Monday 15th Oct
7pm Track Session at PoW
Tuesday 16th Oct
7pm TBC ... see Facebook ...WEAR HI-VIZ + HEAD TORCH!
Wednesday 17th Oct
7pm On-road HI-VIZ, Exmouth Arms, Bath Road
Thursday 18th Oct
9:30am The Norwood
7:15pm PoW Track
Saturday
Cleeve Golf Club, 9am
Happy Valley. Dribbly Dog Farm. The Gallops. The Mill. The Butterfly Fields. Goat Track. Lone/Joshua Tree. Trig Point. The Zig-Zags. Just some of the wonderful place names on Cleeve Hill.
Yes, there might be mud .... and Yes, there will definitely be hills.
Please park considerately in the Golf Course Clubhouse Car Park, rather than the Quarry Car Park, furthest away from the Clubhouse on the right as you drive in for a 0900 start.
There is no group leader for the Saturday morning run, so either check or post on Facebook, to see who else is running. There are options to run faster/slower and longer/shorter distances depending on what the group decides.
There is also the option to stay afterwards for a coffee and a natter in the Clubhouse.
The main event of the weekend was undoubtedly the Cheltenham Half Marathon in which a large contingent of over 100 Almosts took part with some excellent results all round.
Josh Hand was first male Almost home in 1:22, followed by Steve Linton in 1:25 and Martin Foster with 1:26, both of whom gained new PBs.
For the ladies, Helena Youde was third female overall with a terrific time of 1:22 which placed her first in her age group, followed by Hattie Jenkins in 1:31 and Patricia Peever in 1:34.
Danny Reeves put in a great performance and was second in the wheelchair category with 1:29, whilst visually impaired runner Rob Rennell gained a new PB by finishing in 2:59. Louise Bryan ran her first ever Half Marathon in 1:55.
There were a number of other outstanding results for Almosts in the various age groups. Ingrid Harris, Karen Galpin and Karen Gomm were 1st, 2nd and 3rd in their group with times of 1:40, 1:43 and 1:49 respectively. Virginia Pawlyn was first in her group with 2:13, whilst Dale Midwinter and Jeanette Gullick were both 3rd in their groups in 1:29 (a new PB) and 1:42.
Young Almost Holly Linton came first in the Community Mile around the Racecourse with a new PB of 5mins 40secs.
Of the Almosts running in penguin costume, first home was Prash Sripathi in a time of 1:33, followed by Pete Mitchener in 1:54.
Amongst the many new PBs gained today were the following: Matthew Hickman with 1:28, Ben Stone with 1:29, Martin Thomas in 1.39, Piotr Michalski with 1:41, Andrew Wilkinson in 1:42, Joanna Wisniewska-Barreto in 1:43, Catherine Daly in 1:45, Jo Foster with 1:46, Richard Knightley in 1.51, Chris McMahon with 1:52, Sarah Carr in 2.20, Kev Fairs in 2:23, Dave Nelson in 2:25, Mark Stojanov in 2:35 and Rita Crane in 2:56.
As well as running in penguin suits, Almost Athletes manned the 10 mile water station dressed as penguins in tribute to their late colleague Rich Walklate.
Away from the Cheltenham Half, a number of Almosts competed in other events over the weekend. Claire Hawes ran the Exmouth 10km in 57:21, her fastest since early 2015, and on Saturday Allan Green took part in the Pyjamathon Marathon at Walton on Thames with a finishing time of 4:28.
Dave Chittock ran the British Heart Foundation Half Marathon at Blenheim Palace in 1:50, whilst Dave Rogers and Lepha McCartan tackled the Maverick X series Marathon in Snowdonia which had 7000 feet of climb and a distance of almost 28 miles overall. Rogers finished in 5:55 and McCartan in 6:49. Oliver Clarkin took on the shorter distance of 14.5 miles with 1300 metres elevation at the same event, and came home in 4:05.
Seven Almost ladies ran the Forest of Dean Half Marathon on Sunday with Sarah Roberts the first to finish in 1:54, followed by Hester Coggin in 1:56 and Karen Hilton in 1:58. Carole Doherty achieved 2:10, Desiree Beer 2:12, and Nikki Durnell and Wan Hartley both 2:21.
There were celebrations at Cheltenham parkrun on Saturday 29th where two Almosts – Matt Bevan and Prash Sripathi – both completed a remarkable 250th run.
On the same morning, Lynne Macedo ran her 50th parkrun and there were new PBs for Simon Evans with 23:15, Lorraine Taylor with 23.52 and Emma Wilkinson with 24.15.
Rich Smith was a parkrun tourist at the Arrow Valley event, and finished in 30:02 whilst running with a buggy.
Despite the wind and heavy rain over much of the weekend there were some excellent results for Almosts in a variety of different races.
On Saturday 22nd Martyn Fisher completed the Norfolk Coast Marathon in 4:35, whilst Ingrid Harris took on the LDWA Cotswold Challenge Marathon and finished in 5:55.
Alice Harmon recorded an excellent time of 47:51 at the Loch Ness 10km race in Scotland on Sunday 23rd, whilst Mark Stojanov ran 11.5km at Hever Castle in 1:31.
Rob Rennell tackled the Great Bristol Half Marathon and completed in 3:07.
The Angels 10km race also took place on Sunday after having been postponed from April due to bad weather. The undulating course which starts at Ashleworth is part of the Gloucester AAA County Road Race series. Martin Foster was first Almost home in 40:10, followed by Richard Birch in 40:22, Neil Tring in 44:15 and Allan Green in 47:35.
Once again there was success for the Almost’s ladies team consisting of Amy Sheer, Michelle Balchin and Catherine Daly, who were second overall with times of 45:17, 46:13 and 48:58 respectively.
There were also County medals for each of the following: David Lawrence, Neil Tring, Richard Birch, Allan Green, Amy Sheer, Catherine Daly, Michelle Balchin, Lorraine Taylor and Hayley Woolnough.
At Cheltenham parkrun there was a new PB for Louise Inchley with 24:51 and Louise Bryan ran her first parkrun in 24:39.
Parkrun tourists this weekend included Pete Mitchener in Melbourne, Australia, who gained a new PB with a time of 21:10. Nat Stow ran Gloucester North for the first time in 27:14 and Kate Freeman took part in the Bakewell parkrun.
