Not the Roman Nine, Stratford

Tewkesbury AC had a lone repersentative in the annual "Not the Roman nine" road race. Childswickham based Lisa Kane set herself a new personal best time over the 12km country lane course around Stratford-on-Avon. She finished as 14th senior female and 253rd overall in a time of 59 minutes. With a starting line-up of 600 runners, Kane (pictured) did well.

Glos x/c league, Jan 07

Just four Tewkesbury AC runners tackled the final XC event of the season. Staged at Drotwich in difficult conditions over an equally difficult course, it was just Lisa Kane who flew the flag in the women's race. Kane came in 56th position in a time of 34 minutes.

With Andy Hawkins stepping in to help Mick Morris with the organization on the day, Jon Rawlings produced the fastest Tewkesbury run. Rawlings just made the top 40 in a competitive field. Jason Draper came in ahead of Phillip Howells in 118th and 129th place respectively.

Women.

56th Lisa Kane 34.14

Men.

40th Jon Rawlings 40.16
118th Jason Draper 57.18
129th Phil Howells 63.13

May Hill Massacre

Bradley Crouch reports on the inaugural running of this.........

The May Hill Massacre was run last Sunday for the first time and what a brilliant effort from race organizers. So good is this race I will be placing it firmly on my calendar for next year (definitely in my top five races).

The May Hill Massacre is mainly off-road, with a slight hill to climb and heaps of glorious mud... Fortunately I had a pair of Adidas Swoops which where able to cut right through the mud allowing my feet landed firmly on the ground without slipping (I really, really recommend these shoes).

There were just over 350 runners on the day, I managed a 20th position (1:06:05) with the aid of my new shoes! Phil Howells came back 186th position (1:24:31). Winning time was 57:03.

Club Officials

Your club officials for 2007 are:
Chairman Josh Gilder
Secretary Steve Wiggall
Treasurer Roger Bennett
Captain Cathy Dudfield
Road Running Sec Jon Mansfield
Road Race Director Pete Foster
Committee Rob Jordan
Committee Clive Baker
Committee Carol Cowley
Committee Barry O'Driscoll
Webmaster Clive Sentance
Press Officer Jon Mansfield

FoD trails, 7/1/07

Stuart Dudfield won his very first trophy over a demandingly wet Mallard's Pike course. Dudfield chose to race in the shorter 5.4km course and needed to run hard to stay in contention in a competitive field. He was rewarded for his efforts with third place in the senior men's category.

The Dudfield household had reason for a double celebration later, as wife, Cathy repeated her efforts from last month and picked-up more silverware after finishing third in the extremely difficult 15.4km forest course. Her performance was also rewarded with more points towards a prize purse to be shared after the next race in the series.

Rob Knight made a rare racing appearance as he joined Jon Mansfield also running the 15.4km event.

5.4km Race
5^th Stuart Dudfield 24.35

15.4km Race

7^th Rob Knight 1.01

10^th Jon Mansfield 1.04

34^th Cathy Dudfield 1.12

164 ran

Gloucester 10m, 7/1/07

Six Tewkesbury AC runners took part in the annual 10 mile race just south of Gloucester.

Without doubt, the outstanding performance of the day was by Angie Sadler. The multi-distance talent not only won her vet F45 category but also won the ladies race outright. A fantastic result to start 2007.

Tewkesbury's new recruit, Luke Anthony was the first club member home finishing just outside the top 20. The conditions on the day meant that the final four miles were demanding heading into a strong headwind, in which, most runners lost time. Stuart Buchan's good form defeated the wind with ease. While Adrian Lavery chose to run the whole course as a warm-up before the start, he still managed to finish the race in less than 70 minutes. Barry O'Driscoll needed to make some last minute equipment adjustments, which resulted in starting at the back. O'Driscoll worked his way through the sell-out 260 runners to finish inside the top 100 - some tactful training for April's London Marathon! Phillip Howells completed the Tewkesbury contingent finishing in 80 minutes.

22^nd Luke Anthony 1.05 hr

29^th Angie Sadler 1.06

44^th Stuart Buchan 1.08

68^th Adrian Lavery 1.09

83^rd Barry O'Driscoll 1.12

143^rd Phil Howells 1.20

261 ran

First 2007 race

Almost a fifth of the starting line-up at The New Years Day five mile race near Gloucester was made up of Tewkesbury AC runners. Ten athletes started 2007 running through the unexpected morning sunshine along the country lanes near Hardwicke.

Toeing the start line too was GB junior star, Emily Pigeon with two of her training partners. With Tewkesbury's best runner of 2006, Andrew Hawkins housebound with a cold virus, Pigeon was never troubled by the TAC contingent as she starred. Nevertheless, the Tewkesbury club also produced star performances...

Ever improving, Nigel Tillott ran an outstanding personal best (Pb) time. Tillott recorded a sub 32 minute time. A real boost as the progressing runner starts his training plan ready for the Prague marathon later in the year.

Stuart Buchan made the short journey to meet the start line. Buchan also covered the 'out and back' course in Pb time.

Helena Turner started the year with a delightful performance. 2007 looks like being a year to remember for the Bredon runner.

The first runner to finish for the club was Jon Mansfield. Mansfield, laden with trifle from the previous night was pushed all the way by team mate, Jason Draper. Draper finished in just under 31 minutes; almost exactly as he has done on the last three occasions on twisty lane course. Angie Sadler, having just ran a testing 19 mile training run, made short work of
the morning by scooping her category prize. Fellow ultra-distance runner, Phillip Howells ran in the comfort zone while Neville Simpson made a welcome return to racing after a short hiatus. Barry O'Driscoll followed Roger Bennett over the finish line as both runners had well planned runs.

10th Jon Mansfield - 30.26

13th Jason Draper - 30.56

19th Nigel Tillot - 31.51 (Pb)

20th Angie Sadler - 32.23

21st Stuart Buchan -32.37 (Pb)

25th Roger Bennett - 32.53

34th Barry O'Driscoll - 34.48

40th Neville Simpson - 37.07

53th Helena Turner - 45.22

54th Phillip Howells - 45.23

Hereford New Year's 10K

Clive S reports.....
After a year of not a lot of racing, my new year's resolution to race a bit more got off to a good start at this well organised and enjoyable event. The rain held off as we headed out of Hereford rowing club and up an incline to the 1K mark. Then it was down hill to the 2K marker, a few undulations to 3K, then a loop round some quiet lanes, before rejoining the outbound course at around 7K. At halfway I was back on for my target time of 39 mins, going through 5K in exactly 19:30. The knowledge that there would be a fast downhill final kilometre kept me going as I managed to pull away from a group of 5 runners, before going through 9k in 35:15 and 10K in 38:46.
This is the first time I've done this race - I can recommend it as a most pleasant way to burn off the excesses of the season!