Halloween has started!
With Halloween just a few nights away, the Tewkesbury runners have been laying down some rather scary performances this weekend.
Firstly, on Saturday in the ‘as seen on TV’ Snowdonia Marathon, Tewkesbury runners braved some shocking autumn weather – Mother Nature had a restless night and gave freezing temperatures, snow fall and sleet storms to welcome the runners taking on the popular Welsh show piece.
Phillip Howells has ran in artic conditions before – once famously running into a Snow plough! So for Phillip, running the event for the 8th time, the tougher conditions would have suited him better than some of the less prepared entrants. Nonetheless, it’s a marathon and with a sub 6 hour target, he really had to work hard over the last ten miles after he felt his legs unwilling. He finished with 5:56 hr and was delighted with his accomplishment.
For Angie Sadler, the conditions could have been harsher and she would not have noticed; with almost 200 marathon distance events, home and abroad, on her CV, Angie floated around the course in a fine 3:54 hr. Crossing the line as 42nd female, Angie smashed the FV55 category with 1st place.
Without doubt the scariest prospect in Snowdonia was the club’s Paul Thomas. Running his third event for Tewkesbury after the Cricklade Half Marathon and the Devizes 10k, Paul had only mustered one long training run – and that was 10 miles shy of the North Wales challenge. Probably more significant with the Snowdonia course, is that the hardest section kicks in after 21 miles with the third and steepest ascent…
Paul completed it in an astonishing 3:46 hrs and like the other two, probably felt like a warm cup of tea at the finish.
In the autumn Gloucester 10k, just South of Gloucester, Tewkesbury had three runners participating. The frightening performance from the three was Simon Crilley’s; we all know the magnitude of a 40 minute 10km and from somewhere, Simon produced a time of 40:21 minutes! That means the Sub40 is within his grasp with careful planning (and a bit more pain).
Not to be confused with the famous city centre based 10k that Nigel Tillott works with in August, this 10k takes in villages of Haresfield and Colethrop. Pete Davies took on the race and safe with the knowledge that he has mastered the half-marathon distance, his 63 minutes is a very respectable morning’s work. Thirdly, the club’s most senior runner, Mike Ward ran in the MV70+ category, despite being 15 years older than some of the others in his cat, he still laid down 68 minutes for 6th place 70+
Finally, in the Nightmare 10k near the Forest of Dean, Jenny Gardiner got to grips with the course and put fear into her rivals and was able win! Jenny was shocked to win the ladies first prize as her race preparation was dreadful and can easily be described as a nightmare. That said, when she knuckles down to business, she is a tough runner to compete against.
