Author Archive: DFiddes

Ridgeway Relay 2026

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Chris Moseley & Claire Seymour

We were pleased to be able to fill 4 teams (a total of 40 runners) for the Ridgeway Relay on Sunday 28 June. And after a few last-minute changes, it all came together on the day!

Please read on to find out how the teams got on…

Mostly Ladies team (by Claire Seymour)

After a rather warm week leading up to the Ridgeway Relay, our runners were grateful for slightly cooler conditions and not the 35°C experienced earlier in the week. Although it remained warm and humid from early on and throughout the day, thankfully it was slightly more manageable for our runners.

As always, it was an early start at 7:30am on Leg 1 from Ivinghoe Beacon. Our mostly ladies team included a few first‑timers to the Ridgeway relay this year which was great to see, with the first of these being Tom Knight on Leg 1. Tom had a strong run, getting the team off to a great start, handing over to Sarah Dooley in 13th place.

A regular runner of Leg 2, Sarah had a good run, handing over to Izzy Hester in 17th place overall. Izzy, also a first‑time runner to the relay, had a solid run on Leg 3, handing over to Betsy Palmer on Leg 4 in 18th position.

Betsy enjoyed her first relay run, maintained 18th place, and ran slightly quicker than her predicted time before handing over to Laura Nagi on Leg 5. Laura, a regular on this leg, had a great run and handed over to Anna Balogh on Leg 6 in 19th place. Leg 6 includes a tough climb out of Streatley, and Anna navigated this well and enjoyed her first run at this event, bringing the team to the end of Leg 6 in 23rd place overall.

Next up was Dawn Godwin on the mass start for Leg 7, Dawn finished in 11th place on her leg, while gaining a place for the team and moving them in to 22nd overall. Pete Rennie followed on Leg 8, gaining another place handing over to Pip White in 21st overall.

Pip had a strong run on the long, navigationally challenging, tough Leg 9, handing over to Chloe Lloyd in 23rd place. A regular runner of Leg 10, Chloe finished off the day with a great run, bringing the team home in 22nd place out of 44 teams in a time of 12:36:04! (this was slightly quicker than last year) the team also finished as 5th ladies’ team overall.

The team had great camaraderie between them throughout the day and are already looking forward to next year’s event. A few team members have even hinted that they might tackle the same leg again! 😉 Thank you and well done to you all!

B team (by Claire Seymour)

Following on from last year, we were pleased once again to field a mostly men’s B team, which, like the ladies’ team, included several first‑time runners at this event.

In this years event, Mark Allen led the team out on Leg 1 fully aware of the signage issue experienced last year from another event, Mark enjoyed a great run and handed over to Sam Whalley in 36th place. Sam also ran well, noting the challenge of the final hill (or “ski slope”), and passed to Ben Phillips while maintaining 36th position.

Ben had a great run on Leg 3, finishing 11th on his leg and moving the team up to 30th place before handing over to Peter Higgs. Peter enjoyed his run on Leg 4 and handed over to Harry Smith on Leg 5 in 34th place. Harry, taking part in his first Ridgeway Relay, ran strongly and passed to James Cust, also a first‑timer to the relay in 33rd place.

James continued the team’s steady progress on the tough Leg 6, maintaining 33rd position into the next handover. Gary Clarke took on the mass start for Leg 7, running well and completing his stage handing over to Katie Rennie in 34th place, with Katie having stepped in at short notice travelling from Bristol to run Leg 8 for the team, Katie ran well given the circumstances, arriving earlier than expected at the Leg 9 changeover and gaining a place to move the team into 33rd! much to the surprise of Phil Hine, who fortunately was ready to set off, encouraged by Katie’s “Go, go, go!” 😁

Phil had a strong run on the challenging Leg 9, gaining another place and bringing the team into Leg 10 in 32nd position. On the final leg, David Walkley, a regular Leg 10 runner, brought the team home in 33rd place out of 44 teams, finishing in 13:52:02. This marks an improvement on last year’s time of 15:41:03 and 39th place, and the whole team was delighted with the result.

