The Tewkesbury pair of Angie Sadler and Phillip Howells both achieved personal best event times in the 14 mile multi-terrain Cleevewold Race held on a tortuous and very hilly Cleeve Common route on Sunday. Angie was up with the leaders of the 100 runner field from the start, holding her place to finish a very impressive 19th and once again not only the 1st lady home, but also by default, the first lady vet over 45. Her time of 1 hour 56 minutes and 45 seconds was a personal best time by nearly 2 minutes from when she last ran the event in 2004.
Phillip had a more difficult first few miles at the back of the pack, feeling jaded from the effects perhaps of having a tooth out on Thursday and the antibiotics he was on, from a still nagging hamstring injury and no doubt from a 10 mile cycling time trial of the day before! However, he got going from about 5 miles and passed a lot of runners to finish strongly in 49th place with a time of 2 hours 8 minutes and 14 seconds - a beating by over 6 minutes of his time from 2005.
Both PBs were particulary rewarding since it was generally accepted that course conditions were tough with the recent rain making it very muddy and for most runners, a slower event. Angie was, as usual, a very popular ladies winner and her rewards at the presentation were the perpetual Ladies Salver Trophy, some race clothing and a wonderfully aromatic whole Gloucester cheese.