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The final race of the series was be held on the 04th of September with a great turn out of 33 runners. Matt Sutton led the field home some way ahead of the chasing group of Martin Drew, Gareth Bradbury, Mike Hanman and Ana Berdan all coming in closely grouped.

A strong run saw Mark Waller achieve 6th place with an actual time of 23:18, a second behind Dave Wood and a second ahead of Laszlo Berdan, who could not reach the heady heights of his earlier runs after a hard couple of days wood cutting, Tony Wooldrige also joined these guys on 23 minutes with a great run of 23:23.  Kevin Jackson running his first event of the series achieved the fastest time of the night with an impressive 22:43. Kate Browning also ran strongly to record 24:40 and had she been able to run more events may well have been challenging for a place on the podium. Katherine Parsons finishing one place ahead of Kate was just under 40 seconds behind on time.  

As it was the women’s series was a tightly fought affair with Mel Williams and Rachel Johnson (correction!!!) joint winners, Erica Fuller was rewarded for her efforts with a third place.  In the men’s event Barry Topham overcame his early season injury problems to reprise last years form to place third behind Mark Waller; who despite being frustrated with his times continued to work hard to finish high up the field over the series.  

The winner of both the men’s event and the Overall Series Winner was Jerry Fowler, and the victory was richly deserved for a hard working athlete who has been busy improving his swimming over the last year. Expect to see great things next year when he's not swimming 8 miles a week! Jerry said he was surprised to win and that he just came long and ran, but we are sure he was keeping an eye on the points! Well done Jerry.

Club Chairman Graeme Hawkins handed out the prizes with plates going to the male, female winners and the overall winner, and thanked Ray and his helpers, on behalf of the club, for his effort in organising this much loved (at least when you’ve stopped running!) series.

Results

        Position                               Time

1. Matt Sutton                       31:29

2. Martin Drew                      25:50

3. Gareth Bradbury               23:34

4. Mike Hanman                    33:00

5. Anna Berdan                     27:38

6. Mark Waller                      23:18

7. Katherine Parsons            25:16

8. Kate Browning                 24:40

9. Dave Wood                      23:17

10. Andy Kilby                       27:24 

11. Neil Malpas                      29:13

12. Kevin Jackson                 22:43

13. Kim Bird                          26:39

14. Zoe Johnson                   28:42 

15. Barry Topham                 27:05

16. Tony Freer                      23:48

17. Mel Williams                   26:56

18. Neil Parry                       23:22

19. Steve Peers                    29:54

20. Laura Price                     27:02

21. Tony Wooldridge            23:23

22. Alice Lewis                     27:26

23. Margaret Johnson           30:40

24. Erica Fuller                     30:36

25. Graeme Hawkins            24:36

26. Rebecca Topham           25:35

27. Sarah Crabtree               31:40

28. Sue Peachy                    27:57

29. Jerry Fowler                   26:55

30. John Delafield                30:23

31. Avrill Yearsley                30:45

32. Laszlo Berdan                23:19

Race 3 

The penultimate race in on a damp but still night, summer holidays, the weather and the opportunity to watch the Olympics may have all played a part in reducing the field to 16 starters. Trevor Lewis took advantage of the smaller field and the indulgence of Ray Williams handicapping to finish first , Mel Williams just over half a minute behind in second. Neil Parry was hot on her heels finishing in an impressive 23:20 (a personal best?) there were an number of good runs on the night with Tony Freer getting close to his PB on the course, placing 2^nd on the night on time. Erica Fuller knocking over half a minute off her previous outing. Graeme Hawkins again showing there is life in the old dog yet with a second consecutive 4^th pace on time over half a minute faster than Trevor, much to Graeme’s delight. Thanks to Ray, Rob and the timekeeper. Please note the last race in the series is the 4^th of September with points collected in the series counting towards prices

Race Pos                             Time           Pos on Time 

1      Trevor Lewis                25:10              7^th

2      Mel Williams                27:04               10^th

3      Neil Parry                     23:20              1^st

4      Jerry Fowler                 26:27              9^th

5      Erica Fuller                 30:27              15^th  

6      Barry Topham              27:17             11^th          

7      Rachel Johnson           29:03             14^th

8      Rebecca Topham        24:58              5^th

9      Andy Kilby                    27:58             12^th       

10     Mark Waller                 24:20             3^rd

11    Alice Lewis                   27:58             10^th

12    Graeme Hawkins          24:34             4^th                

13    Sue Peachy                  28:00             14^th      

14     Tim George                 25:01              6^th 

15     Tony Freer                   23:49             2^nd   

16     Brad Johnson              22:45              8^th

 Race 2

The second club handicap saw another good field with 25 starters on a cloudy and blustery evening. The field was led off by Erica Fuller who maintained a steady pace behind the lead bike.

