DURSLEY Running Club hosted the third Gloucestershire AAA Cross Country League event last Saturday.

With runners from under 11s to the senior males, Dursley Running Club was well represented.

With DRC assisting with organisation, there was plenty of support for the local athletes.

Whilst the course looked reasonably benign, a number of lengthy drags and the soft ground was energy sapping with the runners having to work to find the optimum racing line.

In the U11 category, Charlie and Olive Jones clearly enjoyed their runs.

Aiden Hill ran well to finish 23rd in 10:18mins in the U13 race.

The seniors saw a good turnout with eight women and ten men racing with Jadie Cotterell and Steve Watson making their debuts.

In the women’s race, Margaret Johnson led the team off and, despite her earlier parkrun, Rebecca Topham started quickly behind her.

Johnson finished in 26 minutes, over a minute ahead of Cotterell who finished in 26:04mins, with Alice Lewis just four seconds behind (third FV55) with Topham a further nine seconds adrift.

The senior males started with just under two hundred runners and, as ever, began briskly with Dursley led by James Everett.

Someway behind were the trio of Dave Durden, Tony Freer and Tony Wooldridge.

These three established a holding a pattern based on their respective starts.

Everett finished well ahead of the other Dursley runners, improving on his placing from Blackbridge. Wooldridge as best placed male in his category as fourth MV60.

The men’s veteran team placed 11th and the senior team 13th.

The courses and organisation, headed by Dursley Running Club’s John Rogers, were all positively commented upon.

Results: Girls U11 Olive Jones 37th 10:20; Boys U11 Charlie Jones 62nd 12:22; Boys U13:Aiden Hill 23rd 10:18. Senior Women: Margaret Johnson 49th (5th FV50) 26:00; Jadie Cotterell 65th 27:03; Alice Lewis 67th (3rd FV55) 27:07; Rebecca Topham 72nd (9th FV45) 27:16; Deb Peake 80th, 28:17; Carolyn Thraves 89th 29:26; Erica Fuller, 92nd 29:50; Nicki Squire 94th 30:29. Team Results: Ladies Senior A 19th B 21st; Masters A 13th B 16th Senior Men: James Everett 39th 32:10; David Durden, 81st (6th MV50) 35:23; Tony Freer, 98th (10th MV50) 36:19; Tony Wooldridge, 105th (4th MV60) 36:45; Andrew Truswell, 114th, 37:18; Steve Watson, 131st 38:14; Nigel Sankey, 137th, 39:12; Garry Strickland, 144th, 39:54; Chris Ashworth 175th, 44:28.

At parkrun, Thomas Smith was again the quickest DRC athlete with just over 19 minutes at Kingsway, with Charlotte Palmer and Annette Heylings running PBs on the same course.

Neil Hodgson ran 19:29mins at Teeside Barrage.

Sunday saw a number of “Christmas specials”. At the Santa Scamble at Brean Down, Debbie Deal and Phil Young completed the festive six miler in just over 96 minutes.

At Rudolphs Rampage, Kate Browning was first home for DRC in 23rd place, first FV45), running the seven kilometres in 37:41mins, Shona Darley was 82nd (49:45mins) and Charlotte Palmer 110th 54:56mins. Damian Lai completed the Portsmouth Coastal Marathon in 4.24.44 hours.

completing his fifth marathon since 2014 finishing in 04:24:44 placing 470th out of 699, running a 12 minute personal best. In front of him Simon Jones completed his second marathon with a PB of 105 minutes, placing 260th out of 1014 runners in 03:45:58.

Brad Johnson returned to the Tour de Helvellyn, the Lake 40 mile race held in the Lake District. Brad completed it in seven hours forty three minutes placing 53rd. Dspite a quicker run that n in 2105 Johnson found him self some way down a quality field, but nevertheless enjoyed the “Beaut(iful) conditions (and) great people”

The previous week had seen DRC orienteer Alan Honey racing in the Southern Navigators Trophy at Aldershot. He completed the 10km (MV40–50) event coming 8th out of 78 and achieving his long-term goal of making it to the top 20 in the national rankings for his age.