White Horse 5km, 17/05/07

Severn AC hosted this years Glos AAA 5km Championship at their popular Sandhurst venue. A bumper 150 runners started and Tewkesbury AC represented over 10% of the field with 16 runners lining up.

With the event coming so soon after the Tewks 1/2M, the Tewkesbury team could have been forgiven for still having sore legs. Bizarrely, quite the opposite as 5 runners smashed their personal best (Pb) times in one of this seasons first 5000m events. The outstanding performance came in the unlikely form of Stuart Dudfield. Unlikely as Dudfield put in a life-time best effort in the 1/2M just four days prior. The flying runner has long set his sights on breaking the 20 minute mark for the distance. However, on the night he went one beyond and landed inside the 19 minute mark with 9 seconds to spare. Ironic as wife Cathy his training partner and club captain screamed her support while supported on crutches until her broken bones rebuild.

The standard of competition was immense at the sharp end. Clive Baker ran the quickest for Tewkesbury and, if fact, the quickest he as ever ran to clock a Pb. His performance completes a hat-trick of remarkable runs over the Marathon, Half Marathon and now, the 5000m in the space of a month. Worth mentioning too, that Bakers time of 16.37 minutes was just seconds short of the club record.

Jon's Rawlings and Mansfield best efforts were short of Baker although they did mange to squeeze a former team mate in a finish line sandwich.

Fast improving Luke Anthony ran well enough to hold off Rob Knight by 10 seconds before a quadruple of Tewkesbury boys reset their Pb's in quick succession. Nigel Tillott, Stuart Dudfield, Stuart Buchan and Dan Webb all came within 35 seconds of each other in their best times to date.

Distance runners Adrian Lavery and Phillip Howells finished either side of White Horse regular Rob Jordan.

A great sight to see club sectary Steve Wiggall returning to racing. Likewise Mick Morris. Both club stalwarts are successfully overcoming theirinjury woes.

Tonight's V70 winner was Mike Ward. Ward's running of late is a joy to watch.

Last but not least, was yet another come-back man, Darrell Summers who was more
than satisfied with his exploits.


24th Clive Baker - 16.37 (Pb)
31st Jon Rawlings - 16.58
34th Jon Mansfield - 17.11
45th Luke Anthony - 17.40
47th Rob Knight - 17.50
65th Nigel Tillott - 18.44 (Pb)
68th Stuart Dudfield - 18.51 (Pb)
73rd Stuart Buchan - 19.16 (Pb)
75th Danny Webb - 19.29 (Pb)
81st Adrian Lavery - 19.43
101st Rob Jordan - 20.57
117th Phil Howells - 21.53
123rd Steve Wiggall - 22.09
132nd Mike Ward - 23.48
136th Mick Morris - 24.32
140th Darrell Summers - 25.25

Eastnor 7, 13/5/07

Brad couldn't face the Tewkesbury half, so settled for a jaunt at Eastnor:

"What a glorious day for running this Sunday, whilst most people had finished the Tewkesbury half marathon I was still struggling to get motivation to get out of bed for the Eastnor Seven since I partied the night away at friends 30th (boy it was a struggle).
The race started at 11.00 am and the rain was bucketing down so numbers where a bit thin on ground with only 154 runners .I managed to get around and come 15th in a time of 50:17. The winning time was very fast 42:15, so it was good minute a mile faster (very scary thought).
In the end of the day the race was brilliant scenic run around Eastnor Deer Park, some nice bits of mud to keep me interested, what more could one man want.

Tewkesbury half marathon, 13 May 2007

The annual Tewkesbury Half Marathon conjured up some special performances from the sixteen Tewkesbury AC runners who were out on show amongst the 936 starters.