Vets team (by Chris Moseley)

We had a few new faces in the over 50’s team this year, as some of our regulars were unavailable or injured. But on paper at least, it looked a decent team. Adrian Cull took on Leg 1 for the first time and got the team off to a great start. He handed over to Sam Briggs who successfully ran the short but hilly Leg 2, without having had the opportunity to recce the route. Then it was over to Tony Page, running Leg 3 for the first time in a few years. He had a solid run and gained a few places before handing over to debutant Nigel Ely. Nigel overtook a couple more teams on his run to Swyncombe, taking the team into 30th place.

Next up was Belinda Tull, back on leg 5 after a few years absence and running almost to her predicted time. Alan Nesbit went even better on the tough Leg 6, running over 2 minutes quicker than anticipated.  So far, so good and no reports of any major diversions from our runners!

Lance Nortcliff started Leg 7 in a mass start and ran well before handing over to Dave Parton. Dave hasn’t been running much recently, but showed he hadn’t lost any of the competitive spirit as he ran an excellent Leg 8 in the 6th fastest time of the day. Gavin Rennie took on the tough Leg 9 up to Barbury Castle, and showed he’s in good form, running 7 minutes quicker than predicted.

Mike Worsfold did the final leg, also faster than predicted, bringing the team home in an excellent 25th position out of 44 teams, 23 minutes quicker than last year and 3rd placed vet’s team.

A team (by Chris Moseley)

With Matt Kimpton on the first leg for the A team, we knew we’d have a strong start. But it was still a nice surprise when the message came through that he’d finished his leg in 1st place, and over a minute clear.

He passed onto Sarah McDade who we’d finally managed to persuade to do The Ridgeway. She’s in good shape and managed to maintain the race lead before handing over to me on Leg 3.

I had no idea how much of a lead I had (c3 mins), so just ran as hard as I could. I glanced behind a few times and seemed to be clear, only to hear footsteps behind me as I was tiring with 2 miles to go. A Newbury runner flew passed and gained a 2 minute lead before I finished. I gave everything I could, and was bang on my predicted time, but was a bit disappointed to give up the lead.

Nikki Gray was next. She had a great run: the 3rd fastest out of the 44 runners on that leg.

Chris Lucas was back on Leg 5, running the fastest leg 5 on the day. But more importantly he closed the gap on Newbury and gave us a slender 30 second lead at the halfway point.

But then Newbury smashed Leg 6, quickly closing down Matt Sarjent and pulling away to an 8 minute lead by the time Matt handed over to Tom Griffin. Tom had an excellent run, narrowly missing out on another stage win. The gap to 1st place was still 8 minutes, but 3rd place were now 27 minutes behind us.

Despite the best efforts and a strong run from Simon Rumsby, Newbury’s lead increased on Leg 8. Callum Evans brought the lead back down to 10 minutes with the fastest Leg 9 on the day, a challenging stage which included a headwind and a long final climb.

Dave Boulton was on the final leg again and had successfully chased down the lead last year. But this year the gap was just too much. Newbury finished first in a time in a time of 09:39:34 with Reading Roadrunners A team just 5 minutes behind. Fantastic running all day and just a minute slower than last year. Most other years that time would have been good enough for the win. It wasn’t to be for the A Team this year, but it was good fun and we’ll be back!

Thanks to everyone that ran or supported on the day. As far as we know there were no significant detours or wrong turns from any of the 4 teams. This is quite an achievement given how tricky some of the legs can be. We hope everyone enjoyed it and look forward to doing it all again next year!

 

Team Captains – Chris Moseley and Claire Seymour

Shinfield 2026 – A record breaking year

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Although no records were broken by runners, in other ways this year’s Shinfield was a record-breaking day. Not only did the 10k sell out for the first time in a very long time (perhaps ever), the Junior Races attracted record numbers. The Junior Races have become a real feature with numbers more than doubling in recent years. We expect that some of the runners will become our future members.

