FR&AC Race Reports: 3rd – 9th November 2025

A big event in this year’s FRAC calendar, almost every season in a single weekend, and some big efforts all round, this report has it all.

This is sure to be a great report, and a fairly long one, so stick on a certain time of year appropriate Guns & Roses song, and by the time you’ve finished reading this report, the song will probably still be playing…

Saturday 8^th November – Five Trails Ultra Marathon

There’s a bit of a theme for Saturday’s running events, with our members having a secret competition to see who could run the furthest trail run, with the most incline.

First up was Mr. Ultra himself Phil Maull, who travelled over to West Sussex to take part in the Five Trails Ultra Marathon.

Below is a description of the event and Phil’s efforts:

The Five Trails 50K Ultra takes in the Serpent Trail, New Lipchis Way, West Sussex Literary Trail, Monarchs Way & South Downs Way in a beautiful loop around the South Downs. A cool and misty start have way to stunning sunshine and gorgeous views. Phil completed the Ultra in 7:49:18.

Saturday 8^th November – Beacons Ultra Marathon

Next up we have Adam Ward who travelled over to Wales for the Beacons Ultra Marathon, continuing a day of uncharacteristic November weather, with sunshine and low winds.

Below is what Adam had to say about his event:

Started my first ever 50 miler full of optimism. That didn’t last long, as after around 8 miles I’d strained my groin, and pushed through to pull out after the first lap of the race – having ran over a marathon distance. Gutted I couldn’t finish the race, but proud I still got through 45kms. 

Struggled with stolen race route signs, ending up going through a bog which wasn’t even on the route. Cool and sunny conditions seemed perfect, but was overshadowed by the waterlogged ground. The climb up Pen-y-Fan was a brutal ascent, met at the top by a checkpoint without water. 

Speaking to fellow runners, it was clear I wasn’t the only one struggling with the race. With a 32% DNF rate across the ultra distance. 

Back to the training ground 😅

Despite it not being his day, running a marathon distance in any conditions is a great achievement and after his many other results this year we all know he’ll bounce back strong!

Saturday 8^th November – South Downs Canicross Trail

Closing out the day’s trail adventures is the Heathfield Crew: Jenny, Phil, Marley and Banjo.

Below is what Jenny had to say about the event:

On Saturday Phil and Jenny Heathfield headed off bright and early with their dogs, Marley and Banjo for the run rebel South Downs canicross race which started at Goodwood race course in Chichester. 

Phil set off first in the 18.5km race with youngest dog Marley. “It was quite a challenging course covering an elevation gain of 1,302ft” Despite it being a challenging route Marley flew round his furthest race to date, completing the course in 01:45:12 which brought them home in 3rd place. 

Jenny and Banjo enjoyed taking part in the shorter distance 12.4km race and returned home in 01:26:43 placing them 32nd overall. 

Great efforts all round, with many treats being earned I’m sure, and plenty more success to come for Marley in the future no doubt.

Saturday 8^th November – Bexhill Remembrance Run

Also on Saturday Greg Dixon travelled to Bexhill for the GBR Run Bexhill Remembrance Run, this is a run along the seafront of Bexhill which can produce some fast times with the right weather, they offer a 5k, 10k, half marathon and a youth mile race.

Greg finished the half marathon in 1:46:56.

Saturday 8^th November – Parkrun

Folkestone

Saturday was the big day for us, with the rescheduled takeover going ahead, if Freddie Mercury was still around he would have loved this Saturday as there were no thunderbolts and lightning to frighten anybody this time.

Apart from John Sweeney stepping in as Race Director, every role was taken over by FRAC, including pacers for all times from 18-40 minutes, and we’ll see below how everybody got on with those roles:

