The first weekend of the month saw two Newent Runners head to Wolverhampton, for the Birmingham and Black Country half marathon. Emily Burgess and Chris Barber signed up for this unusual event, which was a place to place race, along the towpaths of the canals that link the two cities. Although the route was flat it presented some challenges, among them, a 350 yard long dark tunnel, a steep, stepped climb of an embankment, and deep muddy puddles after two days of heavy rain. We were warned at the start that this was not a PB course. Emily did well to get below two hours. Chris “stagged” at the start and was wasted after 8 miles, will he never learn ?
The following day, at the Hereford Triathlon, four of Team Tango, put up some excellent performances. Jonathan Miles, Helen Kelly, Caroline Kimberley and Angela Hamer crossed the county border. Jonathan saw a vast improvement in his swim time, and a storming bike leg, his strongest discipline, saw him race up his category listing. Finishing with a run time of 24:37, a 5k PB, he placed 64th overall. Helen Kelly also achieved a massive PB on the run leg, and finished 117th overall. Angela, representing Tri Team Glos, placed 71stoverall in a time of 1:13:33. Caroline finished inside the first 100, with a time of 1:17:36.
On July 7th, Trudy Jones was the sole Team Tango representative in the Frampton 10k, finishing with a time of 55.49, a PB.
An unusual event took place in nearby Dymock. The poets path is a fairly non- competitive event organised by a good friend of this club, and Newent Parkrun, Philip Howells. There were 3 options, one walk and two runs. Megan James and Annie Dobson ran the 8 mile option, after a poetry recital. They were full of praise for the event.
In one of the largest turnouts in this clubs brief history, nineteen of us took part in the Gloucester 10k. On a fast course, there were a few distance PB’s. Steve McAteer achieved a 12th place finish, with a time of 38.45, followed by John Featherstone in 30th position, who recorded 42.18. Adrian Fishpool managed to get inside the top 100, with a time of 45.46. Then came, Philip Rowe (46.52) Russ Dyer, in his very first open event (49.08) Jonathan Miles (50.25) Chris Barber (52.30) Clive Jones (52.53) Emily Huntingford (54.16) Nicola Hill (56.02) Adele Mitchell, glad to be back from injury (56.04) Paula Nielens (56.06) Andrew Lioyd and Micaela Swan, crossing the line together in 56.57. Micaela has also recently recovered from a long term injury. Trudy Jones was next across the line with a time of 57.10, followed by Mel Villegas (1:01:19) Mandy Whittington ( 1:03:14) Craig Love limping across the line after getting injured early in the race, 1:07:19 and Mary Curtis, in her first event and after just a few weeks of running mainly park runs, came home in 1:20:57. Sorry Mark Cryer, I could not find you anywhere in the results !
At the same time as the Gloucester 10k was going on, the club had three members in the Evesham 10k. Dave and Heather Jones and Sally Taylor. Dave came home in 86th place with a time of 44;18, and a top ten position in his category. Sally and Heather crossed the line together with a time of 1:19:48.
Our long distance specialist ( or lunatic, depending on your point of view ) Mark Cryer attempted the Race to The Stones. This is a 100km run or walk, either over two days, or non-stop, along the ancient Ridgeway route. Mark went overnight and achieved the great result of 22nd place, out of 376, with a time just short of thirteen hours. Quite an amazing achievement. As someone who has been on a long run with Mark, and been left in his dust, I can testify to his strength and stamina. Talented git !
Of course, our talented endurance athletes are not exclusively male. Sue Smith, is currently in Switzerland, about to undertake a full ironman triathlon, at the time of writing the results are unknown, but good luck Sue.