Cleeve Cloud Cuckoo - 4 June 2014
There was a sizeable Striders presence in the Cleeve Cloud Cuckoo race on 4 June 2014.
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Despite the thick fog, torrential rain and unseasonably cold temperatures, an impressive 17 Striders turned out to represent their club.
At the sharp end of the race in-form Will Ferguson was soon engaged in a battle for the lead with Cheltenham Harriers’ Dave Roper who was making his first appearance for four months having been sidelined with injury.
Although Roper eventually broke away, second place was never in doubt for the Brendan Ward coached athlete and he finished some distance ahead of 3rd placed Miguel Mundinano. Following on behind Ferguson, a resurgent Striders’ men’s team was also making its presence felt. Having posted a number of impressive sub-19 minute times in the Cheltenham Parkrun and a PB in the Bath Half in March, Juan Moreno maintained his strong form with an excellent 8th place. Next was James Oram with an excellent run in 9th place very closely followed by Jon Cooke who showed continued improvement with an impressive 11th place. The Striders’ men’s team of Ferguson, Moreno and Oram came second in the team contest.
Next came the Striders women. Completely dominant once more, even with key players missing, they were led home in convincing fashion by Jo Wilkie who finished 21st overall. She was closely followed by Rachael Cary who had an excellent race in 23rd. A group of four Striders then followed. First of these was Liza Barry making an excellent comeback in 35th place; next were Victoria Veness in 38th, Amanda Steer in 39th and Charlotte Sugden in 42nd all of whom ran well in dire conditions.
Andrew Paterson, Ross Greening and Richard Haslam ran well to finish in 48th, 55th, 67th respectively, and they were followed by the ever-improving Beckie Boulton in 76th, Rachel Burdick in 83rd, Jill Harsent in 85thand Dawn Addinall in 88th. There were 102 finishers overall.
Full results are available here</p>