Current venues
Monday 18th Feb
7pm Track Session at PoW
Wednesday 20th Feb
7pm 5m On-road. HI-VIZ, Bath Road Car Park
Thursday 21st Feb
9:30am Norwood - click for details.
7:00pm PoW Track
Saturday
16th Feb
Cleeve Golf Club, 9am
Monday 18th Feb
7pm Track Session at PoW
Wednesday 20th Feb
7pm 5m On-road. HI-VIZ, Bath Road Car Park
Thursday 21st Feb
9:30am Norwood - click for details.
7:00pm PoW Track
Saturday
16th Feb
Cleeve Golf Club, 9am
Cheltenham and County Harriers hosted the 5.5 mile Cloud Cuckoo multi-terrain race at Cleeve Common on Wednesday the 30th May. A large turn-out of Almost Athletes attended the event, with Josh Hand the first Almost Athlete in at 37:38, Simon Jarvis 40:42, Prashanth Sripathi 40:45, Miranda Foster 47:26, Ingrid Harris 48:01 and Lucinda Hand 48:35.
On Saturday the 1st June, the 20th anniversary, Dartmoor Discovery 34 mile Ultra Marathon got under way. Classified as a cult status run, the race starts and finishes in Princetown, a course that takes one up and down some of the toughest hills that Dartmoor has to offer. The event was attended by Ingrid Harris 5:30, Michelle Balchin 5:32, Danny Carroll 5:34, with Balchin and Harris 9th and 10th Ladies in the race.
Katy Hana attended the Bredon 10k Cricket Club Tower run, a run which tracks the paths to the 299m summit of Bredon Hill, Hana achieved 1:09 for this run with glorious views of the Worcestershire countryside.
In Coniston, Martyn Fisher ran the 10k race, described by Runners' World magazine as 'the most scenic trail run in Britain.
The Fairford 10k race was well attended by the Almost Athletes, Martin Foster first Almost Athlete in at 39:17. Richard Birch second in 40:08, Neil Tring third 44:57, Amy Sheer 45:36, Allan Green 46:43, Lorraine Taylor 52:45, Gareth Wilkes 53:30, Stacey Osmond 53:38, Philip Jeyes 53:43, Deborah Cartlidge 54:41, David Lawrence 1:00:35, Sue Monaghan 1:00:43, Sandra Stuart 1:04:52, Kasha Price 1:06:36 and Iris Mayo 1:13:12.
Ceri Griffiths attended Gloucestershire’s newest and most demanding off-road race, The Dursley Peaks Challenge, an offroad race, 10.31km long with 318 m of climb, Griffiths completed this race in 1:11.
A most scenic Royal Windsor Trail Half Marathon was attended by Karla Cleverley and Coralie Pearson, run along the banks of the River Thames views of Windsor Castle.
Parkrun tourists saw Peter Morris at Exeter Riverside parkrun achieving a personal best of 20:49 and Rich Smith at Fell Foot parkrun, Windermere, Cumbria.
Saturday 16th February was the sixth anniversary of Cheltenham parkrun and several runners ran in fancy dress to celebrate the event. There was an excellent turnout with a field of 545 runners, including local MP Alex Chalk.
Matt Polson stormed home to 6th place overall with a time of 18:52, closely followed by Martin Foster who was 8th with 19:21 and Matthew Hickman who came 13th in 20:02. First timer Tim Brock finished in 31:18.
Members of Almost Athletes took part in eight other parkruns in the UK with Danny Carroll coming eighth in Wotton with a time of 22:38.
Overseas, Helena Youde came 1st in her age category and was third lady overall at the East Coast Park parkrun in Singapore, whilst Gerard Gatek participated in Tychy, Poland.
There were several other races over the weekend in which Almosts took part, with some excellent results all round.
Emma Yates completed the Seville Marathon in just 3:39, whilst Glenda and Ian Duncan Gill both ran the Verona Half in 2:09 and 2:20 respectively.
On Saturday, Ian Coggin completed the 28 mile Winter Railway Ultra from Ironbridge to Bridgnorth in 4:19, and then took part in the Pittville Cross-Country event on Sunday.
