 1st 25.4

Kelly Constable 2nd 25.9

Catherine Hardy 4th 26.3

(U17W)

Adella Hill 5th 28.6

(U20M)

Andrew Bowers 2nd 24.4

(F40)

Christine Campbell 5th 36.3

800m

(U13G)

Jude Dowdeswell 2nd 2:52.7 (race 1)

Alidia Vaile 2nd 2:37.2 (race 3)

Mile

(U15G)

Bethan Moor 3rd 5:38.2

(M60)

Arthur Daley 9th 6:04.2

(M40)Paul Barlow 4th 4:39.2

HT

(U20M)

Jacob Lange 1st 56.88m

(U20W)

Charlotte Stallard 4th 43.55

(U17W)

Ellen Thrall 6th 38.65

LJ

(U13G)

Kirsty Constable 4th 3.88m

(U20W)

Kate Davies 2nd 4.69

SP

(U17W)

Ellen Thrall 2nd 7.05m

(U20W)

Kate Davies 2nd 9.21m

(SM)

Gareth Winter 1st 15.63m

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For the second time in two weeks, Gloucester Athletic Club shall be featured on national television this weekend (Sat 27th).

Two weeks ago, BBC One’s National Lottery programme included an item on Bob Purcell and the work he has done at the City’s Blackbridge Jubilee Athletics Track. As a result of that appearance, a group of young athletes from the Club shall be filmed pressing the Lottery button from the Olympic Stadium in Stratford as part of their day out as guests of the BBC at the Anniversary Games. In addition, one youngster from the Gloucester club shall be selected to take the relay batons out onto the track ahead of the 4 x 100m relay event.

The National Lottery programme is scheduled to be screened on BBC One between 20:50 – 21:40 on Saturday evening.

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Bourton Mile - 20/07/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Nathan Smith finished fourth overall and second senior man in five minutes exactly at the Bourton Road Runners One Mile event, incorporating the County One Mile Road Championships, on Saturday (20th).

Hayley Winters finished second senior lady and first in the County category in 5:36, with Arthur Daley finishing in 6:02. Daley was disappointed with his run, even though he still placed 3rd in the M60 category.

Dave Spackman clocked 6:32 to win the M65 category and Denise Evans lowered her one mile best time by over 40 seconds to record 6:45 and take second place in the W50 age group.

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BMC Meeting, Oxford - 20/07/2013

Two Gloucester AC members, Alex George and Richard de-Camps, were in action at the BMC Meeting at the historic Iffley Road track in Oxford on Saturday (20th).

The iconic venue was chosen to celebrate the 50th of the British Milers Club and saw the 1500 metres races replaced by the classic one mile event, with many runners aiming to dip under the still-magical 4 minute barrier.

Unfortunately, a strong and blustery wind throughout the meeting put paid to many athletes’ ambitions this time, so it all came down to the racing.

As a result of his startling breakthrough over 1500 metres in Manchester last month, Alex found himself taking a major step up in class and was drawn in a race that included a number of GB internationals. Sticking to his task, the Gloucester youngster produced his customary late finish to move through the field to finish a very creditable 7th in 4:10.48, beating one of his main rivals this year, Liam Dee of Shaftesbury Harriers who recently represented GB at the World Youth Olympics, along the way. The time ranks him 5th fastest U20 in the UK this year, a remarkable achievement given that that he still has two more years in this age group. His time was a new club U20 record, knocking 5 seconds off the previous record set by Steve McHale back in 1969.

Richard chose to run his more familiar 800 metres event after a difficult week which had seen him unable to train after a violent reaction to an insect bite on the leg. In an unevenly paced race, Richard took the running up on the second lap and placed 6th in 1:55.74, just two tenths outside his personal best. 

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Birmingham Games - 20/07/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Anna Robertson improved her personal best in the hammer throw when recording 47.66 metres at the Birmingham Games on Saturday.

Robertson (24) has been the Club’s top thrower during 2013, producing the most consistent form of her life and this was the first time she has thrown over 47 metres. 

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Worcester AC Open - 18/07/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club members made the short journey up the M5 to compete in the Worcester AC Open Meeting last Thursday.

Throughout this season it has been the Club’s younger track stars who have been stealing the headlines and again they were in fine form but the stand-out performance of the evening came from M40 veteran Paul Barlow who knocked a massive 17 seconds off his 3000 metres personal best when placing second in 9:11.1. Barlow has been reaping the benefits of joining Paul de-Camps middle distance training group at Gloucester and this was his second personal best in eight days, having reduced his best time over 1500 metres by a large margin the previous week at Cheltenham. Barlow will now turn his attention to the British Masters Championships in September.

Dayna Willoughby was another City athlete to benefit from competing in the warm conditions at Worcester. She won the 200 metres in a new personal best time of 25.5 seconds, before equalling her best over 400 metres with 59.0 seconds in second place.

Willoughby’s training partner, Kelly Constable took second place in the 200 metres in 25.9 seconds, while another member of Paul Pepler’s training group, Andrew Bowers, placed 3^rd in the 400 metres in 54.2 seconds.

Last but not least, Alex George was a clear winner of the 800 metres in 1:58.0.

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White Horse 5K - 16/07/2013

Simon Fortnam was Gloucester Athletic Club’s first finisher in the Severn AC White Horse 5km road race at Sandhurst, when placing 18^th in 17:24. Jeremy Mower was next to finish, 22^nd in 17:55, with Matt Powell placing 31^st in 18:28.

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British Athletics Championships - 14/07/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Gareth Winter placed 5th in the senior men’s shot putt final at the Sainsbury’s British Athletics Championships incorporating the World Championships Trials at Birmingham on Sunday (14th) with a best throw of 15.93m.

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BMC Gold Standard Meeting, Watford - 10/07/2013

In her final race before flying out to Europe for high-altitude training ahead of next month’s World Championships, Gloucester’s Rose-Anne Galligan was a comfortable winner of the senior ladies 800 metres race at the BMC Gold Standard meeting in Watford on Wednesday (10th). Galligan stopped the clock in 2:04.56, over five seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

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Cheltenham Midsummer Open - 10/07/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club was well-represented at the Cheltenham Mid-summer Open Meeting last Wednesday (10th), with many athletes coming away with wins and personal best performances in the warm conditions.

Gareth Winter was dominant in the throwing events, recording clear victories in both the shot putt and discus events. In the ladies throws, Ellen Thrall set a season’s best in the U17 Ladies discus with 24.07m for second place, a position she repeated in the shot putt.

On the track, Dayna Willoughby continued her good form, taking a double victory in the U17 Ladies 100 and 200 metres with training partner Kelly Constable placing third in both events. Newcomer Tainne Finn placed second in the U17 men’s 100 metres race.

Another athlete to record a sprint double victory was Luke Hill in the U15 Boys category. His sister Amelia won the 100m race in the U13 Girls age group whilst Lewis Drewett took 2nd place in the U13 Boys 100m.

The 600 metres saw a host of new personal best times for the Gloucester runners. In the men’s event, Richard de-Camps (2nd), Alex George (3rd), Andrew Bowers (5th) and Ryan Hearn (6th) all reduced their best times in this rarely-run event.

In the mixed juniors 600 metres race, new middle-distant prospect Alidia Vaile produced another impressive performance with a personal best time, whilst Briony Bishop narrowly won the U13 Girls 1500 metres.

Paul Barlow took seven seconds off his personal best in the men’s 1500m, his time of 4:19.5 ranks him in the top 10 V40 in the UK, whilst Harry Wells won a close-fought 1500m ‘B’ race.

Heptathlete Kate Davies competed in just one event, the 100m hurdles, placing second.

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Frampton 10K - 08/07/2013

Former Gloucester AC cross-country captain Dave Gresswell continued his comeback from injury and illness by placing second of the City club’s contingent home in this year’s Frampton 10km road race on Monday (8th).

Gresswell placed 18th overall in 38:15, just holding off club-mate Matt Powell, who finished 20th in 38:19.

Jeremy Mower was the first man home for the club in 12th place with a time of 37:12.

Hayley Winters carried her recent good form into this race, finishing first lady in a new personal best time of 38:28.

Behind her, James Head placed 30th in 39:26, Arthur Daley took the M60 prize, placing 73rd in 41:53, Nick Bishop placed 122nd in 44:47 and Denise Evans finished in 181st place in 48:19.

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Midland League - 07/07/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s senior track & field team produced their best performance of the year to take second place in the Plastics Plus Ltd-sponsored Midland Athletics League Division Two fixture at Stoke on Sunday (7th).

The team included several of their juniors who had competed in the English Schools championships over the previous two days and they showed few signs of fatigue in the hot conditions.

On the track, twins Thomas and Alex George both recorded comfortable wins in the 800m and 1500m ‘B’ races respectively and Dayna Willoughby marked her 400 metres debut with a narrow win in the ‘B’ race in 59.0 seconds.

In the field, Jacob Lange made his debut for the senior team and was not fazed by the opposition as he took a convincing win in the ‘A’ string hammer. He backed this up with two third places in the ‘B’ string shot putt and discus, providing solid support to Gareth Winter who repeated his customary double victory. Lauren Richards took second place in the ‘A’ shot putt and third place in the discus as she and Anna Robertson ensured that Gloucester once again earned good points in the throwing events.