All told, more than 1,240 runners of all ages took part in the various races. These unprecedented numbers boosted income from the event and the resulting surplus will support the valuable work of both of the event’s own charity Rainbow Trust Thames Valley Branch based in in Swallowfield and the club charity Chemogiftbags.

In the races themselves, while there was a decent sprinkling of club runners, the majority of runners are non-affiliated. I like to think that after running at Shinfield some of them will join a running club.

In the 10k James Lyne was not quite able to repeat last year’s victory, finishing in second. Jamie Darling won the MV40 category and Rita Dykes picked up the FV70 trophy.

Each passing year organising events such as Shinfield and Bramley becomes more complex, which is why this year we needed more than 70 marshals – this itself must be some sort of record. One of the most common comments after the event was how well marshalled the races were and how enthusiastic and supportive our fantastic marshals. With planning for this year’s event starting way back in October 2025, I would personally like to thank Shinfield’s small but perfectly formed and hard-working Races Committee: Ian Giggs; Angela Burley; Tom Harrison; Liz Atkinson; Andy Atkinson; Cecilia Csemiczky, Tim Miller and Kirsty Moulsley.
From its early days back in 1985, Shinfield has always been a community event, which is why we were delighted to accede to requests from various local groups and food vendors to have stalls at both the 10k and Junior Races. Thank-you to everyone who provided cakes, biscuits and other for the club’s refreshment stall.

A big thank-you in particular to the following organisations, who supported this year’s event. Our sponsors, Honeysuckle Day Nursery the main sponsor, Parkers, and eCapital. Lidl for the chocolate bars, water and bananas, Shinfield Scouts for the water station and their extreme weather shelter. Volker Highways for the barriers. A special thank-you to Ellie Barnes from Barnes Fitness, who stepped in at the very last minute to do the PA. Vistry for allowing us to close Beke Avenue. Reading University for allowing us to use the car park at Thames Valley Science Park, for removing concrete barriers and for the use of Langley Mead.

But above all a big thank-you to you Reading Roadrunners’ members, without whom Shinfield would not have been possible.

Colin Cottell
Race director
Shinfield 10k 2026

Record-Breaking Moments: Reading Roadrunners at the 2026 London Marathon

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Volunteering, world records, and a welcoming club spirit

For more than three decades, Reading Roadrunners have proudly supported the London Marathon by providing volunteers to help keep runners safe and the event running smoothly. It has become a tradition that brings our club together, with many members returning year after year to marshal and cheer on their fellow runners.

This year’s marathon was truly one for the history books. Organised by Carl Woffington, we had around 60 club volunteers stationed at two iconic points: Rotherhithe (Mile 11) and Tower Bridge (Mile 23). Alongside them were about 20 Roadrunners taking on the marathon themselves, sporting the club’s green and blue colours.

But 2026 was not just another year—it was a day packed with extraordinary achievements. Our marshals had front-row seats to two world records. First, Sabastian Sawe stunned the running world by completing the marathon in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 37 seconds, becoming the first person ever to run a marathon in under two hours under official race conditions. As one marshal remarked, “When people talk about the first sub-2-hour marathon, I will be able to say, ‘I was there.’” The excitement did not end there; Tigst Assefa set a new women’s only marathon record, finishing in 2 hours, 11 minutes, and 12 seconds—a feat that inspired everyone watching. Carl summed it up perfectly: “Being part of a day when history is made, it’s something you never forget.”

After the marathon, the ballot for next year’s race closed with a staggering 1.3 million applicants vying for 60,000 spots—a record-breaking response. Our club usually receives two extra places each year, and we run a club ballot giving our marshals another shot if they were not successful in the main draw. It is a great way to reward those who give up their time to volunteer.

Many of our members are enthusiastic marathon runners, and joining Reading Roadrunners is a brilliant way to prepare for your first marathon or smash your personal best. Whether you are keen to volunteer or take on the 26.2 miles, you will find encouragement, camaraderie, and plenty of support. Why not come along and see what makes our club so special?