News & Press Reports - 2023

Gloucestershire Cross Country Championships alongside those of Avon, Somerset and Wiltshire, were held within the second Gloucestershire CC league meeting at Bath University.

 

Callum Yates was the first Gloucester Athletic Club runner to race with 9th place in the U13 boys race and 4th Gloucestershire runner in 10:27.

 

Darcy Poole lead the U13 Girls team home in 27th with 12:53, Ezri Sunter moved through the field for 39th in 13:59 with Sophie Carter gamely finished the course in one shoe after losing her spike after half a mile for 42nd place in 14:38. Eloise Adcock completed the team in 43rd place 15:29.

 

U11 boys ran next and were the most successful Gloucester AC team.

Ben Jones ran a controlled race to finish5th in the race for a silver county medal in 7:04

Hanny Mundy was 22nd in 7:46 with Toby Brooks completing he scoring team in 24th  7 seconds behind. Kingsley Ward was 33rd in 8:06 and Sebastian Sterling-Welford 44th in 8:36.

 

Lexi Wiliams ran in the corresponding girls’ one lap  race in 10:05 for 36th place.

 

Arthur Nield was 8th county scorer in 24th position 13:55 running a well paced race as is his style. Joe Cruise was 36th (14:37) Jamie Hebbron in his second cross country race for the club nearly catching Cruise one position and one second behind. Ethan Norris ran 15:10 for 41st place.  Gloucester were fourth team.

 

With illness affecting the U15 girls team the lone Gloucester competitor Seren Williams as 32nd in 18:47.

 

Anthony Cruise was the sole Gloucester representative in the U17M race finishing faster over the last lap for county Bronze and 10th place in 19:39.

 

Ruth Brook was determined not to drop out  again as running with a painful foot she came 9th in the race for the GAAA bronze medal in 23:47.  Laura Wenham was 18th in 30:02.

 

Seren Jones continued her spate of confident racing showing great rhythm over the 3 lap and challenging course. 23rd in the race, 4 U20W gaining the silver medal in 27:12. Kim Milward  returned to racing for 53rd position in 29:04 with Anna Midgley racing for the first time in months in  63rd position (29:46). Kirsty Norris and Emma Stalberg  completed the teams with the senior team coming 14th and the masters team 10th.  Chris O’Carroll was the first M80 in the 6k race in 155th place in exactly 50 minutes.

 

Another young athlete led the senior men home with Charlie Worsfold taking the county silver medal and showing that he has learnt about pacing  for 39th position (37:10)  Owen Parry was 77th in 40:07  and Jeremy Mower 95th in 42:04 for the county Gold M55 medal. Chris Nield – as did many of the other athletes - found the gently sloping course deceptively hard finishing in 121st in 44:24. Martin Brook completed the 11th placed masters team in 183rd place for 50:57.

 

Gloucester Athletic Club young athletes were both successful and learnt or applied learning in the Gloucestershire Schools Cross Country Championships at Newent School on Sunday 3rd December.

 

Ruth Brook who has never won on that course before determinedly applied the lessons from previous year’s races.  Always in the front of the leading group of Intermediate girls she pulled away to win by 2 seconds in 14:20 becoming the first of three club runners to gain a gold medal.

 

Alice Stalberg continued her come back running with good form for 25th 17:09 position.  Laura Wenham   was 36th (18:24) with Amy Rowan  38th in 18:49.

 

Intermediate  boy Arthur Neild ran a well paced race starting in 12th place and moving through the field to finish 6th in 20:21 and was followed by Barney Golledge using similar tactics in 20:58 for 9th.

 

Ezri Sunter ran the minor girls race for 36th (16:22).

 

Senior girl Seren Jones, always in the leading group, showed good tactical skill and determination to pull away over the last half mile to gain the second gold medal in 16:13 winning with an 11sec margin.

 

Senior Boys ran 6k with Charlie Worsfield challenging for a medal until the final lap when a foot problem slowed him to fourth in 23:36 whilst Anthony Cruise ran in 5th although in contrast he relaxed over the final lap to speed up to  23:49.

