Author Archives: Race Reporter

Chedworth Roman Trail Race

A 10 mile(ish) single lap, and ,new to 2025, 5 mile lap of scenic Cotswold countryside through Stowell Park, the Coln Valley, and close to the famous Chedworth Roman Villa. It is a challenging multi-terrain race that uses a variety of undulating tracks, footpaths, fields, and features a river crossing. Having been voted one of the best trail races in Gloucestershire, 97% of entrants would do the race again (Runnersworld.co.uk).

This year, the 5 mile race was a RSE Club Championship race, so there was a great turnout by RSE.

5 mile race –

• Nia was 1st lady
• Jenni was 3rd lady
• Rebecca 1st in age category
• Mark was 1st in age category
• Jon was 1st in age category
• Sue was 1st in age category
• Also 1st Men’s team and 1st Ladies’ team.

10 mile race

• Scott Williams 1.16:55 (7th overall)
• Paul Beaumont 1.41:06(1st in age group)
• Jess James 1.52:55

Well done RSE – what incredible results today!

Ben M: “A lovely Sunday morning run in the countryside, my first time and will be back again! ”

Jade : “A lovely scenic race with a river crossing around 3 miles in, followed by a hill which goes on forever! Really nice to run most of the race with Sue and we had a great sprint finish which was good fun!” ☺️

Nia : “This is a great trail race with a variety of terrain and some strong hills. We were lucky and the weather was perfect, with no mud to contend with. The river crossing wasn’t as deep as I was expecting but I think some scaremongering had been going on before the race! It was tough work but well worth the effort with the club taking lots of awards and great homemade cakes afterwards too.”

Al : ” God I love trail 🤦‍♂️ great morning of running with RSE taking over. Wasn’t my best day, and really struggled today. Anyway some excellent results from everyone else, good to see everyone enjoying the hills and water crossing.”

Sue: “I really enjoyed this race. Friendly marshals (thank you RSE volunteers), long downhills and the uphills were either so steep or went on so long that I felt fine about walking up them. And the stream wasn’t too deep.
It was lovely to run round with Jade too, she kept me going”

Cheltenham Half Marathon

Set in the heart of the beautiful regency town, Run Cheltenham offers splendour and Cotswold charm plus an epic grandstand finish at Cheltenham Racecourse.

• Dan Drayton 1.43:59
• Tom Burdett 1.55:09
• Rachel Weaver 2.16:32
• Monica Farthing 2.41:27
• other RSE members – Sophie Dickenson, Russell Young, Samantha Lane, Amanda Robson

Monica: “Nice route around Cheltenham with lots of drums at different spots on the course. I was near the back 🙂 I was happy to be overtaken by a tiger or might have been a lion!”

Tom: “Returning to my most repeated race.
This year they started the race in waves – splitting the pace groups. This meant I started in the wave behind the two hour pacers I wanted to keep eyes on. Thankfully I was able to catch and pass them in the first mile or so and never saw them again. I hadn’t done enough long distance recently, but pleased to get comfortably under the 2 hour mark.
Ideal running conditions and some good crowds made this quite an enjoyable half. And not having to run a lap of the racecourse itself is a vast improvement on the route! Getting in and out of the racecourse before and after the race however…”

Rachel: “The most challenging part of the morning was getting to the start! I started  after the official start, no problem due to chip timing.
My race plan was to take it steady and enjoy. Which is exactly what I did. I ran to feel, not caring about the watch. The conditions were perfect for me. The support was amazing, loved seeing the children supporting and handing out sweets. I really
enjoyed the course with just a couple of inclines. I would definitely recommend this HM. This was the Improvers’ Group first outing to a Half – Marathon. How lucky we are to have joined RSE with such amazing encouragement to get us to this distance.”