The team was boosted on the track by the appearance of Irish international Rose-Anne Galligan who used the match as vital preparation towards her World Championship selection bid. Galligan was a class apart as she won the 200m ‘B’ race in a new personal best 25.7 seconds before recording a convincing win in the 400m ‘A’ race.

Heptathlete Kate Davies continued her run of good form. She recorded victories in the long and high jumps, took second place in the javelin and fifth place in the 800 metres before running the final leg in the 4 x 400m relay team.

After the match, team manager Richard Blackwell said “The spirit shown by our youngsters today was tremendous. We’re very lucky to be blessed with a wealth of young talent in Gloucester at the moment and this performance is a testimony to their ability as well as the dedication of the coaches at the Club. This was a very good result.”

The result leaves Gloucester in fourth place overall but just three league points behind Stoke in second place and with the final match taking place at Gloucester’s home track at Blackbridge in August, promotion cannot be written off. 

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English Schools Championships - 05&06/07/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s youngsters were in excellent form at the English Schools’ Championships held at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium at the weekend (5/6th).

The two-day Championships are the pinnacle of a young athlete’s career and with the selection process being so challenging, only the very talented qualify for the event.

The first City athlete to enter the arena was Jacob Lange in the senior boys hammer and he produced the best series of his life as he improved his personal best with the 6kg weight no few than three times during the competition. His best throw of 56.92m earning him sixth place.

Lange’s training partner and another member of Lorraine Shaw’s training group, Charlotte Stallard, was next to compete. Stallard was hoping to go one better than last year, when she won the silver medal in the senior girls hammer but, despite throwing further than last year, she finished in sixth place with a best throw of 43.59m.

Dayna Willoughby was making her debut at these championships and did not disappoint as she took 3rd place in her intermediate girls 300 metres heat in a new personal best and club record 40.41 seconds. That performance was good enough to qualify for Saturday’s final where she placed 7th in 40.68 seconds.

Another to set a personal best on the first day was Thomas George in the senior boys 1500 metres. He improved his previous best time by over three seconds when placing sixth in his heat in 3:55.88 to qualify for Saturday’s final. That race was a tactical, slow run affair and Thomas was unable to re-produce his time of the previous day, coming home in 11th place with 4:00.79.

On Saturday, youngster Ellen Thrall was just 1cm down on her personal best in the intermediate girls hammer competition, placing 12th in the final with 36.68m.

The senior boys 3000 metres saw Alex George line up with a real chance of a medal. Despite giving it his all, he placed a very credible 5th in 8:34.46.

Gloucester AC chairman, Andy McKenzie, said “To even qualify for these championships is a huge achievement and the youngsters all did themselves proud. We’re very lucky to have such great talent in the Club at present.”

YDL U17/U20 - 30/06/2013

At the U17/U20 National Youth Development League match at Stourport-on-Severn, Jacob Lange recorded wins in the javelin and discus and also his speciality, the hammer, in which he competes in the English Schools.

Dayna Willoughby recorded a comfortable win in the U17 Ladies 300 metres at Stourport and Ellen Thrall was also a victor in the U17 Ladies discus.   

There were many more notable performances at the Development League fixture, the highlight of which being a new U17 Ladies Club record in the 4 x 300 metres. Catherine Hardy, Adella Hill, Kelly Constable and Dayna Willoughby recorded a new club best time of 3:04.4 seconds.

Megan Teague set a new personal best in the triple jump, adding over 30 cms on her previous best with a new mark of 9.42 metres, as she took victory over club mate Libby Taylor.

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Meeting de la Ville de Reims - 28/06/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Rose-Anne Galligan continued her recent run of good form when clocking 2:02.04 in 4th place in the women’s 800 metres in Reims, France last Friday (28th).

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Pomphrey Sports 5K Series - 25/06/2013

Two Gloucester Athletic Club members competed in the latest Pomphrey Sports 5km road race in Bristol. Arthur Daley placed 70th overall and 3rd in the M60 category in a season’s best 20:36, whilst Mike Anderton placed 128th in 28:18.

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BMC Gold Standard Races - 25/06/2013

Alex and Thomas George travelled up to Manchester to compete in the BMC Gold Standard meeting where Thomas lowered his 800 metres personal best with 1:56.45 and Alex knocked five seconds off his 1500 metres best with stunning 3:49.89 – the fastest time by a Gloucester club runner for twenty years.

Richard de-Camps also travelled up to Stretford to compete in the 1500 metres where he came away with a new personal best 3:57.38.

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ESAA South West Schools Combined Events Championships - 22&23/06/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s top multi-event athlete Kate Davies produced one of her best-ever performances when taking silver medal in the South West Schools senior girls Heptathlon at Exeter.

She set new personal bests in the 100m hurdles (16.91 seconds), 9.79m in the shot putt and 5.02m in the long jump along the way to recording a score of 4157 points.

She will now go forward to compete in the English Schools combined events championships in September. 

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Midland Counties Senior / U20 Championships - 22&23/06/2013

In the Midland Counties U20 Championships at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium on Saturday, Alex George took silver medal in the 1500 metres in 4:14.6, with his twin brother Thomas taking the bronze in 4:16.0.

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Steve Millward and Richard de-Camps each won medals at the Midland Counties Senior Championships in Birmingham on Sunday.

Millward took the silver medal in the 3,000m steeplechase in a season’s best 10:01.48 whilst de-Camps won the bronze medal in a tactical 800 metres in 2:00.1.

Charlotte Stallard took the silver medal in the U20 Ladies hammer throw, recording 44.01 metres.

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YDL U13/U15 - 22/06/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s young stars of the future were in action at the U13/U15 National Youth Development League match at Swindon, achieving four wins and setting several personal bests during the afternoon.

The performances of Alidia Vaile in the U13 Girls 800m and George James in the U15 Boys long jump, in particular, stood out.

Alidia was content to sit in with the leading group in her race before putting in a decisive break with 150 metres remaining to leave the field in her wake. Her winning time of 2:37.3 was an improvement of three seconds on her previous best.

George made the long jump a one-sided contest with a superb leap of 5.88m, the furthest jump by a City athlete in any age group this year. He complimented this with a second place in the 100m in 11.9 seconds.

Luke Hill and Lewis Nicholls both won their 100 metres races, in 12.0 and 14.5 seconds respectively, whilst Harry Matthews took second place in his race in 14.0 seconds.

Personal bests were set by Alex Evans in the 75m Hurdles, Chloe Jones and Amelia Hill in the shot putt and Briony Bishop in the 1200m.

Team manager James Evans said afterwards, “There were some really pleasing performances today and it just goes to prove that the youngsters get a real thrill from competing and representing their City’s Club. We will be pressing home the importance of competing to the youngster ahead of the next match, which is on 13th July.”

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Jones selected for IPC Athletics World Championships - 18/06/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Beverley Jones has been selected to represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Championships in Lyon, France at the end of the month.

Jones, who won the bronze medal in the discus at last year’s London Paralympics, will compete in the F37 category of the discus and shot putt.

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Blackbridge Beginners running group

Due to popular demand, Gloucester Athletic Club is setting up a new recreational running group.

The Blackbridge Beginners group is aimed for those people over 18 years old who want to run to keep fit and for recreation.

Led by new coach Donna Veal, the sessions shall start this Thursday (4th July) from the Gloucester club’s Blackbridge headquarters at 6:30pm and shall include varied runs over grass playing fields, roads and the canal towpath, depending on the season and session.

All are welcome.

For further information, please ring 07817 974630.

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Cranham Beast

The 2013 Cranham Beast multi-terrain race will be on Saturday 10th August, starting at 3.00pm. Race venue is the Cranham Cricket Club. Entry fees are £8 for unattached runners, or £6 if you are a member of a UK Athletics affiliated club. There is no surcharge for entries on the day. Full details are on the Gloucester AC website, www.gloucesterac.co.uk/events/club-events/cranham-beast.

The date for next year’s Gloucester 20 Mile road race has been set for Sunday 16th March 2014. Entries and full details shall be announced through the club’s website later this summer.

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Six of the Best for Gloucester AC

Six of Gloucester Athletic Cub’s leading junior athletes have been selected to represent Gloucestershire at next month’s English School’s Championships.

The Championships, which are the highlight of a young athlete’s season, take place at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium on 5th and 6th July and shall feature the very best of the country’s young athletic talent.

Twins Thomas and Alex George and Jacob Lange shall be competing in the Senior Boys age group. Thomas George shall be running in the 1500 metres whilst Alex, like his brother a member of Paul de-Camps’ training group, shall line up in the 3,000 metres. Lange, who is coached by Lorraine Shaw, will be competing in the hammer event.

Another member of Shaw’s group, Charlotte Stallard, shall be competing in the Senior Girls hammer.

Sprinter Dayna Willoughby shall run in the Intermediate Girls age group. A member of Paul Pepler’s training group, she’ll be lining up in the 300 metres.

The sixth City athlete to be making the trip to “the Nationals” is Ellen Thrall who, at 15, is the youngest member of the Gloucester contingent. Also from the Lorraine Shaw stable, she shall be competing in the Intermediate Girls hammer.

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Bourton Hilly Half Marathon - 16/06/2013

Gloucester AC results from the Bourton Hilly Half Marathon on Sunday (16th):

20th James Head 1:27:24 (pb)

70th Denise Evans 1:44:47 (3rd W50)

75th Terry Onions 1:46:27 (3rd M60)

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South West Schools Championships, Exeter - 15/06/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club youngsters were in fine form at the South West Schools Championships at Exeter on Saturday (15th).

