CLC Striders race round-up - weekend of 16/17 September 2023
Once again, CLC Strider athletes were in action across a whole range of running disciplines this last weekend.
Saturday 16 September
Two Striders made a start to the epic Cotswold Way Century from Chipping Campden. That’s 102 miles of the entire Cotswold Way run continuously – day and night. Rob Bircher had achieved this incredible feat once already but had to retire on this occasion early on. Meanwhile, debutant Tom Fletcher battled on alone, eventually retiring at the 73-mile mark. Tom plans to complete the remaining 29 miles at some stage before Christmas.
Meanwhile, all the way up in the Scottish Highlands around Fort William, Liza Bradshaw competed in the Ring of Steall Skyrace trail ultra, finishing as the 2nd lady in her LV40 in a time of just 5:42:55, an incredible achievement across terrain which required nothing short of mountaineering as well as running skills.
Sunday 17 September
Up in Worcester, the irrepressible Helen Knight ran a PB and LV40 club record time of 1:27:01 over the Half Marathon distance, finishing as 3rd lady overall on the day. Meanwhile, over the 10k distance at the same event, Tim Brock clocked a solid 43:16.
In the Angels 10k, held on the undulating lanes around Ashelworth, Joe Willgoss ran strongly on the challenging course to earn 4th place overall in a time of 34:36, while Paul Northup secured 24th place in a time of 41:45. As a result, both are now placed 4th in the Gloucester Road Race Series, with just the final Guy Fawkes Five to come. (Club member Kate Telford holds an unassailable 1st place in her category in the series.)
Further south, down at Oldbury, Gavin Jerman completed his participation in the year-long series of races hosted by Oldbury Running Club (which also included the Thornbury 10k and the Riverbank Rollick), competing in the Oldbury 10-Mile and finishing in a time of 1:17:12.
And finally, much further afield, and despite illness and other setbacks in his preparation, Tom Burgess ran the Oslo Marathon in a time of 3:13:57.