Parkruns

Event Date: 20 September 2025

Lydiard parkrun (#699)

• Vicki MASON – 31:08

Plymvalley parkrun (#603)

• Darren JENNER – 25:47

• Felicity CROTTY – 32:59

Pomphrey Hill parkrun (#519)

• Anne-Marie DAVIES – 31:04

Cirencester parkrun (#310)

• Wayne HEWITT – 20:34

• Phil HUDSON – 21:39

• Jon CAMPBELL – 22:11

• Paul BILLINGHURST – 23:31

• Steve SANDERCOCK – 26:09

• Rachel SMITH – 29:15

• Phil SCOBLE – 29:17

• Cathy STEER – 31:55

• Elaine CHAPMAN – 31:56

• Paul ROBERTSON – 1:03:34

Gloucester City parkrun (#288)

• Jade BEAUMONT – 26:48

Marlborough Common parkrun (#269)

• Elliot GARDINER – 25:04

Diary Dates

Your club needs you!

Gloucestershire League Cross Country fixtures – October 12th Woodchester Park, November 1st Cirencester Park, December 14th Bath University (inc. County Championships), February 14th Pitville Park. The aim is to get 5 men and 3 women at every race. You don’t need to be able to do all of the dates. If you are a fairly speedy runner and are interested, chat to Ben or Elaine Chapman or Jon Campbell.

November 1st. Dave Witnall is looking for marshalls to help with the Cross Country race in Cirencester Park – either 9.30-12.30 or 12 – 15.30.

Coln Valley 2k/5k/10k

It’s rather appropriate that for the 1st week of school RSE turned out in force to support Taryn’s school fundraiser at the Coln Valley 5k/10k.

Lovely to see some RSE kids in the 2k, with Jade’s Evie and Isla, and Jess’ Reggie and Theo scampering over the hay bale hurdles with great enthusiasm.

Podium places for Rebecca (second lady in the 5k) and Jo (3rd FV50 in the 10k). great performances all round!.

5k-ers:

Rebecca Southerington 22:45

10k-ers:

Dan Drayton 00:52:07

Elliot Gardiner 00:53:48

Jess James:

Ann Gardiner 1.00.32

Lee Jones 01:04:41

Jade Beaumont 01:05:08

Mary Shepherd 01.06.00

Lee Jones: My first trail run & my first run in an RSE running vest. I wouldn’t agree that it was gently undulating, so quite challenging for a road runner! Great turnout from RSE.

Rebecca southerington: Lovely trail race with scenic views, great organisation with cakes, coffee and friendly atmosphere, hill start with undulating parts, think the 10km was a lot worse so I got off lightly but still found it tough! Did this last year and although injured again and the weather not being as nice, I placed 2nd female for the 5km. Loved the finishing  socks but not my sore Achilles. Great to see so many RSE runners and most people took on the 10km which can’t of been easy!Great trail race which I would definitely do again, well done to everyone who ran it.

Elliot Gardiner: First ever 10K trail race (I think?!). Bit of a test run to find out where my lungs are at after covid, turns out they’re nowhere to be seen! 🫣 Went out too quick and struggled on the hills, so dropped the pace and just tried to enjoy the scenic route 😅 Would like to do this race again when back to fitness! It’s a great local race with homemade cakes & a bbq too 👍🏻 Official chip time 53:48 (almost 10 mins slower than my 10K road PB 🤦‍♂️)
The roast at the local pub afterwards cheered me up though! 😋

Cranham boundary chase

Steve Sandercock  00:48:33

Liz Hulcup 00:57:57

Zoe Markham-Lee  00:54:37

Zoe Markham-Lee : 594ft elevation. Need I say anymore. The good thing about the race is the fete at the end. Gemma and I had conversations about pigs before the race (don’t ask) and I won a pig calendar in the tombola! Great encouragement from the marshals, even though they were holding back laughter at points. A nice day out for the RSE county runners, with Steve getting us all there in his ‘battlebus’.