In the senior age group, there was a double gold medal success for the George twins as Thomas and Alex both ran tactical races before unleashing strong finishes to take the 1500m and 3000m titles respectively. Kate Davies was a double silver-medallist in the senior girls section, taking second place in both the high jump (1.55m) and javelin (32.60m).

There was further success in the Inter Girls section as Dayna Willoughby took the 300m title in 41.51 seconds, a time that was hampered not only by the blustery conditions but also a team selection anomaly that meant she was also entered for the 200 metres event which was less than 30 minutes before her 300 metres final. Willoughby’s training partner, Kelly Constable, showed she is recovering from an ankle injury that threatened to end her season prematurely by taking second place in the 200 metres final in a season’s best 25.72 seconds. Catherine Hardy ran a personal best 12.53 seconds to qualify for the 100 metres final, where she ran even faster to take the bronze medal in 12.41 seconds. Hardy was later a member of the 4 x 100m relay squad that took the gold medal.

In the Inter Girls field events, Ellen Thrall added a metre to her personal best as she took the bronze medal in the hammer event with 36.69m.

In the junior girls category, Cheyna Nicholls won the bronze medal in the shot putt with 9.70m.

Additional Gloucester AC performers at SW Schools Championships:

Senior Boys 400m heats - Andrew Bowers 54.82

Inter Boys 800m final - 9th Ryan Hearn; 11th Dominic Tutton.

Junior Boys 200m final – 8th Luke Hill 24.60 (pb)

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England Athletics U20/U23 Championships, Bedford - 15/06/2013

Two of Gloucester Athletic Club’s promising young throwers were in action at the England Athletics U20/U23 Championships at Bedford on Saturday (15th).

Jacob Lange took 10th place in the U20 Men’s hammer final, whilst club-mate and fellow member of Lorraine Shaw’s training group, Charlotte Stallard also took 10th place in the U20 Women’s hammer final.

Tim Williams, currently studying at Loughborugh University, competed in the U23 event, finishing 5th with a best throw of 59.78m.

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3:7:10 competition - 15/06/2013

See Results under Events / Club events / Results

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Gloucester Street Athletics - 15/06/2013

Results of 60m sprint held in Poplar Close:

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Meeting Iberoamericano de Atletismo, Huelva, ESP - 12/06/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Rose-Anne Galligan took a significant step towards the World Championships in Moscow as she smashed her personal best.

In her second international race in four days the 25-year-old Gloucester AC Irish international won the 800m in Huelva, Spain, in a time of two minutes, 1.07 seconds to shave 0.69 seconds off her previous best set in 2010.

Most importantly, the Cheltenham-based athlete's time is inside the World Championships B qualifying standard of 2.01.50 and puts her in a strong position to win a place in the Ireland team for the event in Moscow in August.

Her coach David Farrow said: "These are really good times for Rose-Anne and I think she is coming of age as an athlete.

"That was her second race abroad in four days and to put two times of 2.01 back to back with a lot of travelling in between is very impressive."

Galligan returned home to Gloucestershire on Sunday after her race in Turin, trained hard with Farrow and then took a train to Stansted on Monday for an early morning fight to Spain on Tuesday.

But not even that hectic schedule could throw Galligan off track as she followed the pacemaker to the bell and then shot to the front and raced to victory.

Farrow said: "Rose-Anne was bold enough to take on the race, control it and run a very strong and steady second lap.

"She is really growing as an athlete, understands the event properly and is becoming more and more confident."

The time lifts Galligan to third in the Ireland all-time rankings headed by Sonia O'Sullivan.

It could be only be a matter of time before the Gloucester AC star breaks O'Sullivan's 1994 record of 2.00.69.

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Midland League - 09/06/2013

The Gloucester-Severn composite team produced a much-improved performance at the second Midland Athletics League Division Two match at Birmingham University on Sunday (9th), taking a well-earned third place on the day.

The team welcomed back several athletes who were unavailable for the opening match and they all played a big part in a strong all-round team performance that was full of quality in every department.

Whilst the young sprinters continue to make their mark on this stage, it was the middle distance runners who really set a standard that will be tough to beat this season. Tim Dalton took an impressive 800/1500m double, with solid support from Ryan Hearn and Thomas George, whilst Alex George and Richard de-Camps took excellent wins in the 3,000m ‘A’ and ‘B’ strings.

The runners did not have things all their own way, however, as the throwers dominated the opposition. British Universities champion, Tim Williams, got the team off to a winning start when he and Justin Sysum took wins in the men’s hammer event. Sysum and Gareth Winter each secured victories in the shot putt and discus ‘A’ and ‘B’ events and Sysum also took a second place in the ‘A’ string javelin.

The ladies team have impressed this year. The throwers, whilst not repeating their heroics of the first match, still produced solid performances to earn valuable points throughout with youngster Lauren Richards setting a new outdoors best to win the shot putt. Libby Taylor and Megan Teague set three new personal bests between them in the long and triple jumps and Kate Davies made a huge impression in her first major outdoor competition of the summer.

However, the ladies saved the best for last as the sprint relay team of Sophie Lambert, Dayna Willoughby, Catherine Hardy and Kelly Constable knocked over half a second off the existing club record with 49.8 seconds, the first time a City squad has ever dipped below 50 seconds for the event.

Afterwards, team manager Richard Blackwell said: “This performance was a huge improvement on match one. Everyone raised their game and I was particularly impressed with the attitude of the team and their willingness to fill as many gaps as they could. They have done their Club proud today.”

BRAT 386 pts, City of Stoke 380; Glos-Severn 340; Bristol-Yate 329; Stratford-o-Avon 268; Bromsgrove & Redditch 247

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Primo Nebiolo Memorial meeting - 08/06/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Rose-Anne Galligan ran her second fastest-ever 800 metres and her quickest time for three years when she placed 4th in the Primo Nebiolo Memorial meeting in Turin, Italy on Saturday. Galligan stopped the clock at 2 mins 01.83 seconds, just seven one-hundredths of a second outside her personal best time set when running in the European Championships in Barcelona in 2010.

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County Schools Track and Field Championships - 08/06/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club members met with success at the County Schools Track & Field Championships at Cheltenham on Saturday (8th)

Gold medals:

U15 Boys 200m Luke Hill

U17 Girls 200m Dayna Willoughby

U17 Girls 300m Dayna Willoughby

U20 Men 1500m Thomas George

U20 Men 3000m Alex George

U20 Ladies High Jump Kate Davies

U20 Men Hammer Jacob Lange

U20 Women Hammer Charlotte Stallard

U17 Girls Hammer Ellen Thrall

U20 Women Javelin Kate Davies

Silver medals:

U15 Boys 100m Luke Hill

U17 Girls 100m Catherine Hardy

U17 Girls 200m Kelly Constable

U20 Boys 400m Andrew Bowers

U17 Boys 800m Ryan Hearn

U20 Ladies 1500 Beth Wells

U15 Girls Shot Putt Cheyna Nicholls

Bronze medals:

U17 Girls 100m Kelly Constable

U17 Boys 800m Dominic Tutton

U17 Boys Discus Joe Beckett

U15 Boys 1500m William Staddon

U15 Girls Long Jump Chloe Jones

U17 Girls Discus Ellen Thrall

For full results, click here

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Youth Development League - 01&02/06/2013

Many of Gloucester Athletic Club’s young track & field athletes were in action at National Youth Development League matches over the weekend.

The U13 and U15s team travelled down to Swansea on Saturday (1st) and the U17 and U20s travelled to Brierley Hill on Sunday, all producing performances that will give senior coaches much hope for the future.

Garry Hunter, manager of the U17/U20s team, said “I hope that those who made the long journeys this weekend were pleased with their performances. The older ones were under a lot of pressure with their studies as well as the demands put on them to compete, so we all wanted to make sure we got the balance right.” 

Pomphrey Sports 5K - 29/05/2013

In the Pomphrey Sports Summer Series 5km road Race in Bristol (29th) Gloucester AC’s Arthur Daley placed 31st in 21:22 whilst Nicola Hovey placed 47th in 23:25.

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BMC Regional Races / BRAT Club Open - 29/05/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s George twins travelled up to Birmingham University to compete in the BRAT/British Milers Club event. Thomas lowered his five day-old 1500m personal best, finishing 2nd in 3:58.39. Club-mate Richard de-Camps placed 6th in 3:59.56.The 3,000m race saw Alex George start off conservatively before unleashing a 60-second final lap to come home the winner in 8:44.92.

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Dymock Half Marathon - 26/05/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club were awarded the team shield for finishing first team of three at the Dymock Half Marathon on Sunday. A field of over 130 runners took part in hot conditions over the hilly half marathon course which was mainly along country roads through Dymock Village, along the Ledbury Road, Much Marcle and back through Dymock to finish at the local cricket club.

Mike Mansfield running his fastest half marathon for a few years led the team home taking 3rd place and 1st Vet 40 in a time of 1:22:17. He was closely followed by team mate Jeremy Mower finishing 4th place, 1st Vet 45 in 1:23:30. Final scorer was Ian Summers running his first half marathon since Malta six years ago was 14th in 1:31:58.

