THE FINAL race in the Gloucester AAA cross country series took place at Pittville Park, Cheltenham on Saturday.

This was no walk in the park as the course is a testing one, the bonus being conditions were firm underfoot.

The organisers had kindly moved the finish to ensure the runners had to crest the longest uphill section before opening up their finishing sprint.

The event saw an impressive turnout from Dursley Running Club with three juniors, five women and 11 men competing.

Starting with the U11 Girls, Olive Jones ran her second race of the series placing 48th competing against a number of older children.

Tom Holden and Charlie Jones ran the Boys U11 race of 2.2km, the same distance as the girls, Holden finished 52nd in 11:27mins with Jones just behind in 52nd position.

In the Senior Women’s event, Jadie Cotterell was soon out at the front of the DRC women running a controlled race, behind her competition for second place was fierce between Caroline Jones, Alice Lewis and Tara Truman. Carolyn Thraves retired leaving first timer Andrea Sexton battling it out against regular Erica Fuller, with Sexton finishing strongly in front.

Cotterell led the team home, with Jones, Lewis and Truman finishing in quick succession Lewis hoping she had done enough to get in the F55 prizes.

The Men’s Senior race saw James Everett coming into the race after an excellent Dursley Dozen.

In the age categories, Dave Durden and Tony Wooldridge were well placed to get into the medals for the series.

Once started, Everett disappeared in the distance, behind him things were much closer, Durden kept honest by Wooldridge.

Simon Jones initially separated these two. Once the runners settled into their rhythm there was not much movement apart from Tony Wooldridge, Tony Freer and Nigel Sankey picking up Jones.

Everett finished in an excellent 25th position in 36:23mins.

Four minutes later, Durden finished, and just two minutes separated DRC’s second to fifth placed runners.

Tony Wooldridge was an excellent first MV60. Peter Shaffer led home a Dursley trio of Mike Brown and Garry Strickland, with novice Damian Lai the men’s Lanterne Rouge.

Results: Girls U11: Olive Smith 48th 12:44. Boys U11: Tom Holden 52nd 11:27; Charlie jones 68th:13:54.

Senior Women: Jadie Cotterell 64th 32:33; Caroline Jones 69th, 33:05; Alice Lewis 72nd (4th FV55) 33:19; Tara Truman, 75th 33:46; Andrea Sexton 105th 36:33; Eric Fuller 110th 37:02.

Senior Men: James Everett 25th 36:23; Dave Durden 71st 40:25; Tony Wooldridge 85th (1st MV60); Tony Freeer 100th 41:50; Nigel Sankey 109th 42:30; Simon Jones 113th 42:45 Pete Chaffer 134th 44:10; Mike Brown 136th 44:30; Garry Strickland 138th 44:47; Pete Dunn 168th 48:55; Damian Lai 181st 51:42.

Teams: Women’s Open DRC A 21st DRC B 30th ; Masters DRC 12th.

Mens: Team Open, DRC, 10th; Masters, DRC, 7th.

Overall, DRC did well in the series with Tony Wooldridge (MV60) Margaret Johnson (FV50) and Alice Lewis (FV55) all taking home Bronze medals.

Durden was fourth MV50, Everett an impressive eighth Senior Male, Deb Peake 11th FV35 and Erica Fuller 13th FV45, Garry Strickland 16th MV50 and Pete Dunn 22nd MV40, Andrew Truswell 30th SenM and Mike Brown  32nd SenM.

Steve Barnes completed the Seville Marathon, running for Cancer Research, in 05:18:03. At the Chilly 10K Graham Tudor ran yet another PB (4th MV40), Mark Sprigings was first home in 42:17,James Moss 55:32, Nicky Grant  57:11(PB); Pete Bennetts 01:02:22 and Suzanne Moss 01:06:20.

In this week’s parkruns, Neil Hodgson and Thomas Smith recorded fastest and second fastest parkruns, with PBs at Kingsway for Charlotte Taylor, Veronica Higgins and at Wotton for Kris Rymer. Chipping Sodbury: Charlie Strickland, Lise Hindshaw, Diane Gore and Tracey Goodwin.