Mountain test as Almost contingent conquer Snowdon
ACOMMITTED band of more than 30 Almost Athletes travelled to North Wales for the Snowdonia Marathon, regarded as one of the toughest marathons in the world.
The course features three brutal climbs with a total elevation of 2650 feet in cold and very blustery weather with hailstorms, but this did not stop some determined performances.
Catherine Daly recorded a massive new marathon PB coming home in 4:10 and there were also PBS for Lepha Mccartan in 4:26 and Sarah Fennel in 5:48.
Also running were Dave Rogers 3:29, Paul Thomas 3:46, Thom Stephens 3:52, Matt Proome 3:57, Martin Thomas 3:58, Michelle Balchin 4:00, Mikedaly 4:03, Dave Elliott 4:07, Fiona Barnes 4:15, Helen Fursman Reid 4:22, Deb Cartlidge 4:23 (course PB), Steve Wallbridge 4:25, Dave Chittock 4:31 (course PB), Andy Wilkinson 4:35, Julie Scourfield 4:56, Nick Simon 4:59, Jules Jamieson 5:02, Catherine Mason 5:13, Jackie Slaughter 5:31, Paul Haig 5:48.
Claire Cook and Mark Eavers were both forced to withdraw at 15 miles while support duties were handled by Matt Barnes, Nicky Woodman, Meg Cook and John Scourfield.
At the Gloucester 10K, Helena Youde represented the club and the county for whom she was first lady home in a PB of 38:30.
Matt Polson also ran a PB by 50 seconds in 37:59 as did Louise Bryan in 47:39 and Mark Soo in 39:20 while Chris Spry and Emma Dooley ran 1:06.
Shaun Carr ran the Beachy Head Marathon in 3:53 , whilst Sarah Carr ran the 10K in 1:06 and Allan Green ran the Venice marathon in 5:11.
There was parkrun tourism for Hayley Woolnough in Dublin, Andrea Hardy in Brighton and Ben Stone at Gloucester North.
There were new PBS at Cheltenham for Thomas Wood in 19:44, Piotr Michalski in 21:05, Richard Knightley in 23:18 and Stacey Osmond at Kingsway in 21:22 for first lady.