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Gloucestershire County Championships - 25/05/2013

There were medals and personal bests aplenty for Gloucester Athletic Club members at the 2013 Gloucestershire County Championships at Cheltenham last week, making it one of the most successful championships in the Club’s recent history.

A hugely successful recruitment campaign on the back of the 2012 Olympics and the brand-new Blackbridge facility has swelled the number of members at the Gloucester club and this was the first County Championship for many of those newcomers and they did not disappoint, bringing a whole stash of medals back to the City.

The timing of these successes could not be better because the Club launches its new Junior Athletics Academy this week. Club coaching Co-ordinator, Paul Pepler, explains: “The new structure means that we are now in a position to offer led coaching sessions for a full range of athletics events for everyone from the age of seven years and upwards.

“We have an experienced and committed coaching team and are busy training up new coaches, which puts us in a strong position to cater for anyone wanting to take up any event in the sport, whatever their age.”

“The new system is progressive so that once an athlete reaches a specific standard in their events, they’ll move up to a more advanced group so there shall be continuous development and improvement.”

However, there is a deal, as Pepler explains: “It’s important that youngsters who come along to the Club realise that we shall expect them to compete. We are in a competitive sport and provide plenty of competitions, so we shall expect something back in return for our time.”

Gloucester Athletic Club trains each Tuesday and Thursday at their Blackbridge headquarters in Podsmead, 6:30-8pm.

Full County Championships results: click here

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Herefordshire County Championships - 25/05/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Anna Robertson was in record-breaking form at the recent Herefordshire County Championships recently (25th), taking a treble of gold medals.

Robertson has established herself as the leading City thrower this summer and continued her good form, setting new personal bests and new county records in the hammer (46.84m) and discus (28.28m). She also won the shot putt, in 9.95m.

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Loughborough International - 19/05/2013

There was a strong Gloucester Athletic Club presence at the Loughborough International event on Sunday 19th May.

Rose-Anne Galligan ran a season’s best 2:03.19 in the ladies 800m, taking second place behind the outstanding Jessica Judd, whilst Gareth Winter placed seventh in the men’s shot putt with 15.91m.

British Universities champion, Tim Williams, placed 8th in the men’s hammer with a season’s best throw of 60.52m.

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Tewkesbury Half Marathon - 19/05/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club results:

Nathan Smith 1:20:12

Hayley Winters 1:26:02 (pb by over 8 minutes)

Sue Higgins 1:39:27 (pb)

Mark Rickard 1:41:49

Sharon Harris 1:50:28

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Midland League - 18/05/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s hopes of an immediate return to the top flight of the Midland League took a set-back when they placed fifth of six teams in a tight opening match at Yate on Saturday.

Injuries and non-availabilities had robbed the team of several key members but there were still several very encouraging performances from youngsters making their senior team debuts that will have pleased selectors and coaches alike.

The young sprinters all acquitted themselves well, with Ben Potts and Jevaughn Gayle (100m) and Jools Richardson (200m) all set new personal bests. They were perhaps outshone by another youngster, Catherine Hardy, who took a double victory in the 100m and 200m, the latter in a new personal best.

Best times were also set by Ryan Hearn (800m), Tom Beckett (long and triple jumps) and Libby Taylor in the 100m hurdles.

Despite fielding a very young team, it was some of the older hands who held the team together. Captain Steve Millward set a captain’s example, competing in six events, whilst throwers Gareth Winter and Anna Robertson both produced solid performances during the match. Robertson had one of her best-ever days in a Gloucester vest, setting new personal bests in the discus and javelin as well as being less than half a metre down on her hammer best. Even Club Chairman Andy McKenzie was tempted out of retirement and claimed 3rd place in the B hammer after not even having touched the implement for seven years.

Afterwards, Millward said “Fifth place isn’t so much of a disappointment when you consider how many youngsters we had making their debuts today and how they performed. Also, we’re only 50 points behind the second-placed team so I’m confident we can start to turn things round in match two next month.”

Men's results

Ladies results

Team result

1 Bristol & Yate 424; 2 Stoke 328; 3 BRAT 315; 4 Bromsgrove & Redditch 278; 5 Gloucester & Severn 271; 6 Stratford 263

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BMC Grand Prix, Solihull - 18/05/2013

Four Gloucester Athletic Club members travelled to Solihull for the BMC Grand Prix meeting on Saturday, with all four coming away with personal or season’s best performances.

Irish international Rose-Anne Galligan had a successful winter indoors campaign, culminating in the European Indoors Championships in March, and she opened her outdoor season in sparkling fashion, winning the 800m ladies event in 2:04.08.

Richard de Camps and Thomas George both lowered their personal bests in the 800 metres, clocking 1:55.55 and 1:56.48 respectively, whilst Alex George set a new best time of 3:54.83 in the 1500 metres.

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Galligan gets season under way - 16/05/2013

Irish international Rose-Anne Galligan opens her season with a double-header this weekend.

The Gloucester AC runner, who lives in Cheltenham, is entered for the women's elite 800m race in the opening British Milers Club Grand Prix in Solihull.

And the following day she will tackle the same distance in the Loughborough International Games.

"Rose-Anne will be a bit ring-rusty as she has only just returned from a few weeks of hard training in South Africa and then Font Romeu in France," said her coach David Farrow.

"She needs a few races to get herself going again so it is game on."

The two events will be Galligan's first taste of competitive action since reaching the semi-finals of the European Championships in March, when she clocked an indoor personal best of two minutes 2.84 seconds. A slight foot injury forced her to rest after that event but since then Galligan has been training hard at altitude – though this weekend will probably come too soon for her to enjoy the full benefits of that advantage.

Ultimately Galligan's target this season is to improve upon her outdoor personal best of 2.01.76 which she set three years ago at the European Championships in Barcelona and qualify to represent Ireland at the World Championships in Moscow.

"You normally don't want to race within seven or eight days of coming back from altitude as you are not at your best, but for Rose-Anne that isn't so important at the moment," added Farrow. "It is three weeks down the line that we should see the full benefits and Rose-Anne has a high quality 800m in Germany pencilled in for then (May 31st) which will be her first really serious race. "But first she has the two races this weekend and then will probably do something different at the Gloucestershire Championships the following weekend."

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Aviator 4 - 12/05/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Dave Spackman took 1st place in the V60 category of the Aviator 4-mile road race at the Gloucestershire Airport, Staverton, on Sunday.

The 67 year-old veteran clocked 29:45 to extend his lead in the category of the County Road Race series.Spackman’s club colleague, Denise Evans, ran 29:40 to take the W50 category.

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Blackbridge Throws Open - 08/05/2013

Winners from the first Open Throws competition held at the Blackbridge track were:

Shot Putt:

Sen Men     Gareth Winter (Gloucester AC) 15.72m

Jun Ladies  Annabel Sherry (Chelt & Co H) 12.40m

U17L           Lauren Richards (Severn) 9.99m

U17M          Joe Beckett (Gloucester AC) 8.15m

Discus:

Sen Men    Gareth Winter 44.73m

U17L          Lauren Richards 18.50m

U17M         Joe Beckett 28.15m

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Sprinters leading the way

Gloucester Athletic Club’s sprinters have made their most encouraging start for several seasons, raising hopes that their recent drought is coming to an end.

For the past few seasons the City club has, surprisingly given its rich tradition, struggled to raise sprint teams to challenge the rest of the county. However, there are signs are that the drought is coming to an end as several of the Club’s sprinting talent are posting times to make the rest of the region sit up and take notice of the revolution that is taking place at the Blackbridge track.

Leading the way at the moment are the U17s. Kelly Constable, Dayna Willoughby and Catherine Hardy are placed towards the top of the South West ranking lists over 100, 200 and 300 metres for the girls and new talents Jevaughn Gayle and Julian Richardson are showing huge potential in the boys events.

The change in the Club’s fortunes can be put down to several factors: the Olympic Effect is very much alive in the City, with dozens of newcomers having joined the Club over the past 10 months; floodlighting at the newly refurbished Blackbridge Jubilee Athletics track has meant that the athletes could train outdoors during the winter months; the experienced sprint coaching team of Paul Pepler, Garry Hunter and Richard Blackwell has brought a new energy into the sprint group; and last, but not least, is the fact that there is some genuine athletics talent in the group.

As Blackwell says, “We’ve made some subtle changes to the training sessions this year, grouping athletes together, and this seems to be working. For example, we’re mixing the young talent with more experienced athletes and they are all feeding off one another. The young guns are setting their sights on beating the older sprinters and it is in the experienced athlete’s nature not to let a youngster beat them. The groups are growing each week and we’re discovering some real talent.”

Gloucester Athletic Club trains each Tuesday and Thursday, 6:30-8:00pm, at the Blackbridge Jubilee Athletics Track, Podsmead. Everyone is welcome, ring 07817 974630 for more details.

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Whitstable 10k - 06/05/2013

Kathryn Purcell made the long journey to Kent to compete in the Whitstable 10km road race and, in hot conditions, placed 13th lady and 82nd overall in a field of over 700 runners in 44:16.