Allan Green notched up another Marathon at Nottingham’s National Water Park event in 5:09, whilst Catherine and Mike Daly both ran the Bramley 20 miles on Sunday with a finish time of 2:55.
Karla Cleverley took part in the Milton Keynes Winter Warmer 10km which she completed in 1:26, whilst Martyn Fisher was first Almost home at the Welly Trail Half Marathon in Castle Ashby.
There were several PBs for Almosts at the Castle Combe Chilly 10km race on Sunday. Marty Ward, Dave Nelson and Rob Rennell all achieved new personal best times with 58:41, 1:00 and 1:11 respectively. Wan Hartley also had a terrific finish time of only 57:09.
At the Castle Combe Duathlon, Paul Turner finished in 1:06 whilst Nicole Hope came home in 1:13.
The Pittville Cross-Country event took place on Sunday 17th February with Almost teams in both the men’s and ladies' events. Of the twenty men who took part, Josh Hand was first Almost to cross the line in 37:51, followed by Martin Foster in 38:40 and Shaun Carr in 39:44.
In the ladies' event, Patricia Peever completed the course in 29:01, followed by Sophie Longley in 31:35 and Hester Coggin in 31:36.
Earlier in the week, Julianne Jameson took part in the Slothful Marathon at Hartlebury near Kidderminster, and finished the multiple lap event in 4:41.
Almost Athletes despatched a large contingent to the Dursley Dozen 12-mile trail race where in highly challenging wet & windy conditions, the club saw some excellent performances. First man home for the Almosts was Rich Birch in 1:39. First lady home was Sophie Longley in 2:04. Also competing in the Almosts purple were Shaun Carr 1:40, Jean Phillipe Villain Chastre 1:43, Matt Barnes 1:44, Paul Haig 1:47, Germain Forgeux 1:48, Neil Tring 1:56, Steve Adams 2:08, Helen Pardoe 2:16, Jim Trowbridge & Lorraine Taylor in 2:17, Dave Elliott & Katy Sworn in 2:24, Ceri Griffiths 2:29, Glenda Gill 2:36, Nela Trowbridge 2:38, Kevin Richards 2:39, Mike Line in 2:40 and Adrian Courtenay in 3:06.
The club saw its members enjoying the usual wide variety of parkrun tourism locations both at home and abroad. Iris Mayo completed the exceptional parkrun landmark of 250 runs at Cheltenham.
At Cirencester which was celebrating its first parkrun anniversary Mike Daly ran 22:24, daughter Catherine Daly 25:22, Deb Cartlidge 27:28 & Dave Chittock 27:29 Also in the county at Gloucester City parkrun were Simon Jarvis, Patricia Peever, Chris Benjamin, Kev Dendy, Dave Nelson, Kathy & Paul McHaig and Claire Gallagher, whilst Andrea Hardy ran Kingsway Gloucester and at Gloucester North were Mike & Vicky Kennedy, Lesley Cottle, Nikki Durnell & Matt Waterfield. Patrick Farley was at Ipswich, Mike Bryce ran Worcester Pitchcroft, Suzy Hills was at Southwark London, at Evesham were Steve & Jayne Adams & Rich Smith, in Katowice Poland was Gerard Gatek, Malc Smith & Rachel Fargher made the short hop to Clairemorris in Eire, Norm Lever chasing his A-Z of parkrun locations ticked off Rogiet, in New Zealand Ed Munro ran Wanaka and finally Danny Carroll was at Teignmouth Devon.
Allan Green completed his 539th marathon at the Big Bear Trail Marathon in Coventry in 5:39. Ingrid Harris cracked the Enigma Quadzilla Marathon, where despite some navigational course challenges she still broke 4 hours in 3:59 and then ran the Bath 6 mile Pipley Wood Mud Bath race the next day and won her age category.
Karla Cleverley ran the Stowe Winter 12K trail run at Milton Keynes in 1:51.
Finally at the Maverick Dark Series night race in Henley on Thames, Dave Rogers ran the 9mile off road circuit in 1:19 and Lepha McCartan in 1:40.