Forest Of Dean Autumn Half Marathon

The ever popular (nearly all) off road Forest of Dean Autumn Half Marathon proved a popular alternative to the Cheltenham Half Marathon that was happening on the same morning. As with any run in the Forest Of Dean, hills are a plenty on this course, run on the hard packed Forest trails.

Runners were very wary of the days weather forecast, with heavy rain and thunder predicted. The rain and thunder held off, but the runners were faced with a very humid and steamy conditions to race in, which had an effect on performances.

Tewkesbury had 6 runners representing the club and first home to emerge from the Forest to the finish line was Vladimir Vlenglar. Vlad aquitted himself very well over his preferred trails to run 1hr 33mins 2secs to place a healthy 48th position.

Following closely behind Vlad was club Chairman Nigel Tillott. Nigel is no stranger to the Forest Of Dean Half Marathon, this being his 3rd year on the trot. Using all his experience, Nigel clocked in with 1hr 36mins 15secs to deservingly collect 3rd in his V55 age group.

Elaine Vincent and Suzanne Tharme have both been running better and better as the season goes on, and both ran triumphantly to the line to both time in at 2hrs 3mins 5secs.

John Tharme battled through the thrills and spills that the Forest Of Dean Half Marathon had to offer and raced to the finish line through the clearing in the forest to record his time of 2hrs 13mins 18secs - a hard morning’s work completed !

Lynda Gardiner fresh from her Great North Run exploits, would have struggled to find a harder Half Marathon to make her reappearance, with the hills and humidity. However with all taken into account, Lynda performed well to clock 2hrs 21mins 22secs to round off an enjoyable day for Tewkesbury Running Club.