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Brewer Games, Cheltenham - 06/05/2013

Gloucester AC results from the Brewer Games, Cheltenham (Mon 6th)

Track

U15B

1500m 1st Harry Wells 5:00.54

U17L

300m 1st Dayna Willoughby 41.56 secs

U17M

200m 4th Andrew Bowers 24.52 secs

400m 6th Andrew Bowers 53.75 secs

U20L

1500m 1st Bethany Wells 5:32.20

Field

U17L

Discus 4th Ellen Thrall 21.55m

Hammer 1st Ellen Thrall 34.87m

Shot Putt 6th Ellen Thrall 6.93m

U20M

Hammer 1st Rob Wallace 59.18m; 2nd Jacob Lange 54.84m

SM

Discus 1st Gareth Winter 44.49m

Shot Putt 1st Gareth Winter 16.53m

BMC PB Classic, Millfield School, Street, 06/05/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club results from BMC Grand Prix Meeting at Millfield School, Street (Mon 6th):

U15G

1500m Bethan Moor 2nd 5:10.70

U17B

3000m Alex George (U17) 7th 8:33.69 (club U17 record)

800m Thomas George (U17) 1st 1:57.35

SM

3000m Richard de-Camps 10th 8:51.47

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BUCS Championships, 05/05/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Tim Williams retained his senior men’s hammer title at last week’s British Universities Championships at Bedford.

Representing Loughborough University, the 22 year-old threw a season’s best 58.87m to repeat his victory at the Olympic Stadium in London last year and, as a result, has been selected to compete in this weekend’s prestigious Loughborough International event (19th).

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Youth Development League, U13/15, 1st fixture - 04/05/2013

A group of Gloucester Athletic Club’s younger members travelled to Braunton in north Devon to compete in the U13/15 categories of the National Youth Development League on Saturday (4th) with the sprinters in particular taking advantage of the windy conditions to post new personal best performances.

In the U15 Boys age group, Luke Hill continued his promising start to the new season as he recorded new bests of 11.9 and 24.9 seconds when placing second in both the 100 and 200 metres.

The U15 Girls age group saw Chloe Jones set a trio of new personal bests, in the 200m (29.8 seconds), discus (18.48m) and shot putt (6.40m).

The U13 Girls were not to be out-done when it came to setting new bests. Tamsin Doran gave further evidence of her potential as a multi-eventer as she set new standards in the 75m (11.0 seconds), long jump (3.82m) and the shot putt (6.77m) whilst Amelia Hill set new bests of 11.3 secs (75m) and 14.4 secs (70m hurdles).

Team Manager Ron Freeman was appreciative of his small team, saying “It was always going to be a tough task raising a team to travel this far on a Bank Holiday weekend, but I’m very grateful to the youngsters who made the effort and I’m sure that was justified by the number of new personal bests that were set.”

Youth Development League, U17/20 - Match 1 - 28/04/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club made a successful debut in the National Youth Development League at Hereford on Sunday (28th), finishing second on the day after leading the match right up to the final few events.

Personal best performances were again in abundance with the sprinters in particular taking advantage of the favourable conditions.

Team manager Garry Hunter said afterwards: “We were able to build on the team spirit that was evident at the previous week’s Avon League match. There is a tremendous energy at the Club at the moment and everyone is working hard at establishing Gloucester AC as a force to be reckoned with. I’m very proud of them.”

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Avon League - Match 1 - 21/04/2013

“We are now seeing the results of the Olympic Effect and the benefits of having a great athletics facility in Gloucester” was how Gloucester Athletic Club’s team manager, Bob Purcell, described the club’s attendance at the opening Avon League fixture at Yate (21st).

“It has long been a concern that the Gloucester vest was conspicuous by its absence at these fixtures,” Purcell continued, “but this is the highest number we have ever had at one of the matches and even more remarkable given that it is still only April.

”The Gloucester club uses the Avon League primarily as a development league for its new and less experienced members, but many of its more established U17s chose this fixture for useful early-season competition and came away pleased that they had made the short trip as personal bests tumbled like nine pins.

Purcell said “This is a very good start to the Club’s summer season. We’ve been working very hard over the winter months keeping the Olympic Legacy alive at the Blackbridge track in the City and this was reflected in the number of new youngsters we had competing today. Also, many of our U17s produced the sort of performances that will thrust them into contention for senior team selection in the next few weeks.”

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Yate Sprints and Hurdles Meeting - 14/04/2013

A group of Gloucester AC members opened up their 2013 outdoors track & field season at the Sprints and Hurdles meeting at Yate on Sunday (14th).

Andrew Bowers showed that he has wintered well under the guidance of Paul Pepler, setting new personal best performances in the 100 metres (12.24 secs), 200m (24.45 secs) and 400m (54.95 secs), while Dayna Willoughby, Kelly Constable and Lurenda Mudd all showed good early season form in their events.

Results:

100m Kelly Constable 12.64 secs, Lurenda Mudd  13.26 secs

200m Dayna Willoughby 25.92 secs, Kelly Constable 26.14 secs, Lurenda Mudd 27.82 secs

300m Dayna Willoughby  42.17 secs

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2012-13 cross-country rankings

Alex George was considered Gloucester AC’s top performer according to the 2012-13 winter cross-country ranking lists produced last week.

George was ranked 11th in the nation’s U17 Men’s age group and was based on a consistently solid season, the highlights of which were taking second place in the McCain’s Cross-Country challenge over four events throughout the winter and an excellent 8th place in the Inter-Counties event at Birmingham in March. In addition, the Abbeymead youngster won the Gloucestershire title and placed second in both the Midland championships and the south-West Schools championships.

As a result of these successes, George has been selected for the South-West U17 team to run in the 3 miles mini-marathon ahead of the Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 21st April.

Chedworth Roman Trail - 07/04/2013

Kerry Newell of Gloucester AC competed in the Chedworth 10-mile multi-terrain event on Sunday (7th), finishing 10th lady in 1 hr 22 minutes, an improvement of 13 minutes on her previous best time for the event.

Bushley Green Streets Mile - 01/04/2013

In the fourth Bushley Green Streets One Mile road race near Tewkesbury on Monday, Gloucester AC's James Head placed 11th in 6.03.

Gloucester Athletic Club are gearing up for perhaps the busiest season in their 130 year history.

The success of the 2012 Olympic Games attracted an influx of youngsters to the club to try their hand at the sport.

The refurbished Blackbridge facility that opened in the autumn has also helped the club prepare for a summer of sporting excellence.

Chairman Andy McKenzie said: "We were expecting a large increase in training numbers after the Olympics, particularly in the younger age groups, so we trained up several existing members and parents to become qualified coaches.

"But never in our wildest dreams could we have anticipated just how much our numbers would swell"To cope with the extra demand, the Gloucester club has entered the National Young Development League for the 2013 season to provide competition for the youngsters.

McKenzie added: "One of our main duties as a club is to provide plenty of team competition for all of our members and, by entering the new league, we are increasing the range of competitions available to the youngsters who joined us last year."In addition to the Junior Development League, we'll be competing in the Midland Athletics League and the Avon League so it will be a very busy summer."

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Lee Valley U13/U15 Open & Pentahlon - 31/03/2013

Two of Gloucester Athletic club's youngest talents competed in the Lee Valley Open Pentathlon competition on Easter Sunday.

Tamsin Doran and Jude Dowdeswell are members of Carlton Blake's multi-events training group at the Gloucester club and both came away with a host of personal best performances.

Results:

60m Hurdles: Tamsin Doran 11.33 secs (pb); Jude Dowdeswell 12.16 (pb)

Long jump: Tamsin Doran 3.53m (pb); Jude Dowdeswell 3.16

Shot Putt: Tamsin Doran 6.00m (pb); Jude Dowdeswell 3.89m (pb)

High Jump: Tamsin Doran 1.16m (pb); Jude Dowdeswell 1.13m (pb)

800m: Tamsin Doran 3:15.23 (pb); Jude Dowdeswell 3:10.86 (pb)

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Anglo Celtic Plate 100K - 31/03/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club's Jeremy Mower was among the 41 runners who braved sub-zero temperatures and biting winds to contest this year's 100km Anglo Celtic Plate in Perth, Scotland on Sunday.

This was Mower's ninth appearance for the Welsh team in the event, a record number for any athlete in this competition, and came just four weeks after a win in the Welsh Ultra 40-mile track Championship event at Barry.

It was perhaps this proximity that affected the Gloucester athlete over the latter stages. Passing through the classic marathon distance in 3:20 and 50km in 4:06, Mower struggled over the final 15 miles but still managed to place 17th overall in eight hours 46 minutes 20 seconds.

Mower said "Despite suffering over the final quarter, I'm relatively happy with that final time seeing as it was so close to the Barry race."

Mower has two more ultra-distance races lined up in preparation for a 24-hour race in August where he hopes to record a distance that will be good enough to make the Welsh 24-hour team for the 2015 Ultra Commonwealth Championships in South Africa.

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Cleevewold MT14 - 24/03/2013

Two Gloucester Athletic Club members competed in the Cleevewold 14-mile multi-terrain race which started at Postlip Hall near Winchcombe and covered the highest points of the Cotswolds (24th March).

Mark Thrall placed 46th in 2hrs 16:48 and Denise Evans placed 73rd in 2:42:19.

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Gloucester 20 - 17/03/2013

Three Gloucester AC members achieved new personal best times in the Club’s Gloucester 20-miles Road Race held around the lanes of Quedgeley and Haresfield on Sunday (17th).

Mike Mansfield was the first City runner to finish, in 15th place, in 2hrs 07.53, taking second place in the M40 category.

