There were some mixed fortunes for Bicester AC athletes in the recently held 4th round of the Motavation Road Race Series. As for round 3, the event took place in Coombe, but this time on a slightly different course. Involving two laps it involved a big descent followed by a steep ascent, with the distance at 4.22m miles longer then round 3.
Bicester AC had 8 runners in what was a 346 strong field. This included Bicester AC’s Joshua Moran, who was the series leader in the under 19 men’s standings coming into the race. Moran again ran very well to finish a superb 14th. His main rival for the series under 19 men’s title bagged first on the day and Moran was involved in a close contest for under 19 men’s runner up. He crossed the line simultaneously with another under 19 men’s runner and although both runners were credited with the same time of 23mins 33secs, Moran was placed 3rd. Although the series standings after race 4 have not been released, unofficially it looks as if Moran has dropped down to 2nd, just one point behind the leading runner with one event remaining. His time represented a big personal best on this course being well over two minutes faster than any of his previous times.
George Hart put in another solid performance finishing 51st in 25mins 50secs which was not far behind his 2025 time. Anna Jolliffe, back from college, made a welcome return to Bicester colours finishing 69th in 26mins 37secs which also placed her a superb 6th out of the 130 competing lady runners. Her time was also around a minute faster than any of her previous efforts on this course. Bicester’s other top 100 finisher was Finn Kerr who was 84th in 27mins 38secs which also represented a best on this course for Kerr. Robert Parsons continues to perform well in what his first season of Motavation action and he finished 243rd (36mins 58secs). Emily Benfield ran strongly for 287th place producing her best time on this course with a 40mins 14 secs clocking, almost a minute faster than her previous best. It was a close run thing between club Chair Paul Groves and Bicester’s youngest competitor, Emelie Stocker. In the event Groves finished in 298th (41mins 17secs) just two seconds in front of Stocker (41mins 19secs) who was 299th.