With the acrid smell of last night's fireworks celebrations still in our nostrils, we can reflect on one of the gunpowder plot-themed races held in our region. Tewkesbury Running Club's annual offering is the endlessly popular Guy Fawkes 5 hosted from Tewkesbury School on Sunday 3 November 2024.

With no repeat of the flooding that caused a rapid realignment of the route last year, another capacity field of 434 finishers (a new record number, beating the 426 in 2023) enjoyed the mainly flat course on quiet, country lanes, with very little traffic despite the proximity of the M5 motorway.

There were no on-course fireworks in that the established course records of 24:31 by Paul Martelletti in 2011 and 27:35 by Wendy Nicholls in 2008 were retained for another 12 months. However, there were close finishes and good times to admire in the more benign weather conditions that prevailed on this occasion.

The men's race was decided by a margin of 10 seconds as M40 master Rob Green (CLC Striders, 25:55) beat Matt Hudd (Stroud & District AC, 26:05) with Alister Liscott (Stroud & District AC, 26:20) in third place. Last year's winner Steve Kenyon (Severn AC, 27:00) was fifth behind M40 Stewart Merry (Cheltenham & County Harriers, 26:36).

The outcome of the women's race was far clearer as W35 Emily Hilliar (Poole AC, 28:53) led the way. The runner-up was the defending champion W40 Nikki Juniper (Black Pear Joggers, 29:58) who just held off Stephanie Lane (Cheltenham & County Harriers, 29:59) in a pulsating sprint for the line.

There were 29 runners inside 30 minutes as the fourth-placed female Georgina Greenwood (Stroud & District AC) exactly matched that six-minute-miling threshold.

The team prizes are awarded on a five-to-score basis with two women and three men to count. This unusual format resulted in a win for Stroud & District AC from Western Tempo and Cheltenham & County Harriers.

All the results and previous reports are at the runABC race listing here.

Image courtesy of Tewkesbury Running Club