The death of Basyl Martyniuk, one of Gloucester’s best distance runners in Birmingham on January 7th has attracted tributes from his former team mates. A product of the successful Sir Thomas Rich’s cross-country & track team, in 1977 he set the school record at 1500 Metres(3:58:06) and 5000 Metres(15:10:00). He won national, area and county medals with Gloucester Athletic Club and the University of Birmingham, the nations top varsity in the period 1977 to 1983. He was two time victor in the Tredworth Easter Monday 4.3 Mile Road Race, the blue riband event for city runners. His main hobby was coaching young athletes and he helped to organize marathons, including the Chicago marathon. A memorial service is planned.
Severn Athletic Club’s members have been busy competing and breaking personal bests in races. Greg Leyshon(72), the new Methuselah in local distance running was pleased to run a years best time in the Chippenham 10 Mile Road Race. He was third veteran 70-74 and broke clubmate George Scully’s club age record by 6 seconds.
At the Newport Half Marathon James Smith ran a personal best by 1 minute 47 seconds, securing a top 50 placing. He also finished 10th in the Fission 20 Mile Road Rogue Run leading the Severn AC team to finish 3rd overall.
Another great performance at the Forest Of Dean Trails Half Marathon saw James Rose, Chris Brown & Dan Nurse all finishing in the top 5 of the Vet 40 category to secure a 2nd place for the team. Fellow runners Tom Adam, Tom Payne, Nicholas Allen, Samantha Watts and Meg Partridge all achieved personal bests.
Chippenham 10 Mile Road Race: 129 Greg Leyshon(3/V70) 1:23:24. 359 ran.
City Of Newport Half Marathon: 46 James Smith V40 1:22:37. PB, 111 John Chapman V50 1:29:11 & 117 Imran Hassanjee V40 1:29:38. 1217 ran.
Fission 20 Mile Rogue Run(Berkeley): 10 James Smith V/40 2:15:55 PB, 28 Pratik Pradhan V40 2:30:10 PB & 45 James Boswell 2:41:54 PB. 152 ran.
Forest of Dean Spring Trails Half Marathon: 9 James Rose(1/V40) 1:19:23, 11 Chris Brown(3/V40) 1:21:50, 22 Dan Nurse(5/V40) 1:24:55 PB, 100 Tom Adam 1:36:48 PB, 279 Nicholas Allen(V60) PB 1:48:20, 327 Tom Payne(V40) PB 1:50:44, 638 Sam Watts(LV35) 2:06:12 PB & 639 Meg Partridge 2:06:12 PB. 1148 ran.
Terry Haines, winner of the 1998 Gloucester Christmas Morning 3 Mile Road Race Handicap is hoping to organise the deferred 2021 event in early spring. ” It is important we maintain the continuity so we can celebrate 60 years on 25/12/2022.
Severn AC 
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