 

Olivia Avery and her sister Evie showed how they have both learnt pace judgement; holding back in the first scramble for places they soon established themselves near the front.  After 1500m Oliva had moved to the front tracked by Stroud athlete Connie Rendell but accelerated over the last 200m to finish 1st in 13:51, 2 seconds in front. Evie Avery stormed over the last 400m to gain a place for 5th 14:27. Phoebe Golledge, a year younger, but showing how to pace well finished 15th in 15:50.

 

The final race saw Callum Yates finish 15th in 14:37, improving on 2 places in the last mile.  Joe Cruise - learning the virtue of starting on the start line - started at the back of the field and was tripped but didn’t panic and worked through steadily to come 19th 15:54.  Ethan Norris also took several runners to complete the 3.8k course in  15:02 for  22nd place.

 

Three Gloucester AC middle distance young athletes competed in the Forest of Dean Secondary School Cross Country Trials at Newent School.

 

First to race was Inter Boy Barney Golledge who ran the first half mile in fourth place but then moved through the field to finish a strong second.

 

Phoebe Golledge raced the Junior Girls approximate 3k race; she maintained a steady even pace after the first 400m having become isolated in the field and finishing 6th as first in her year group.

 

Callum Yates had to wait for the final race of two large laps for Junior Boys. He established a 40m lead after 800m but then some breathing difficulties slowed him on the second lap so he ran a steadier race to finish second.

 

All three were selected to represent the district in the County Secondary Schools AA on Dec 3rd in Newent.

Several Gloucester AC young athletes competed in district trials on Friday 19thNovember.

 

Gloucester City trials were held at Plock Court which was a mixture of deep water and firm running. Ezri Sunter was the first Gloucester AC runner to splash through the deeper puddles finishing 9th in the minor girls race.

 

Junior boy Joe Cruise shared the lead for all of the race but good knowledge of the course enabled him to sprint from 3rd to first place in the last 20m.  Ethan Norris  ran steadily allowing him to move through the field to take 8th place.

 

In the junior girls race National quality sprinter Amari Cambridge showed her versatility by finishing 5th. Sophie Carter who with her team was delayed starting as a teacher was giving final instructions ran a well paced  second half of the race to finish 17th.

 

Arthur Neild shared the lead again for the intermediate boys race  dropping a little in the last 400m  allowing two older boys to finish in front but gaining a well clear 3rd place and first finisher in Y10. Ollie Beaumont completed at last half of the course carrying a shoe and finished a strong 12th with Jamie Hebbron 14th (4th Y10)  overtaking in the last 40m using his 800m track speed.

 

Ruth Brook easily dominated her Intermediate girls race  only losing the lead when the second placed runner took advantage of the  lack of course markers to take a shorter route; Ruth quickly regained the lead finishing with a faster burst and cadence of 215.

 

Amy Rowan  and Laura Wenham ran well paced races to finish 9th and 11th. Riley Rossiter was well pleased with her 18th place.

 

Senior boy Charlie Worsfold ran with a school mate for the first mile but then powered ahead to   win convincingly whilst Anthony Cruise and Charlie Coles had their usual  ding dong battle with Anthony finishing just in front of  Charlie for 2nd and 3rdplaces.

 

Seren Jones nursing a bruised foot after another schools race on Tuesday came in second  ( for the second time this week) less than second behind the winner.  Chloe Shepard was third.

 

Cheltenham Schools held their trials in the afternoon over a hilly course at St. Edwards Preparatory School. Junior girls Olivia and Evie Avery dominated the race over taking the adult male hare after 400m and finishing an exuberant first and second well clear of third place.

 

Intermediate girl Alice  Stalberg showed that perseverance pays off and finished 7th showing the beginning of  a return to form.

The largest number of Gloucester AC athletes for many years competed in a very muddy Gloucestershire CC League in Cirencester Park on Saturday.

 

This fixture is always important for the Gloucester AC young athletes and this year offered a number of athletes their first opportunity to race for the city club. Heavy rain over night had left the course muddy and challenging but didn’t deter the strong Glos AC athletes.

 

The first race of the day was the Under 13’s Boys and Girls. The first Athlete home over the 3km course was Callum Yates in an impressive 14:32 to claim 10th position, followed by Darcy Poole who was 21st Girl home in a time of 17:44 and finally Shriram Balasubramanian in his first race for the club finished in 44th Boy in 22:34.

