A WARM May evening greeted the 422 runners on the start line of the 2017 Berkeley 10K.

With no entry on the day, the race had sold out, and 50 of the starters were Dursley Running Club athletes.

Despite the hot weather runners started briskly.

Steve Millward of Gloucester AC led the race around the first circuit completing the 5K in 16:31, as he piloted Lee Stopford of Stroud into Hamfield Lane for the second time, he was working hard.

They had an ample lead on the following runners, it seemed that it would all be down to who of the two had the legs for the run in.

Millward admitted that he probably adopted the wrong tactic of front running, he was unable to break Stopford who eased past him with six hundred metres to go and extended his lead to about 15 metres in the run in, enough to secure him the victory.

Behind this tussle, Elidh Bell of Team Bath AC had a more comfortable race to be first woman, she finished in 37:22, looking very much in control as she came into the finish.

The first wheelchair racer home was Les Hampton of Cheltenham Harriers.

Dursley’s Robin Jackson was second woman overall in 39:05 a personal best.

In front of Jackson were Jonny Marks, the first DRC athlete to finish in 38:12, and Nigel Sankey, second in and very pleased with his best of 38:54, which came off the back of some great training runs.

Margaret Johnson was second DRC woman with a PB of 44:25 with Fran Amigoni the third counter for the women’s team event also running a personal best.

Amigoni was picked off by Graham Tudor who paced his finish extremely well pulling past Amigoni with about 25 meters to go.

The club had a host of top ten age category finishers, Veronica Higgins Audrey Harris, Claire Searle, Jim Moss, Fran Amigoni Graeme Tudor, Nigel Sankey and Jonny Marks. On the Podium were Robyn Jackson and Kevin Jackson second in their categories whilst category winners for DRC were Alice Lewis first F60 and Margaret Johnson first F50.

The strong women’s performance saw them third in the women’s team race behind Almost Athletes and CLC Striders.

There were a number of DRC athletes who achieved personal bests on the night, Kris Rymer, his third, in the space of a month, Kathryn White, Audrey Harris and Francois Low. Ellen Efford and Graham Wilkes Walk2Run graduates also completed the race.

The racers were well supported and after the event were treated to a complimentary drink courtesy of Dursley Running Club at Hamfield Leisure, with prizes given to the first three men and women, then over five-year veteran age categories and to the first wheelchair athlete.

Dursley RC results: Jonny Marks, 38:09, 28th , (7th Sen);Nigel Sankey, 38:52, 35th , (7th V35); Robyn Jackson, 39:01, 37th, (2nd SenW); Kevin Jackson, 41:38, 66th, (2nd V55); Joe Ball, 42:42, 78th; Francois Low, 42:48, 80th; Andrew Oborne, 44:10, 103rd; Margaret Johnson, 44:19, 108th, (1stV50); Kris Rymer, 44:45, 115th; Graham Tudor, 46:36, 135th, (6th V60); Francesca Amigoni, 46:34, 136th, (9th Sen) Alice Lewis, 46:47, 142nd, (1st V60); Andy Kilby, 48:27, 170th; Neil Truelove, 48:24, 174th; Lucy Holder, 48:43, 177th; Audrey Harris, 49:00, 186th, (7th V40); Michael Thomas, 49:06, 189th ; Hannah Osborne, 49:53, 206th; Catherine Pinnock, 50:38, 217th Jim Moss, 51:26, 226th, (9th V65); Rachel Brown, 51:32, 228th; Anne Harris, 52:10, 239th; Tony Waye, 52:29, 245th; Kathryn White, 53:00, 251st; Charlie Strickland, 53:29, 255th; Lucy Kirmond, 53:30, 256th; Matt Turner, 53:30, 258th; Louise Biddell , 54:01, 263rd; Bridgit Kellett, 54:37, 269th; Ronnie Williams , 55:44, 282nd; Claire Searle, 56:15, 289th, (8th V50) ; Kevin Brockway, 56:15, 292nd; Clair Norman , 57:24, 301st; Ros Rocke, 57:31, 304th; Steve Barnes, 57:47, 311th; Debi Jones, 57:41, 312th; Emma Keating, 58:24, 319th; Hannah Clarke, 58:42, 323rd; Ian Roberts, 59:20, 329th; Sally Williams, 1:00:09, 342nd; Kerry Clark, 1:05:05, 377th; Katie Reynolds, 1:05:36, 385th; Graham Wilkes, 1:08:03, 392nd; Carly Heath, 1:08:44, 394th; Nicola Christopher, 1:08:44, 395th Ellen Efford, 1:09:48, 400th; Liz Halford, 1:09:49, 401st; Veronica Higgins, 1:10:11, 402nd, 9th , V55; Margaret Badger, 1:12:00, 405th; Lynsey Chandler, 1:12:27, 406th