Steve Sandercock: Cranham Boundary Chase is a 5.6 mile AAA road race. 5 RSE runners completed the circuit which comprised an estimated 450ft of 14% total ascent – half each at the start and end!! Plenty of walking was involved by most competitors! The 2km of almost continuous downhill was a good compensation. But 5 RSE runners were done in at the end. Well done Sue Navin for 1st place in category

Cotswold Classic – Witney Road Runners

Sarah Juggins 1:44:17

Rachel Weaver 1.50.08

Sara Juggins: It was a lovely road race with some very scenic routes. They were a few hills. It was very well marshalled and organised.

Rachel Weaver: The  Cotswold Classic 10 mile road race is a firmly established event with its undulating course. The marshals created a fantastic atmosphere around the course. The race is completed after all the ups and downs with, a very fast finish. This was my longest race since joining RSE , yes I would definitely do it again.

Great North Run

Linda Edwards: 2:23:46

Linda: This was my 10th GNR and it was touch and go if I would be able to run it due to injury. I started at the back in a slower pen with a friend who had a different bib pen allocated. Although very crowded and generally slower much more fun. This also allowed us to see the start of the race with the elite men as the gun went off.
I ran with 4 friends from Bourton Road runners in total and they all loved it too. The red arrows were out with their display overhead, music on route and the support amazing.
There were over 60, 000 runners so if you don’t like crowds this is not one for you. The course has a fair share of hills and it is a point to point course finishing with a view of the sea before turning onto the mile before the finish where my family were there waiting.
The party atmosphere afterwards continued into the apres area with a band and post run drinks.
A great medal and T shirt but if you saw the BBC news there was a design error resulting in some local controversy which makes it unique.

Parkruns

Kingsway parkrun

Hackney Marshes parkrun

Plymvalley parkrun

Aberystwyth parkrun

Cheltenham parkrun

Cirencester parkrun

Leazes parkrun

Ganger Farm parkrun

Blaise Castle parkrun

The Flying Monk 10K

An undulating route taking in the famous “Fosse Way”, the oldest Roman Road in the country, the rest being run on the quiet country roads surrounding Malmesbury. All participants  earn either a Lilley’s Mango Cider, Lilley’s Scrumpy Cider (so where was  Sylvia?) or a Mimosa. Alcohol free options are also available. Congratulations to the club’s  3 runners with Nia being the  2nd lady overall.  Great stuff.

Nia GLOVER         41:42.9

Ben MUTLOW      48:57.5

Joanne BEAMES  51:06.7

This is my hometown race so I know the roads well which I think really helped me today make the most of the downhills and pace the uphills. It’s an undulating course but a nice downhill finish and it’s really well supported. This year a group of firefighters ran it in their full kit raising money for the Firefighters Charity – it was great motivation as no matter how hard I was working I knew it was far worse for them! There was a great medal and free cider for finishers too. I ran my fastest 10k time for a while and really enjoyed it, with a bonus finishing in second place lady. Chuffed!

Nia

Parkruns

Gloucester North parkrun

Cheri EDWARDS               00:26:05

Aberystwyth parkrun

Felicity CROTTY               00:29:31

Tonbridge parkrun

Samantha WARD             00:29:16

Keswick parkrun

Phil HUDSON                    00:21:13

Bideford parkrun

Jade BEAUMONT             00:26:48

Cirencester parkrun

Wayne HEWITT               00:20:52

Jon CAMPBELL                00:21:39

Oliver HAZEL                    00:22:12

Mark GARRETT                00:23:26

Andy SWORN                   00:25:40

Ben CHAPMAN                00:25:57

Robert BAKER                  00:26:55

Phil NEWMAN                 00:27:43

Katy MILLER                    00:28:44

Rachel SMITH                  00:29:21

Vicki MASON                   00:29:58

Phil SCOBLE                    00:30:52

Elaine CHAPMAN            00:30:52

Alan POWDERHILL         00:31:10

Nadine BROWN               00:31:53

Cranbrook Country Park parkrun

Darren JENNER                00:24:24