CLC Striders Race report for Bourton hilly half - Sunday 29 September 2024
After all the late September rain and resultant flooding, The Bourton Hilly Half was blessed with a dry but cold morning. This year, the race was also doubling up as the Gloucestershire County Championship for the Half Marathon – a real challenge over what is a very hilly but beautiful course, following country lanes out from Bourton on the Water southward to Sherborne and then back again via the Rissingtons. Seven CLC Striders athletes joined 150 or so runners on the start line to test themselves over the 13.1 miles.
Continuing his superb record in local races this year, Rob Green stayed with two Abingdon AC athletes battling for second and third places for much of the race. In the end he mustered a superb sprint finish to take third place overall, and win the Gloucestershire Championship in a time of 1:14:55, also finishing as the first MV40. Rob will now definitely be crowned the Gloucestershire Road Race Series champion in the Senior Men and MV40 categories for 2024 – with a score of 79 (out of a maximum possible 80) in the Senior Men’s competition and a perfect 80/80 in the MV40. Incredible.
Next home for the club was the equally impressive and consistent Helen Knight who was one of no less than five lady runners on the day to better the ladies’ course record, finishing just outside the 90-minute mark in 1:30:05 and claiming the gold medal in her LV45 category.
Richard Aarons proved himself once again in a gruelling local race, finishing just behind Helen in a time of 1:30:22 to earn himself the bronze medal in his MV45 age category. Paul Northup battled round after a long summer lay-off for a time of 1:39:48 to claim bronze in his MV55 age category. Nigel Bailey ran a really strong race to finish in 1:43:21 and claim the bronze medal in his MV50 category.
David James continued to defy his age, running his first half marathon for a good while to finish first in his MV70 age category and claim the County Champs gold in the process in a time of just 1:46:19 – an incredible feat on a very testing course. As it stands, he is the MV70 County Champ for the Mile, 5k, 10k and Half Marathon this year!
Finally, Heather Ip showed great resilience to push on through and cross the finishing line in 2:11:10.
