THE FIRST full weekend of October saw a small but intrepid band of Dursley Running Club athletes competing in a wide range of events from marathon to triathlon. Neil Hodgson followed up his Edinburgh Marathon with a storming run at the York Marathon.

Despite a drop in pace over the last few kilometres Hodgson ran a well-paced race, 10K in 41 minutes, and a half marathon in one hour 27:57mins to finish the course in a tremendous time of two hours 57:15mins for an impressive sub three hour effort.

The second marathoner was Dave Saunders who dispensed with his post box costume to run the Isle of Wight Marathon.

Dave continues to consistently deliver in marathon after marathon, and this run was no exception finishing this tough course in four hours 50:51mins to place him as first M65 over the line.

Dropping down to half the distance, Annette Heylings, Garry Strickland and Chris Young ran the Royal Parks Half in London.

The organisers modestly describe themselves as having ‘created a spectacular Half Marathon in central London. The stunning 13.1 mile route takes in the capital’s world-famous landmarks on closed roads, and four of London’s eight Royal Parks – Hyde Park, The Green Park, St James’s Park and Kensington Gardens.’ Strickland ran one hour 37:19mins, just a couple of minutes slower than his recent best at Bristol.

Chris Young shattered his personal best by 13 minutes, a great result as he went into the event with a cold, finishing in one hour 48:33mins, with Heylings home in two hours 24:48mins.

Cotswold All Runners put on two senior events, the Bisley 10K and 5k, and a Junior 2k run last weekend.

Two Dursley RC trios were involved in the senior runs.

At 10K, Lise Hindshaw and Lisa Young finished in just under 53 minutes, a six minute course best for Lisa Young, with Nicki Cowle home in 96 minutes.

In the 5k event, Jacky Gilmour was tenth overall and first in category, Nicki Squire 13th and third in category. Margaret Badger completed her first ever 5K race. Chris Sweet was the support team for his wife, Becky, running the 5K and two of his children, Dursley RC juniors Harriet and Tom, who both completed the 2K event in 10:59mins and 12:59mins respectively. Results, 10K: Lise Hindshaw 53rd 52:48; Lisa Young 54th 52:49; Nicki Cowle 121st 01:06:27 5K: Jackie Gilmour 10th ((1st F55) 25:53; Nicki Squire 13th (4th F35) 26:59; Margaret Badger 32nd 34:20.

At parkrun, it was very much a consolidation week. With Wotton closed for a junior school cross county, Dursley RC flooded to Kingsway where Joe Ball ran the quickest parkrun of the weekend in 19:55mins.

Up in Middlesbrough, Neil Hodgson had a gentle jog of 20:33mins before the York Marathon the next day.

Back at Kingsway, Ian Cole was close to his course best of the previous week while Mike Thomas and Kelly Gabb both running CBs of 21:56mins and 32:24mins.