 

The Next race was the Under 11’s where the team was led home by Ben Jones who ran hard from the gun to ensure he was among those fighting for the front of the race. Ben covered the 2km course in 8:59 to finish in 6th position, Hot on Ben’s heals was Hanny Mundy in 14th position and a time of 9:19, Kingsley ward was next in 34th position and a time of 10:11. Jacob Gill was next home for the club in a time of 10:29 to take 38thposition followed closely by Sebastian Sterling-Welford in 10:57 and 42nd position. Fist Gloucester AC Girl was Amy Wright who finished in 11:23 to take the 16th position in the girls race closely followed by Lexi Williams in 11:33 for 19th position completing the team for Gloucester was Khyan Nestola who finished in 12:11 and took 49th position.

 

Club coaches were pleased to see U15G and U15B teams. Barney Golledge lead the team home in a well paced 6th place (20:46) moving through the field with ease. Joe Cruise ran an equally well paced race to come 15th (21:58) whilst Jamie Hebbron changed his football studs to running spikes as his match was cancelled at the last minute to finish in 20th (22:10). Ethan Norris raced over the country for the first time finishing in26th (23:31) Paddy Figgis, after a long break from competition was 33rd (25:27).

 

Olivia Avery was 3rd U15G but running along side the boys almost caught her training partner, Jamie, (22:11) after a slower first small lap. Evie Avery pulled through the muddy course to finish 5th (22:54) Seren Williams, in her first cross country race completed the team in 21st (30:57) with Riley Rossiter returning from illness but enjoying the mud and smiling all the way round in 22nd (33:40)

 

The penultimate race held a mixture of age groups. First runner home for Gloucester was U17M Anthony Cruise with his highest ever placing of 4th in the race and in his age group. Anthony lead for the first few hundred metres of the 6.4k race but then settles into a more steady pace. U17W Ruth Brook had a similarly fast start with an initial cadence of 214. Despite lowering that, specially on the 3 hills on each of the two laps she finished first in her age group and 29th (31:02) in the race. Laura Wenham in her first race finished 7th U17W (43:45).

 

U20W Amber Spackman was the second Gloucester woman home managing the tricky muddy descents well in 15th U20 place (36:48) and Ethan's mother Kirstie Norris in her first race was 19th W40 in 56:39.

 

Senior men ran 3 laps of the very cut up course. Owen Parry ina return to crosss country after a very long tome away because of injury finished 6th M40 (43:17) with James Walters only two places behind in 45:42. Dave Gresswell ran the 9.5 k course in 53:53 for 11th M50 place and Martin Brook 19th M50 in 58:41. Ben Griffiths ran a steady paced race over the 9 hills to finish 14th U20M in 54:46.

Gloucester AC promoted the Haresfield 5k road race on Wednesday 16th. Based on the Beacon Inn there was a good turnout form the promoting club both in terms of athletes and officials and volunteers to organise the event.

 

First home for the club in 5th place and first U20 man was the versatile Charlie Worsfold who took 50 seconds off his PB to finish strongly in 16:28.

 

Close behind Own Parry was the first M40 (8th) in a PB of 16:41 followed by Alasdair Stewart (11th) for 3rd M40 with 17:02.

 

This 5k race proved to be an excellent start to the preparation of the young athletes middle distance squad for the upcoming Midland Road Relays and Cross Country season with, in their first 5k road race, Charlie Coles closing on Anthony Cruise over the last 100m for both to be given 17:31 in 17th and 16th places and both taking chunks off their parkrun best times. Coles was 2nd U20M and Cruise first U17M gaining Gloucestershire AAA medals in the 5k Championship.

 

Jason Tilley only 10 seconds off his PB was first M50 in 19th place with 17:59.

 

15 year old Ruth Brook ran a well judged first 5k taking 13 sec of her parkrun time to finish a determined first lady in 18:37 3 second ahead of the second woman who was 3 times her age.

 

Millie Porter was first U20 woman with 19:12 for 33rd position.

 

Joe Cruise again in his first 5k road race was first U15B (49th) with 20:24 which was again faster that park run times.

 

Neil Hobbs was 3rd M60 in 21:23 closely followed by Chris Davies in 21:33