Position	Parkrunner	Time	Pacer Time
1	Nassour HARLUN	00:17:15
2	Oscar ROACH	00:17:19
5	Guy SLINGSBY	00:17:51	18 minutes
8	Simon RAMSAY	00:18:59	19 minutes
13	Jacob GILLETT	00:19:22
14	Ian MERRICK	00:19:23
17	Elliot CHAPMAN-JONES	00:20:00	20 minutes
18	Manda GURUNG	00:20:07
24	Darren PHILIP	00:20:42
28	Paul BARTLETT	00:21:00	21 minutes
30	Stephen DEEMING	00:21:17
39	Ben HANCOX	00:22:07	22 minutes
40	Thierry BAL	00:22:08
41	Andrew GARDINER	00:22:14
48	Deborah JEFFERY	00:22:29
52	Louisa EEDE	00:22:42
56	Ian VOUSDEN	00:23:00
57	Catherine O’CONNOR	00:23:03	23 minutes
58	Dominic SHEPHERD	00:23:05
59	Jake BRAZIER	00:23:10
73	Stuart ERSKINE	00:23:35
76	Mark MACFARLANE	00:23:38
79	Jason KING	00:23:45
83	Phil HAINES	00:23:57	24 minutes
89	Amy AXON	00:24:21
99	Ron BELL	00:24:51
104	Vicky SCOTT	00:25:03	25 minutes
117	James SPRINGETT	00:25:31	26 minutes
124	Anthony SCOTT	00:25:42
127	Lana WRIGHT	00:25:47
160	Caroline CURTIS	00:26:55	27 minutes
169	Miles GAWTHORP	00:27:10
197	Kate EVANS	00:28:10	28 minutes
205	Debbie FOWLES	00:28:22
212	Diane PARSONS	00:28:35
223	Victoria EDWARDS	00:28:53
225	Nicole DODD	00:28:55	29 minutes
246	Richard FOWLES	00:29:34
257	Marie BRAZIER	00:29:54	30 minutes
272	Neil ADAMS	00:30:46
280	David BOTTING	00:31:10	31 minutes
292	Jane WREN	00:31:45
297	Jason CROCKFORD	00:31:53
298	Hugo SLINGSBY	00:31:54
325	Julie GIBBS	00:33:02	33 minutes
350	Karl LETCHFORD	00:34:12	34 minutes
358	Beth GOODCHILD	00:34:34
365	Caron INDER	00:35:10	35 minutes
373	Trudi CURD	00:35:57	36 minutes
380	Julie SLINGSBY	00:36:40	37 minutes
385	Lauren HART	00:37:27
396	Paul HANNAY	00:38:12	38 minutes
399	Margaret WHITHAM	00:38:50	39 minutes
402	Rebecca STEVENSON	00:39:08	40 minutes
423	Henry AXON	00:45:38
448	Hazel MILLARD	01:01:06
449	Kate LANCEFIELD	01:01:07

Great efforts all round as you can see, well done to everyone that took part in the event, with special thanks to Vicky Scott for organising it and getting everybody together to take part, and Thomas Aspinall for providing video/photo content of the event, as I’m sure everyone by now will have seen the great video he put together of the event and everyone taking part.

There was a lot of talk about the pacers after the event, with people getting PBs as a result of them being there, and I’m hoping to be one of them next time we host a takeover.

To add to the excitement of the day, the last round of the parkrun cup semi finals took place, with Amy Axon beating Jon Wilson, to set up an A cup final against Joe Carroll, alongside a B cup final between Jake Harvey and Elliot Chapman-Jones.

If you haven’t already seen Darren and Gary’s western themed video for the finals then you’re missing out, it’s really quite something.

If you can take anymore report reading at this point, then below is a link to the Parkrun specific report I wrote, my second report in the same weekend:

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/folkestone/news/2025/11/10/folkestone-taken-over-by-folkestone

Albert Parkrun, Melbourne

Position	Gender Position	Parkrunner	Time
43	39	Jacob HENWOOD	00:21:14

Ashford

Position	Gender Position	Parkrunner	Time
61	56	Martin SALMON	00:24:07

Whitley Bay

Position	Gender Position	Parkrunner	Time
93	84	Andrew NOBLE	00:23:48
144	13	Lesley CLANCY	00:25:18

Great Lines, Medway

Position	Gender Position	Parkrunner	Time
8	8	James BARNEY	00:20:28

Keswick

Position	Gender Position	Parkrunner	Time
48	39	Stuart WEST	00:22:12

Dover Waterfront

Position	Gender Position	Parkrunner	Time
8	1	Anna THOMSEN	00:19:17
51	44	Jamie FOX	00:23:31
64	12	Sarah NUNN	00:24:10

Sunday 9^th November – Fuengirola Half Marathon

Starting off Sunday’s events we have Hilary’s trip to Spain to take part in the Fuengirola Half Marathon, I wonder if we’ll have anymore race reports in November with so much mention of sunshine.

Below is Hilary’s description of the event:

Today I took part in the Fuengirola Half Marathon, very warm but great route and amazing support from locals.  Finished in I think 2.03 hrs (official results not yet released) which was a new PB for me.

Well done Hilary for the PB, the run starts in a fairground and takes participants around the town, past a castle and a bullring, ending back at the fairground for a post run celebration and presentation ceremony.

The event broke it’s own records this year, with 2500 runners taking part, and 300 people volunteering.

So that wraps up a report full of weather, trails and many many dog photos, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it, and good luck to everyone taking part in the Cross Country next weekend.