Bradshaw, Wheeler back with a bang at the Dorney marathon

IF the recent London Marathon suggested that Eluid Kipchoge might have lost his mojo since the global pandemic, the same cannot be said of CLC Striders members.

In fact, it’s almost as if the pandemic has brought out the best in the club and its athletes.

Overcoming the disappointments of lost competition and races, Striders countered these plans by making the most of having the streets and trails almost to themselves in the early days of lockdown.

It says a lot about the spirit and resilience of the club which has gone from strength to strength and seen some incredible performances over what has been the strangest of summers.

Throughout the early weeks of separation, the club has organised its own virtual team battles over 5k, 3k, 10k and 5-mile distances.

In later months, members ran every inch of the Cotswold Way and some who lost marathon opportunities turned their dejection into PB times on kilometrelong laps around the streets of Benhall, over the trails and stiles around Withington, and up and down the Honeybourne line (22 times).

As soon as Government guidelines allowed, detailed COVID risk assessments were completed and, thanks to a dedicated volunteer coaching team, the club returned to group training.

And then, to cap it all, on a wet weekend when, at last, a handful of club athletes were able to return to their longed-for racing (October 4), four of them turned in stand-out performances.

Liza Bradshaw and Catherine Wheeler both ran PBS in the Dorney Lake marathon, with Bradshaw breaking the three-hour barrier in a new club record time for her age category of 2.54.59 (and fifth lady overall) and Wheeler clocking an amazing best of 3:08:13.

Closer to home, Dan Bazzard ran a super-quick PB time of 16:49 in the Jon Ward Hereford 5k after a strong summer of training at the club’s speed sessions.

Helen Knight, committed to fulfilling her virtual VLM marathon run, set out from her house at 7am to complete her local 26.2 miles in 3:14:10 (what would have been a new club category record in official race conditions) with the support of some of fellow Striders for some of the route.