Denise Evans was 3rd in the LV50 section, placing 75th overall in 2:39.55, and Nicola Hovey finished 80th overall and 4th LV40 in 2:41.38.

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County 4K Cross Country Championships - 16/03/2013

There were team and individual successes for Gloucester AC members at the County short-course cross-country championships at Plock Court on Saturday (16th).

The fierce pace set by eventual winner Tom Russell of Stroud split the field, but Gloucester’s Steve Millward settled into a clear second place which he maintained to the finish, reached in 13:44.

Dominic Tutton carried his impressive indoors form onto the country and comfortably won the U17 men’s category, finishing in third place overall.

Dave Spackman (68) won the MV65 event, finishing in 12th place overall, to ensure the City squad won the senior men’s team prize.

Harry Wells, a member of Kerry Newell’s training group, won the supporting younger age group race, with training partner Abi Pearce placing fourth overall and first U15 Girl. 

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Rhyader Round The Lakes 20 - 16/03/2013

Tom Randles and Gemma Collier travelled up to Rhayader in mid-Wales to compete in the ‘Round The Lakes’ 20 miles Road Race on Saturday (16th).

In near blizzard conditions, Randles placed 18th overall in 2:16.45 whilst Collier finished in 31st position, and 1st lady, in 2:21.31.

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English Schools Cross-Country Championships - 16/03/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club youngsters were prominent in the Gloucestershire team that competed in the English Schools Cross-Country Championships at Catton Hall in Derbyshire on Saturday (16th).

Thomas George made light of the heavy conditions and challenging uphill sections on the course to lead the county team home in the senior boys race to finish in 66th place, six places ahead of twin brother Alex.

Bethan Moor brought the curtain down on her impressive first full cross-country season, placing 125th in the Junior Girls race.

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Inter-Counties Cross Country - 09/03/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Alex George produced the stand-out performance at the combined Inter-Counties and McCain’s Cross-Country Challenge at Cofton Park in Birmingham on Saturday (9th).

George was in third place going into this, the fifth and final event of the U17 Men’s section of the McCain’s series that has already seen races take place in Bristol, Liverpool, Antrim and Cardiff and with all of the leading contenders present, a tough race was always on the cards.

And so it proved, but George stuck to his race plan, keeping in contact with the leading group throughout, rather than forcing the pace. This tactic stood him in good stead as he was able to save enough energy to fend off many challenges in a frantic finish to place 8th on the day and a splendid 2nd in the overall series.

Alex’s twin brother, Thomas, returned to cross-country racing on the back of a successful indoor campaign which saw him win the South-West U20 1500m title and the bronze medal in the Midland Counties 800m, and produced his best run of the winter to place 26th in the U17 event.

Another City runner to save his best race of the season for this, the only fixture to feature all of the top runners in the UK, was Richard de-Camps. Racing over 12km over cross-country for the first time, de-Camps confirmed his position as the county’s Club’s leading performers in 2013 to place 142nd in the senior men’s event. Club-mate Mike Mansfield acquitted himself well at this level to finish in 269th position.

The Gloucester club’s younger runners also reaped the rewards for the hard work they have put in this winter under the guidance of their coach, Kerry Newell. William Staddon was the first Gloucestershire runner home in the U15 Boys race, in 160th place, whilst Bethan Moor put in another typically gutsy performance to finish second county runner in 127th in the U15 Girls race. The club’s youngest competitor on the day, Harry Wells, showed great determination on a demanding course to place 241st in the U13 Boys event.

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Bath Half Marathon - 03/03/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club members were busy racing in Half Marathons at the weekend. In the Bath Half Marathon, Mike Mansfield placed 113th in 77:58 whilst Kerry Newell placed 1196th in 98:07.

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Northern Counties Masters Cross Country Championships - 02/03/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Paul Barlow returned to his home region to contest the Northern Counties Masters Cross-Country Championships at Warrington on Saturday (2nd) and won the bronze medal in the M40 category.

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Gloucestershire Road Relays - 02/03/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s senior men’s team finished just outside the medals when they placed fourth in the County 4 x 3-miles road relay championships at Sandhurst on Saturday (2nd).Ian Summers gave the team a solid start with an 18:53 leg, handing over to Tom Randles who recorded 19:05. Matt Powell then ran 18:05 on leg three before Steve Millward brought the team home in fourth with a scintillating 16:21 leg.

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European Indoor Championships - 01&02/03/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Rose-Anne Galligan fully justified her selection for the Ireland team at the European Indoors Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.

After winning her heat on Friday in 2:03.62, Galligan took her place on the starting line of Saturday’s semi final where she was placed fifth in a new indoor personal best 2:02.84, knocking half a second off the time she set the previous week in Athlone.

Galligan qualifies for Euro Indoors

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Rose-Anne Galligan has been selected to represent Ireland in the 800 metres at this weekend’s European Indoors Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Galligan had produced some recent sold performances over 1500 metres indoors but a particularly impressive run over her preferred 800 metres in Athlone on Saturday, where she reduced her indoors personal best time to 2:03.39, was the race that earned her a place on the plane.

“I was really surprised as I didn’t think I would run that fast this early in the season” said the Cheltenham-based athlete, “but I think my 1500 metres strength helped.”

The women’s heats take place on Friday evening, 17:40 local time.

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Pomphrey Sports 5K Series - 26/02/2013

In the last of the 2012-13 winter Pomphrey Sports 5km road races in Bristol, Arthur Daley ran 20:04 to take the M60 prize for the race and the series. Nicola Hovey clocked 24:08 to place 2nd in the W45 category.

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Barry 40 - 24/02/2013

Ultra Success for Mower

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Jeremy Mower place third overall and first Welshman in the Barry 40 mile track race in south Wales on Sunday (24th).

Despite a strong cold wind that made the temperatures feel like close to freezing, Mower’s time of 4hrs 56:40 was a new personal best and his first time inside five hours.

“I knew I was in good form going into this race as my last few races and weeks of training had been going well” said Mower, who was clocked at 1:10:23 for 10 miles and 3:09:20 for the marathon distance. “I was surprised with the final time, though, because it was so cold today.”

Mower is now looking forward to representing Wales in the UK 100km championships at Perth, Scotland, at the end of March when, hopefully, he will be setting a new record for international appearances for an individual from any country in the event, with nine.

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Bourton 10K - 24/02/2013

Fortnam on road to recovery

Simon Fortnam gave further evidence that he is steadily regaining the form and fitness that made him one of Gloucester’s top road runners when he placed 49th in Sunday’s Bourton 10km Road Race in 36:57.

Fortnam missed all of the 2012 season due to injury and only returned to racing a matter of weeks ago, but is showing that he is rounding into reasonable shape in time for the spring road relays.

Matt Powell continued his recent rich vein of form as he finished in 64th place in 38:10, a personal best for the distance by 10 seconds.

Behind Powell, there was a host of personal bests by City runners as James Head knocked over one minute off his best as he finished 108th in 39:39. Arthur Daley ran his fastest time for nearly 20 years, clocking 39:59 to win the M60 category, whilst fellow coach Kerry Newell took over one minute off her best when clocking 43:10.

Denise Evans was another to reduce her personal best, recording 44:54 to take second place in the LV50 category, two seconds and one place ahead of Nicola Hovey whose 44:56 was an improvement of over four minutes on her previous best.

Dave Spackman placed 236th overall in 45:05.

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Castle Combe 10K - 24/02/2013

In the Castle Coombe 10km road race, Hayley Winters reduced her personal best by 40 seconds when recording 40:36.

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Midland Counties Open - 17/02/2013

Competing in his first ever race, Nasdeep Purewal ran 7.73 seconds to place second in his 60 metres heat at the Midland Counties Open Meeting at the National Indoor Arena, whilst Kate Davies set a new personal best for the high jump when she cleared 1.60 metres at the same meeting.

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Irish National Indoor Championships - 17/02/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Rose-Anne Galligan returned home to her native Ireland to compete in the Irish National Indoor Championships at the new Athlone IT Arena. Galligan placed 4th in the final of the women’s 1500 metres in 4:17.91, just outside the qualifying standards for next month’s European Indoors Championships.

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Midland Counties Open - 17/02/2103

The Midland Indoors Open meeting at the NIA in Birmingham on Sunday (17th) saw Alex and Thomas George go head to head against each other for the first time indoors. Racing in the 1500 metres senior race, both set new personal bests as Alex won in 3:59.40 and Thomas placed 3rd in 4:02.64. Their training partner and club mate, Richard De Camps, finished in 4th place in 4:06.17 after leading the field through the first 1200 metres.

Andrew Bowers placed 3rd in his heat of the U20 200 metres in 25.24 seconds and 3rd in his 400 metres heat in 55.31 seconds.

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White Horse Winter 5 - 16/02/2013

Jeremy Mower and Matt Powell were Gloucester Athletic Club's only representatives in the Severn AC Five Mile road race at Sandhurst on Saturday (16th). Both runners showed excellent early season form on the road as Powell lowered his personal best by over 20 seconds, placing 7th in 30:23. Mower had a particularly promising run ahead of next week’s Barry 40-miles track race, placing 4th in 28:59, his fastest time since 2005.

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Midland Championships - 10/02/2013

Two of Gloucester Athletic Club’s youngest members made their indoors debuts at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham recently.

