Cheltenham Half Marathon, 29th September 2019

On a grey, damp and very windy Sunday morning, a large group of Striders lined up for the annual Cheltenham Half Marathon – ranging from those new to the club right through to some seasoned vets. In the end, conditions took their toll, with many finishing just outside what they might have expected or trained for or what their form suggested – mainly due to the wind. 

Those ducking in under the magic 90-minute mark were Guy Copner in 1:27:23 and Alex Monro (MV40) in 1:28:54.

Next came a clutch in the 90 to 95-minute band. Eoin Mcquone (MV45) clocked 1:31:59, Helen Knight (FV40) finished in 1:32:11, Andrew Brookes (MV55) registered 1:32:47, Karlien Heyrman clocked 1:35:31, Ben Akif came in in 1:35:42 and Amanda Steer (FV45) finished in 1:35:47.

In the next five-minute wave, Tim Brock (MV50) clocked 1:36:15, Stuart Barr (MV45) 1:36:24, Rich Shardlow (MV50) 1:38:33, Tom Fletcher 1:38:42 and Gary Smith (MV45) 1:40:21.

They were followed by a batch of 1 hour, 40-minute finishers – James Coull (MV45) in 1:41:15, Fiona Brady-Miller (FV40) in 1:40:58, Ed Thompson (MV50) in 1:41:51, Ed Collier (MV60) in 1:43:35, Rachel Vines (FV35) in 1:44:25 and Phil Jowett (MV50) in 1:45:23.

All coming in under two hours were John JJ Willson (MV55) in 1:51:26, Nigel Bailey (MV45) in 1:52:33, Mike Speke (MV55) in 1:52:33, Laura Daubney in 1:54:56 and Sarah Wilson (FV45) in 1:54:57.

Last but not least were a crew of Striders who battled round to register times of just over 2 hours on the day – Alex Goodlock (MV45) in 2:01:41, Sue Clark (FV65) in 2:02:58, Bradley Coates (MV45) in 2:03:49, Fiona Woods (FV50) in 2:11:07, Alison Egan (FV50) in 2:12:56 and Megan Jones in 2:38:07.

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