Cleeve Hill Golf Club, Cheltenham GL52 3PW

This week has seen Almost Athletes almost everywhere covering a range of distances.

Congratulations to Doug Wight securing a stunning 9^th place in the Meridian Ultra 100k in 7:51:25. Doug’s victory in Patrington East Yorkshire was secured against a very strong field of elite ultra England, Wales or Scotland runners participating in the British 100k Championships. A fantastic achievement.  Well done Doug!

Having recently joined the elite 100 Marathon club, Ingrid Harris proved she’s not resting on her laurels by running the undulating course of Stirling marathon in a very respectable 3:41:35.

Haiggy Haig continues his challenge of 50 marathons in his 50^th year completing number 31on Saturday, the Shindig in the Shire marathon in Craven Arms, which he described as ‘amazing but tough’...‘Fantastic. Loved it’, Wife Kathy ran the half.

Haiggy went on to run no 32 at Worcester on Sunday in 4:21:37 finishing ahead of Norm Lever (4:45:48) and Coralie Pearson (5:12:13). Mike Kennedy was first full marathoner home for the Almosts in an impressive 3:30:37 with Allan Green crossing the line in 4:07:36.

Opting for the half marathon, Matt Proome continued his recent form to finish first man for the Almosts in 1:38:17, with Victoria Kennedy first lady (1:45:54). John Bailey wasn’t far behind at 1:49:37 with Mike Harris (1:55:03) and Rachel Nolan (2:24:29) completing the team.

Claire Gallagher decided to enjoy Chester half marathon running with the 2:30 pacers.

Further afield, Almost Athletes participated in two mountainous and stunningly scenic events in France. James Clay and Rachel Fargher ran the Trail de Queribus Aude trails half in the Pyrenees  and Alain Ensuque ran the equally hilly trail de La Font de Mai, in Aubagne in 1:52:28.

Closer to home and with seemingly no time to draw breath after a busy weekend it was a successful evening for over 60 Almost Athletes competing in the Berkeley 10k race on Monday.  Gemma Hargraves continued her winning form to seize first lady overall in 38:14 with a number of other club members achieving impressive personal best times despite the wind and rain, including Prash Kumar, Matt Polson, Catherine Mason, Deborah Elliott, Steve Wallbridge (last year at Berkeley), Penny Byrne and Sue Monaghan; Sarah Fennell and Darren Lewington both broke the hour, and Bob Spawton and Kate Houston broke their personal 20year records. Well done to all!

Simon Jarvis was first male home for the AAs in 38:54, with Prash Kumar and Richard Birch both finishing strongly sub 40 (39:18 and 39:28). Matthew Hampton, Matthew Polson and Dale Midwinter followed in quick succession (40:02, 40:21 and 40:41) with just seconds separating Mike Kennedy and Nick Spice (41:13 and 41:18). Amber Bullingham was 2^nd lady to finish for the club in 42:13, with Matt Proome (42:36) hot on her heels ahead of Neil Tring (44:02) and Allan Green (44:14). Michelle Balchin finished 2^nd in her age category (45:28) ahead of Victoria Kennedy who came 3^rd in hers (46:04). Joe Harrison (46:14), Steve Wallbridge (46.17) and Dave Chittock (46.48) came in quick succession followed by Ingrid Harris 3^rd in her age category (46:56) with Stacey Osmond on 47:19, and on 48mins Dan MacGovern (48:08), Dave Garnett (48:17), Jim Crowbridge (48:18), and Deb Cartlidge (48:48).

Racing over the finish in sub 50 were Rob Hume, Steve Adams, Duncan Mounsor and Kate Houston (49:12, 49:25, 49:39 and 49:59 respectively), ahead of Mohammed Shaikh on 50:43. Almosts were crossing the finish line in steady succession now - Dave Davey (51:14), Hayley Woolnough (51:28), Alison Hume (51:32), Bob Spawton (51:48) with Sarah Wallbridge and Mike Line not far behind (52:09) and (52:14) ahead of Neil Harris, Sue Monaghan, Trevor Richards and Catherine Mason (53:10, 53:19, 53:14 and 53:43). There was a short gap before the next group - Deborah Elliott (56:14), David Lawrence (56:11), Coralie Pearson (57:21), Sandra Stuart (57:35) and Bill Jones (57:44).

There was still a chance to cross the line under the hour and Andy Domm, Lucia Milone, Mark Eavers, Darren Lewington, Nicola Woodman, Jane Birch, Rachael and Ollie Nolan, Gareth Wilkes, and a cheeky Sarah Fennell took it (58:02, 58:25, 58:39, 58:38, 58:33, 59:34, 59:41, 59:42, 59:43 and 59:58 respectively).

Mary Welsh first in her age category in just over the hour (1:02:08) with, Fi Sewell (1:04:15), Jayne Adams (1:06:55), Penny Byrne (1:06:56), Jo Johnston (1:06:59), Cottia Howard (1:11:05), and Rob Rennell running his first ever 10k (1:15:19) ably supported by Claire Gallagher (1:12:37),  and finally wheelchair racer Danny Reeves  also competing in his first 10k race (1:13:51) completing the Almosts team.

Martyn Fisher represented the Almosts in Cambridgeshire, completing the hilly (and muddy) multi-terrain charity 10k around Wimpole Hall in 55:32 while Ray Pearson completed the British Heart Foundation Run around the Moat 10k at the Tower of London during the week.

Gemma Hargraves, not only completed the inaugural Firkin 5mile run round the Hook Norton brewery  with Lepha Mccartan and Dave Rogers, she stormed round to bag first lady home as well as the goody bag, beer and burger at the finish.

Although the full results have yet to be published, successes at the tough but enjoyable Northleach 10k race on Sunday included Nick Spice 8^th man and Lucinda Hand 3^rd lady. Deb Cartlidge, Dave Chittock, Jackie Slaughter and Mariel Chretien completed the Almosts team.

Almost Athletes hosted their 2017 AGM meeting with guest speaker Ben Smith who completed 401 marathons in 401 days raising money for anti-bullying charities. Ben delivered an excellent talk giving an emotional insight into his journey and then rounded the evening off by presenting the clubs Runner of the Year winners to Glenda Gill, Vicky Kennedy and Prash Kumar. At the Tewkesbury Half Marathon Josh Hand took the club honours with a blistering 1.23.28 in some very warm conditions and 11th place overall. Matt Barnes was in hot pursuit and continued his rich vein of form in 1.25.49. Prash Kumar was 3rd home easily dipping under 1.30 in 1.27.17. Fiona Barnes was first lady home for the club in 1.51.20, Heather Berry was second in 1.58.21 and Cos Pearson third in 2.06.50. A through the night 26.2 mile "Moonwalk" in London was the target for Sandra Stuart, Jayne Adams and Sandra Stuart who all completed the course, contributing to the £3.7million raised to support research into cures and treatments for cancer. In the Brecon Beacons, Vasco Barreto conquered the 32 mile ultra over a punishing off-road course in 7hrs 41 whilst Joanna Wisniewska Barreto took on the equally challenging half marathon route in 2.19. Di Kemple also completed the Ultra course.