Tamsin Doran and Eire Rowland-Evans, who are both members of Carlton Blake’s multi-events group, competed in the U13 Girls category of the Midlands Quadrathlon Championships and both came away with a series of personal best performances.

Tamsin set three new Club U13 Girls club records in the long jump (3.00m), shot putt (6.20m) and the Quadrathlon (780 points) on her way to placing 21st overall, whilst Eire placed 30th.

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Dursley Dozen - 10/02/2103

Gloucester Athletic Club results from the Dursley Dozen race on 10th February:

88th Ben Gardiner 1:49:37.0

99th James Head 1:52:19.0

188th Denise Evans 2:04:08.0 (2nd W50)

221st Terry Onions 2:08:05.0

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Wokingham Half Marathon - 10/02/2013

In the Wokingham Half Marathon, Nathan Smith placed 180th in 85:02.

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British Athletics European Trials & UK Championships - 10/02/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Rose-Anne Galligan placed fourth in the final of the ladies 1500 metres at the British Athletics European Trials & UK Championships in Sheffield on Sunday (10th) in 4:20.52.

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Gloucester 10K - 10/02/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club performances in the Gloucester Get Up And Go 10k road race:

33rd Hayley Winters 41:15 (3rd Senior Lady and a personal best by two minutes)

113th Mark Rickard 46:36

161st Allan Rowland 48:41

337th Heather Christie (U17) 55:34

383rd Sarah Rowland 57:34

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Birmingham League - 09/02/2013

City’s men just miss out on cross-country promotion

Gloucester Athletic Club’s senior men’s cross-country team failed by the narrowest of margins to win promotion to the top flight in the Birmingham Cross-Country League when they placed 4th team in the final Division Two fixture of the season at Pittville Park in Cheltenham on Saturday (9th).

Heading into the race, the Gloucester squad was locked in a three-way battle with Telford AC and Cannock & Staffs, with all three having a realistic chance of gaining the third promotion place behind the City club’s neighbours Severn AC and the Warwick University squad.

Despite another strong turn-out that has been the hallmark of the season, Gloucester failed by just five points and face another season in Division Two next winter.

However, the whole squad rallied to captain Omar Alim’s call and raised their game on Saturday. The ever-consistent Richard De Camps led the team home again in 9th position, just one place ahead of team-mate Steve Millward.

Paul Barlow was the next City runner to cross the line. Having only returned that morning from a business trip in Sweden where the temperatures had dropped to -28 degrees, he finished a highly credible 23rd.

Jeremy Mower was next in, in 50th place, just holding off Mike Mansfield who placed 53rd and Simon Fortnam who, in 55th place, showed that he is gradually regaining his fitness after 12 months on the sidelines through injury.

The team’s total of 200 points placed them fourth on the day and a season’s total of 805, but Telford scored 189 points on the day to record a season’s total of 800 points just five better than Gloucester, to secure the third promotion place.

In the ‘B’ team competition, the City squad also placed fourth to finish the season in 2nd place. Junior Dan Steel finished his first full season in style, leading the team home in 79th place.

Nathan Smith put in another solid performance to place 96th and with Matt Powell finishing 111th, Ian Summers 121st, Omar Alim 133rd and Matt Wade 134th, the team scored 674 points on the day to finish with a season’s total of 2223.

Evergreen Arthur Daley again belied his years to place 136th, Simon Barnes placed 153rd, Paul Nash 157th, Merlin Tolley 166th, Nick Bishop 179th and Paul Loveridge 190th.

Afterwards, the team captain Omar Alim said “We’re obviously disappointed at missing out on promotion by such a small margin but when we sit down in a few days time and look at how the season has gone, I think we will be delighted with the progress we have made over the past twelve months. Cross-country running in this club is fashionable again and we have some hugely talented youngsters ready to move up to the senior ranks next season.”

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Midland Indoor Championships - 09/02/2013

Gold for De Camps is Midlands Indoor Highlight

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Andrew De Camps won the Midlands Senior Indoors 800 metres title at Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena on Saturday (9th).

After qualifying comfortably from his semi final, the former Midlands outdoor champion turned on the heat to win the final in a season’s best 1:56.31.

De Camps’ training partner, Thomas George, knocked an astonishing six seconds off his personal best 800 metres time when winning the bronze medal in the U20 Men’s event in 1:58.34, his first time under two minutes. Next week, he will go head to head against his twin brother Alex for the first time indoors over 1500 metres.

Dominic Tutton was another Club runner to lower his 800 metres personal best at the Championships. He won the silver medal in the U17 Men’s event in 2:00.96, an improvement of two and a half seconds on his previous best.

Heptathlete Kate Davies had a busy day, competing in no fewer than five events. Davies placed second in the 800 metres in 2:33.45, 8th in the 60m Hurdles in 10.57 seconds, 3rd in the high jump with a clearance of 1.55m, 5th in the long jump with 4.60m and second in the shot putt with 9.08 metres.

Julian Richardson lowered his personal best for 60 metres indoors when recording 7.69 seconds in the U17 Men’s event.

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King Henry VIII Schools Cross Country Relays - 06/02/2013

Thomas and Alex George both represented Marling School in the King Henry VIII Schools cross-country relays at Coventry where Alex recorded the fastest leg of the day.

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Gloucestershire Cross-Country League, Plock Court - 02/02/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club sent a small team to compete in the final Gloucestershire Cross-Country League fixture of the winter at Plock Court on Saturday (2nd).

Despite the bright, sunny conditions, the going underfoot was very heavy and did not suit the more fleet of foot runners. However, Jeremy Mower relished the conditions as he returned his most satisfying League performance of the season, finishing in 18th place in the senior men’s event.

Next to finish was Nathan Smith who, in his first race of the year following a short lay-off, placed 51st. Matt Powell continued his progression over the cross-country by finishing in 62nd, with team captain Omar Alim crossing the line in 84th place in his first race since injury.

Seasoned veteran Arthur Daley was next home, in 89th place, a position that was good enough to secure him first place in the M60 category for the overall league season. Simon Barnes completed the scoring six, in 94th place.

In the senior ladies race, Emma Jeffery placed 56th in her first team race for two seasons whilst in the U15 Girls race, Abi Pearce achieved her highest-ever league placing when finishing 4th.

There was success for Harry Wells in the U13 Boys race as his 4th place in Saturday’s race gained him 2nd overall in the League.

The U13 Girls race was notable for the league debuts of Alidia Vaile and Jude Dowdeswell. Both members of Carlton Blake’s developing multi-events squad at the Club, they placed 24th and 25th respectively.

Despite not racing in this final fixture, due to a clash of dates with the South-West schools championships, Alex George won the individual league title in the U17 Men’s category and Will Staddon took 3rd place in the U15 Boys age group.

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South-West Schools Cross-country Championships - 02/02/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club was well-represented at the South-West Schools Cross-Country Championships at Blaise Castle on Saturday (2nd).

In the Senior Boys race, Alex and Thomas George both produced strong runs and finished in the top 10, with Alex finishing a close second and Thomas eighth whilst their training partner Ryan Hearn placed 25th in the U17 Boys race.

Alfie Crouch was the Club’s youngest representative in the boys events and placed 46th in the U13 race while in the U15 Girls race, Bethan Moor placed 31st.

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Birmingham Games - 02/02/2013

Gloucester AC’s Julian Richardson made an impressive indoors debut in the Birmingham Games at the National Indoor Arena on Saturday (2nd).

He recorded a time of 7.72 seconds in his heat of the U17 Men’s 60 metres before taking seconds place in his heat of the 200 metres with a new personal best time of 24.41 seconds.

Multi-eventer Kate Davies clocked 28.09 seconds in her heat of the U20 Ladies 200 metres before recording 9.23m in the shot putt and 2:38.42 in the 800 metres.

Andrew Bowers clocked 55.64 seconds in his heat of the U20 Men’s 400 metres.

Vienna Indoor Classic - 29/01/2013

In the second indoors race of her European mini-tour, Gloucester’s Rose-Anne Galligan placed 3rd in the 1500 metres event at the Vienna Indoor Classic in 4:14.53.

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Pomphrey Sports 5km Winter Series - 29/01/2013

In the latest event in the Pomphrey Sports 5km road race series in Bristol, Arthur Daley finished 44th overall and first in the M60 category in 20:29, Nicola Hovey finished 62nd overall and 3rd W45 in 23:09 and Vanessa Anderton placed 98th in 35:35.

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Linda Franks 5 Mile Road Race - 27/01/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club results from the Linda Franks Five Mile Road Race at Cheltenham on Sunday (27th):

16th Matt Powell 30:45

43rd Hayley Winters 33:25 (4th Senior Lady)

73rd Denise Evans 36:47 (3rd L50)

87th Dave Spackman 37:50 (3rd M65)

102nd Rachel Fake 39:25 (4th L35)

127th Heather Christie 41:15 (1st U17L)

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Elan Indoor Meeting - 27/01/2013

Gloucester’s Irish international, Rose-Anne Galligan, showed that she is over the virus that laid her low over Christmas when winning the ladies 800 metres at the Elan Open Meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Sunday. Galligan’s winning time was 2:05.71, a season’s best.