She kept her lead until the last three quarters of a mile when Darren Brown and Laura Price caught up with her. Darren and Laura both finished strongly finished strongly with Darren destined to have his handicap altered as a result. Laura was almost 2 and half minutes faster than her previous outing, not doing an Ironman the weekend before may have had some impact, although she along with a few others had run the Frampton 10K the previous night. In the battle of the hard men Trevor Lewis came off worse, unused as he is to running in the middle of the back he succumbed to the greater speed of Graeme Hawkins. In the matrimonial section Brad Johnson made a super human to catch Rachel who saved her best till last and pipped him on the line, Brad was rewarded with a PB by some 42 seconds; Rebecca Topham left Barry to wend his own way around the course but in doing so he knocked 10 seconds off his last outing. Rebecca achieved third fastest time on the night in just over 24 minutes. Again many thanks to Ray and helpers on the night Moira Woodward, Fred Yearsley and Rich Clarke. Results are shown below (with a couple of corrections).

Race Pos                             Time           Pos on Time 

1      Darren Brown               25:45      

2      Laura Price                   26:51

3      Erica Fuller                   31:02

4      Ian Hobbs                     24:42

5      Graeme Hawkins          24:16             3rd

6      Rebecca Topham         25:01             

7      Jerry Fowler                 27:05

8      Mel Williams                 28:07      

9      Rob Woodward            28:58

10    Trevor Lewis                25:53

11    Mark Waller                 24:15              

12    Rachel Johnson           29:11

13    Brad Johnson               22:45               1st

14    Alice Lewis                   27:09

15    Sue Peachy                  27:18

16    Tony Wooldridge          23:10                2nd

17    Barry Topham              27:33

18    Steve Peers                 29:53

19    Margret Johnson          30:27

20    Avrill Yearsley              29:50

21    Mouse Clutterbuck       24:39

22    Zoe Johnson                28:53

23    Rolly Hobbs                 31:02

24    John Delafield             29:42

Two races will follow this on the: 7th of August and 4th of September.

There is no doubt that the handicapper will be finessing start times after the opener. get the dates in your diary and send in your PBs to Ray, 6.15 for 6.30 start  

Race 1

The First club handicap attracted 22 runners and Ray's handicapping as ever ensured all runners had some incentive to give it a go, although some where more inclined to take it than others, after their exploits at the weekend. Starting and finishing first in a time of 34:43 was Matt Sutton with new member Holly Coffin rapidly closing in on him in the last quarter of a mile to complete the course in 28:38. Laszlo ran well,  coming in first on time and if his form continues will pose a serious challenge to those starting at the back of the race. Kate Browning was the fastest woman on the night, the return of Mrs Topham to the event may make for an interesting competition between these two very determined runners 

In third place on the road Jerry Fowler put in a serious effort on the road after his recent swimming exploits. Barry Topham ran well despite being in the unusual position of being in the middle of the pack, his handicap time being amended after last seasons victory in the men’s category. The runners then came in quite tightly packed with a few of the late starters making a determined effort to move on up through the field. Andy and Rob brought up the rear, holding hands at the back (hoping no one would see them!).

Many thanks go to Ray for organising the event, to Fred, Rebecca, Mel and Anna at the finish line and the two Johns out on the course ensuring everyone got round safely.  

Race Pos                             Time           Pos on Time

1             Matt Sutton           34:43                  22nd

2             Holly Coffin           28:38                  15th

3             Jerry Fowler          28:23                  14th

4             Kate Browning      25:34                   6th

5             Laszlo Berdan       22:06                  1st

6             Avril Yearsley        29:41                  17th

7             Kim Bird                27:03                  8th

8             Rachel Johnson    29:54                   19th

9             Brad Johnson        23:27                   2nd

10           Rich Clarke           25:47                   7th

11           Barry Topham       27:44                   12th

12           Margaret Johnson 30:22                    21st

13           Sue Peachy           27:42                  11th

14           Chris Ashworth      23:33                   5th

15           Alice Lewis             27:38                  10th

16           Rich Bromley         24:53                   4th

17           Tony Freer             24:08                   3rd

18           Rich Henshaw       27:10                    9th

19           Steve Peers           29:50                   18th

20           Laura Price            29:16                   16th

21           Andy Kilby             27:56                   13th

22           Rob Woodward      29:58                    20th 

If you did not run and want to take part in the next event get your PBs (preferably from a shorter distance and relatively recent race 4 miler, 5 or 10K) to Ray ASAP

The race is held starting at Hamfield Leisure by Berkeley Power Station and is one lap of the Berkeley 10K Course.

Format is a four race series with positions counting towards final victory! The events are great fun with an incentive for all the runners to have a go, and a bar to lean against afterwards.

Ray is becoming ever more accurate with his handicaping (apart from Trevor Lewis of course!) with almost all runners entering the last half mile together.