Combining superb recent form with his talent, Clive Baker came in 6th and 2nd vet in 1.17 hr. Breaking from his normal conservative start, Baker set off from the gun fast and held his pace throughout confirming his position as Tewkesbury's top runner.
Jon Mansfield held off Rob Knight over the last mile to finish just ahead in 1.23 hr. Both runners took time to regain composure at the end. Nigel Tillott has returned to where he was before a month out with illness and had a great run to finish in 1.27 hr. Delighted 19yr old Mike Primett ran in at 1.29 hr with minimal training due to University studies. Seconds away from his personal best (Pb) was Stuart Buchan at 1.30 hr. There was also a Pb for Stuart Dudfield by almost two minutes - especially impressive as the PC was working a night shift before hand! Lots of cheer from wife Cathy on her crutches clearly made an impact. Sandwiched between the two Stuart's was Danny Webb. The double charity London Marathon runner timed 1.31 hr. Baz O'Driscoll, who recorded Tewkesbury's quickest London Marathon time last month, had a fair run with limited training of late at 1.34 hr. The workaholic has now set his sights on the local Triathlons for next month. Ultra distance runner Phil Howells dipped inside the 100 minute mark to finish in 1.39 hr. Come-back man Neville Simpson had an outstanding run, surprising himself amongst others to finish in 1.40 hr. Defending ladies Vet55 champion Carol Cowley won her event again in 1.41 hr. Recently recovered from back niggles she matched her time from last years race. Mike Ward, the clubs 72yr old talent had a battling finish with a fellow Vet 70 and won but, still had to settle for second in 1.50 hr. Finally, Wes Reid had a pleasing experience and finished in 2.16 hr.

5 mile fun runners were...
Darrell Summers finishing 41.11 mins to finish in 77th place.
Newly married Helena Turner recorded a fine 45.23 mins just days after her
honeymoon to come in 128th

6th Clive Baker 1:17.13
19th Jon Mansfield 1:23.51
20th Rob Knight 1:23.51
52nd Nigel Tillott 1:27.42
68th Mike Primett 1:29.05
80th Stuart Buchan 1:30.14
98th Danny Webb 1:31.34
102nd Stu Dudfield 1:31.44
131st Barry O'Driscoll 1:34.59
211st Phillip Howells 1:39.19
235th Neville Simpson 1:40.28
253rd Carol Cowley 1:41.07
477th Mike Ward 1:50.37
850th Wes Reid 2:16.33

Crowle ‘Gunpowder’ 10km

Two Tewkesbury runners headed north to race in this popular Worcestershire event. Simon Hall and Wes Read joined 470 other runners on the start line and it was Hall who found himself at the sharp end. Running rapidly, the Evesham based athlete missed a podium place by seconds to finished fourth. Hall’s tactics were to work his way up through the field and this he did. However, he was left with the feeling that he missed out on third, as the in-form runner knew he could have pushed harder.

Wes Read, in contrast, planned this event in to tune for his local half-marathon this coming Sunday. The former Rugby star came in at 369^th.

4^th Simon Hall 35.30

369^th Wes Read 59.39

GNR places on offer!

Once again the Great North Run has reserved places for club athletes for the race on 30 Sept 2007. We have 2 guaranteed places. Qualifying times are:

Men: 1:25
Women: 1:40

and this is over the last 12 months. The down side is that you do have to pay the entry fee. If anyone is interested however then contact Steve W by 25 May at the very latest.

Stroud Beer Race, 02/05/07

Phillip H reports...

A few of us missed the club run this evening to honourably represent Tewkesbury AC in the Stroud Beer race, which despite it being relatively local, was also a first time run for 4 of the 6 runners taking part.

For those others of you that don't know the course, it is a tough test, run over Minchinhampton Common just outside Stroud over 3 laps for a total of 7.1 miles, with one steep hill and a long drag each lap to face (literally, since a stiff breeze whistled down the long uphill drag to make it a little more challenging!). All the club runners finished in the first half of the field of 105 finishers:

7th - Luke Anthony 44.17
11th - Rob Knight 46.15
20th - Nigel Tillott 48.31
22nd - Angie Sadler 49.12 (2nd lady and 1st lady vet O40)
42nd - Rob Jordan 54.22
43rd - Phillip Howells 54.35

Satisfied with respectable performances, we enjoyed the free beer earned for each finisher as the sun set in a superb array of golden and red colours over the horizon.

Shakespeare Marathon, 29/04/07

Two runners from Tewkesbury AC made the short trip to Warkwickshire to run in the Shakespeare Marathon in Stratford-upon-Avon last Sunday 29th April.The headline performance was from Clive Baker who is in fantastic form. Despite being the wrong side of 40 years old, the experience distance runner ran just over a minute outside his personal best time for the marathon distance of 26.2 miles. The Stratford course is regarded as a 'slow' course and depending on the runners ability, would be 2-10 minutes slower than a flat course such as London. His impressive finishing time of 2hrs 53 minutes resulted in an 11th place overall. His time is the fastest this year for a Tewkesbury runner. With his local half marathon to come in two weeks time, his home fans could be in for a treat.

Joining Baker at Stratford was Adrian Lavery who too had a pleasing race although a little slower than he had anticipated. Again, the nature of the course and the warm air played its part. Lavery's time of 3hrs 24 minutes placed him in 122nd place.