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Welsh Indoor Championships - 26&27/01/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Dominic Tutton won the silver medal in the Welsh U17 Indoors 800 metres Championships in Cardiff on Saturday (26th). After sitting in 3rd place for the first half of the race, Tutton made his move and hit the front with 200 metres remaining. His lack of recent training took its toll and he was overhauled in the final 50 metres, but held on for second place and a new indoors personal best time of 2:04.07.

Tutton’s Gloucester club mate Thomas George won the Open U20 Men’s 1500 metres race at the Cardiff Indoor Arena on Sunday (27th). Content to sit with the leading group until the final 200 metres, the Gloucester youngster put in a scintillating burst of speed that put 10 metres between him and the rest of the field which he maintained to the finish. George’s winning time was 4:11.19.

Richard De Camps ran his second fastest-ever 1500 metres, 3:59.50, when placing seventh in the Open event at the Cardiff meeting on Sunday. Afterwards, the Gloucester athlete said “That was a very pleasing time as I have been concentrating on cross-country all winter, with no attention to specific speed work. I felt strong at the end and was pleased to go under four minutes.”

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Midland Cross-Country Championships - 26/01/2013

Midlands Cross-country silver for George

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Alex George, was also on the medal podium at the Midlands Cross-Country Championships at Stafford on Saturday (26th).

An overnight snowfall on the Friday gave the course a good covering but this soon turned to slush, making conditions underfoot very soft. George was well-placed throughout and at the half way stage found himself and Birchfield’s Abdi Abdi well clear of the field. However, whilst the Birchfield athlete made light of the conditions, George struggled but held on for a clear second place.

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McCain UK Cross Challenge Series - 20/01/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Alex and Thomas George braved snowy conditions to compete in the Cardiff cross-country meeting on Sunday (20th).

In the McCain’s UK Cross Challenge race, Alex chose not to go with the pace set by series leader Jac Hopkins of Swansea Harriers, deciding instead to stay with the chasing pack.

With one mile remaining, the Gloucester youngster made his move and established himself in a clear second place which he held to the finish line. The result moves him up to second place in the overall standings, which he hopes to consolidate in the final race in Birmingham next month.

Thomas ran for Gloucestershire Schools in the U20 men’s race and was the first Gloucestershire runner home, in 18th place. The Gloucestershire team won bronze medals in the team event.

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City’s Blackbridge Track Gets UK Athletics’ “Thumb’s Up!”

Gloucester’s new Blackbridge Jubilee Athletics Track has taken a massive step towards being able to stage full athletics meetings by being granted a basic-level competition licence by UK Athletics.

For years, the city’s only track had functioned without a competition licence because of safety reasons, meaning that it could only be used for training, but following a very thorough inspection by the sport’s governing body, the brand new track has been given an unequivocal “Thumbs up.”

The UK Athletics certification means that meetings can now be held on the new facility.

Bob Purcell, Managing Director of Gloucester Athletics Track Management Ltd, the charity that operates the track, says “This is fantastic news as it means track & field athletics meetings can now be held in the City for the first time in many years.”

Purcell adds “The UK Athletics’ inspector was very complimentary about the new facility and could not believe how far we had come. He remembered only too well the condition of the old track because, ironically, it was he who actually refused to grant it a licence because of its poor condition.”

“The final piece of this particular jigsaw is to obtain a full competition licence. To be awarded that, we need to have the new pole vault and high jump landing areas certified, as well as a new steeplechase water-jump barrier which shall be ordered in the next couple of weeks. None of this is expected to cause a problem.”

The track is currently busy four days a week with training sessions and bookings are already being taken to stage events during the spring and summer months. For more details, contact Bob Purcell on 07598 107422.

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Welsh Athletics & Cardiff Met Grand Prix Series inc South West England Championships - 13/01/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Thomas George won the South-West England U20 Men’s 1500m title at Cardiff’s National Indoor Arena on Sunday in 4mins 06.02 seconds.

Gloucester Athletic Club’s Dominic Tutton finished 6th in the U17 Welsh Champs 3000m in 9min 54secs.

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Midland Counties Open Outdoor Throws - 13/01/2013

In the Midland Counties Open Throws Meeting at Birmingham on Sunday, Gloucester AC’s Jacob Lange threw a personal best 52.18m for the 6kg Hammer for second place.

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Birmingham League Cross Country - Race 3 - 12/01/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club’s cross-country revival under captain Omar Alim took another step in the right direction when the senior men took an excellent third place in the third fixture of this winter’s Birmingham Cross Country League Division Two at Coventry on Saturday (12th)

The result moved them up to fourth place overall in the division, just 21 points out of the promotion places, and with one fixture remaining, leaves them with a fighting chance of gaining promotion back to the top flight.

Alim’s goal this winter has been to field as many runners in each race as the Club could manage and whilst Saturday’s turn-out was slightly lower than the giddy heights achieved in the previous fixture, the City Club still managed to have 14 runners lining up at the start of the 9.5km event.

Gloucester’s leading runners this season have been Steve Millward and Richard De Camps who have both finished in the top 10 of each League race. They continued this trend on Saturday as Millward, showing few signs of the bug that had laid him low earlier in the week, finished in 6th place with De Camps just behind, in 8th.

Paul Barlow continued his good form, finishing as the team’s third scorer in 22nd, while Jeremy Mower placed 44th. Mike Mansfield, like Barlow another recent addition to the squad, was next home in 51st and the scoring six was made up by Tom Randles who came home in 53rd place. The team’s score of 184 points was their best of the season.

Simon Fortnam and Wayne Mayer led the ‘B’ team’s challenge. They were locked together for much of the race, with Fortnam eventually prevailing by the narrowest of margins to finish in 60th with Mayer just behind in 62nd.

Matt Powell continued his recent run of good form by finishing in 99th place with another 2012 newcomer, Max Sheppard securing 114th place. Ian Summers was next to finish, in 121st place and Merlin Tolley finished in 146th place to secure second place for the ‘B’ team. Team stalwarts Humphrey Phillips and Andy McKenzie placed 185th and 203rd respectively.

Afterwards, Alim was in a buoyant mood. “This was a totally unexpected result as we were missing several runners due to a virus that has swept through the Club this week. We need to monitor Richard De Camps’ groin injury over the next couple of weeks, but expect him to be fully fit for the final race at Cheltenham next month.

Details:

1st Tim Dalton (Severn); 2nd Chris Perrin (Cannock & Staffs); 3rd Paul Ward (Telford)

6th Steve Millward; 8th Richard De Camps; 22nd Paul Barlow; 44th Jeremy Mower; 51st Mike Mansfield; 53rd Tom Randles; 60th Simon Fortnam; 62nd Wayne Mayer; 99th Matt Powell; 114th Max Sheppard; 121st Ian Summers; 146th Merlin Tolley; 185th Humphrey Phillips; 203rd Andy McKenzie.

Teams:

A 1st Severn, 88 points; 2nd Warwick Uni 142; 3rd Gloucester 184.

B 1st Warwick Uni 425 points; 2nd Gloucester 602; 3rd Knowle & Dorridge 628.

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County Cross-Country Championships - 05/01/2013

Gloucester Athletic Club members produced some encouraging performances in the County Cross-Country Championships at Blackbridge on Saturday (5th).

In the senior men’s event, Richard De Camps ran a well-judged race to place 4th behind the talented trio of the Russell brothers from Stroud and Cheltenham’s Dave Roper. “I knew those runners were the class act in the field, so I chose to bide my time and hang on for 4th place, rather than mix it and pay the consequences”, said the Forester.

Mike Mansfield was the next City runner home, finishing in 19th place and 1st M40, just ahead of his team-mate Jeremy Mower, who placed 24th and 3rd in the M45 category.

Gloucester Athletic Club’s youngsters were in fine form at the County Cross-Country Championships at Blackbridge on Saturday (5th).

Leading the way was Alex George, who was untroubled as he strode to an easy victory in the U17 Men’s race. In the U17 Ladies event, heptathlete Kate Davies, in a rare outing over the country, took an unexpected second place.

Will Staddon carried his improved form from 2012 into the New Year, as he finished just outside the medals in 4th place in the U15 Boys race, while the U15 Girls took team bronze in their race. Led home by Bethan Moor in 3rd place, Abi Pearce finished 11th and Heather Christie 14th in her first County championship event.

Harry Wells placed 6th in the U13 Boys race whilst in the U11 races, Elissa Moor placed 11th in the girls event and Jake Tombs and Ben Okuefuna placed 9th and 21st respectively in the boys event.

Club Junior Endurance Coach Kerry Newell said afterwards “There were some really pleasing results for our youngsters today. They are all training well and this is showing in their races. The group’s size and reputation are growing each week and this is definitely an improving squad with bags of potential.”

The Gloucester club’s junior endurance group trains each Tuesday and Thursday from the Blackbridge headquarters, at 6pm.

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New Year's Day 5 - 01/01/2013

Matt Powell continued his good recent form in the Pilot Inn New Year’s Day Five Mile Road Race, leading the Gloucester contingent home in 11th place in 30:38, a personal best by 16 seconds.

Hayley Winters was the first lady to finish, in 24th place, with 33:32 while Martyn Hobson was next to cross the line, 43rd in 37:01.

Just behind, in 45th place, was Nicola Hovey whose 37:10 was the fastest she has clocked for five miles. Rachel Fake finished in 52nd place with 39:50 and youngster Heather Christie recorded 45:29 in 78th place to win the U17 Ladies category.