21 club runners at Frome Festival of Running

Frome Running Club was very well represented at Frome Running Festival on Sunday 16th August, with 21 members participating. 

The festival offered runners a choice of new half marathon, 10km, and 5km courses on traffic-free roads. Most of Frome Running Club’s runners elected to take on the longest format, which involves doing battle with the dreaded climb up Egford Hill after mile 11. Six runners took on a flatter 10k route that looped around Berkeley and back towards Badgers Hill stadium.

Notable performances in the half marathon came from Jenny Holmes (1:45:27) and Jess Jones-Hutchings (1:51:28), who took gold and silver in the women’s V35 category respectively. Paul Horton won the men’s V60 in 1:33:31, with Sam Baraud (1:33:53) and Andrew Fowler (1:46:54) chasing down personal bests. In the 10k, Ted Sprules took first place for the V70 category with 46:14, more than five minutes ahead of his next competitor.

“There is always a great sense of support and comradery from Frome Running Club’s members,” said Jess Jones-Hutchings. “The best moment for me was deciding to be unencumbered by expectations – letting go of the idea I was running too quickly or too slowly. I wasn’t expecting to get a half marathon personal best at Frome due to the challenging terrain, but it’s great to know that my training is paying off this year.”

“I actually quite enjoyed the half marathon race this time, even though the change of route this year brought in an extra hill!” noted Nicky Thomas. “A group of us ran most of the way all together. Being in good company really made a difference and kept me going, especially up those hills.”

Frome Running Club offers both off and on-road training, including hill training! The club welcomes new members, whatever the ability. For more details, visit www.fromerunningclub.co.uk.