Cheltenham Half Marathon - Sunday 20 September
Forty one CLC Striders lined up for the Run Cheltenham Half Marathon, with the club led home in fine form by Rob Green in 1:11:53. With an 8th place finish, Rob ran two minutes faster than at the Burnham Half Marathon the Sunday before, a sharp improvement on a one-week turnaround. Pete Duffy was next in 1:13:18, followed by Rob Barnett in 1:14:40 and Joseph Willgoss in 1:15:26.
The next finisher was Isabel Brinsden (1:19:54), first female for the second year running. She took the lead around the eight-mile mark, put the hammer down in true Brinsden style and eventually won by 98 seconds. Tom Burgess was just behind in 1:20:30, having raced a hard 5.5k in the road relays the day before. Timothy Bridge (1:21:56) and James Mogridge (1:22:02) finished six seconds apart, with Rich Tilson (1:23:00) close behind. Josh Phillips made his club debut in 1:23:33, and Richard Gill followed in 1:23:52.
Luke Hunter clocked 1:24:46 in what was a massive breakthrough performance. Hannah D’Ambrosio was sixth female in a swift 1:25:08, and Richard O’Kelly ran 1:25:51 in his first race for the club. Tim Elliott (1:26:06) completed a strong group, and Lee Ormerod (1:27:41) and Jasper Hill (1:27:47) crossed the line six seconds apart. Peter Bellwood ran 1:28:01 on his club debut.
Karlien Heyrman was next to cross the finish line in 1:28:21, her first time under 90 minutes and comfortably so, to take the final spot in the ladies top 10. Andy Richardson (1:28:25) and Sean Brown (1:28:33, another club debut) were close on her heels. William Pearce (1:29:03), Geoff Milne (1:29:13) and Kate Telford (1:29:22 -13th female) all made it under 1:30. Shortly after, Scarlett Bell crossed the line in 1:30:19 for 15th place and will be keen to lower this in her forthcoming half marathons in Cardiff and Stroud. Ash Wilson also narrowly missed the 90 minute mark by 34 seconds in 1:30:34. In all, 24 Striders finished inside 90 minutes.
Liam Richardson (1:33:43), Jon Pearce (1:36:16) and Peter Mitchener (1:37:55) were next, followed by Morwenna Suleiman (1:45:55) and Alex Boughton (1:46:48). Deborah Rees crossed in 1:49:18, then Andrew Jackson in 1:52:32 and Lucy Galliers in 1:53:33. Colin Upton finished in 1:55:47, and our second Andrew Jackson in 1:57:27! Hifsa O’Kelly came in at 1:57:40, followed by Sam Templeton in 2:05:42. Amy Millyard, the fifth club debutant of the day, ran 2:08:49. Britt Waylett (2:12:18) and Ed Thompson (2:22:04) brought the Striders home.
Earlier that morning, in the 10k held at the same event, club debutant Cordy Parker hit the ground running taking 3rd placed female in 40:49. Tom Jerrett ran well for 41:52, Phil Adcock unfortunately took a tumble in the finishing straight but dusted himself off and finished in 43:58. Rachel Vines came through in 44:44 to win the LV40 category and Ed Collier completed the Striders set, running 50:51 for 3rd MV65.
In a race of many outstanding performances, the overwhelming outcome was the sense of enjoyment from racing with the support of many clubmates, either in the race or spectating.
