Dursley Running Club news

DURSLEY Running Club athletes have been taking part in a variety of events already this month.

Saturday saw the 2017 Gloucestershire Cross Country Championships taking place at Old Downs Country Park.

It was a challenging course, with fast technical sections, a variety of surfaces to contend with and a significant amount of climbing.

Three Dursley senior men, Nigel Sankey, Chris Ashworth and David Durden, raced in a small but high quality field of 74 athletes.

Cheltenham County Harriers provided the Senior Men’s County champion, Phil Beastall, who completed the course in 32:45mins, as well as eight of the top ten finishers.

Durden was the first in for DRC and placed second MV50 to take home a silver medal.

Sankey and Ashworth both put in good efforts.

Results: Dave Durden 37th, (2nd MV50), 42:08; Nigel Sankey, 52nd, 46:47; Chris Ashworth, 72nd, 54:11; Sunday saw four DRC members at the start of the 2017 Tewkesbury Aquathon Series.

It was no surprise to see Richard Pitts as the quickest in both disciplines, with a particularly impressive run.

Chris Young managed a PB with Laura Price saw it as an opportunity to set a benchmark time for the rest of the series.

Durden looked for an easy run after the County Championships. The race was won in a very impressive time of 22:56mins minutes by Nigel Gaskin this included a 5:04 swim and 17:32 run.

Sunday also saw Tracey Strickland running her first ever competitive race, taking part in the Fladbury Festive 5 off road event, the course was closer to six miles with Tracey finishing in a 57:12mins.

Damian Lai continues to run a marathon a month in his build-up to London, He was to be found at the Winter Enigma Marathon, running around Caldecotte Lake, Milton Keynes, he managed a one minute and fifteen second PB completing the course in four hours 23:32mins.

Alice Lewis completed the Rough and Tumble, a tough off road course of over 10 miles in one hour 47:01mins placing 234th out of over five hundred runners and second FV55.

Twenty-one DRC athletes completed a parkrun. Neil Hodgson ran a course best at Andover to record DRCs fastest parkrun of the weekend. Graeme Tudor was first home for DRC with a high age grading of 68 per cent, whilst Ronnie Williams ran a PB of 23:49mins.

Charlotte Palmer and Shona Darley both achieved their fifty parkrun mark at Kingsway.

At Wotton, Garry Strickland was first home with Racheal Barker first lady home with a PB of 27:18mins.

Andover: Neil Hodgson, 3rd, 19:05 CB, (2nd VM40-44); Kingsway; Graham Tudor, 39th , 23:48, (2nd VM60-64); Ronnie Williams, 40th, 23:49 PB, (2nd SW30-34); Shona Darley, 52nd, 24:40, (1st VW40-44); Richard Pitts, 127th, 30:08; Julie Fenn, 128th, 30:09; Emma Keating, 129th, 30:10; Ian Roberts, 133rd, 30:24; Steve Barnes, 138th, 30:43; Julie Furneaux, 160th, 32:13; Chris Sweet, 197th, 34:56; Sue Jones, 223rd, 40:20 Wotton: Garry Strickland, 14th, 24:02, , (3rd VM50-54); Rachael Barker, 35th, 27:18 PB , (1st SW30-34); Louise Biddell, 43rd, 30:01; Claire Searle, 47th, 30:57, (2nd VW50-54); Dave Halford, 50th, 31:30; Pete Dunn, 51st, 31:35; Julie Froggatt, 52nd, 31:45; Veronica Higgins, 90th, 38:36 Cassiobury; Jo Fearns, 259th, 31:34