SATURDAY morning saw 16 Dursley Running Club athletes at local parkruns. At Kingsway they were joined by five of the current junior athletic programme.

Dave Durden was first in for the club just 4 seconds off his previous weeks’ time.

William Fairall was the first in of what will hopefully be Dursley next generation of athletes, finishing 4th for the club and was first U11, with Liam Clark, Jake Mathews and Ethan Mathews finishing in the next three category positions. James Durden ran a PB to place 3rd JM11-14.

The junior athletes not only placed well but demonstrated good running form and pacing, vitally important skills for an athlete of any age. Kris Rymer was the first adult home to record a PB and he was joined by first Dursley woman Louise Biddell.

Other PBs on the day were William Fairall, Anthony Mathews, Mike Hanman, Lucy Fairall, Charlotte Palmer, Jake Mathews, Ethan Mathews, and Eileen Hieron. Kevin Higgins and Eileen Heiron both topped their age categories. Alan Honey, DRC member, ran under the banner of Bristol Orienteering Club was 2nd MV in 22:04.

Results: Kingsway: David Durden, 10th, 19:43, (1st VM50-54); Richard Pitts, 12th, 20:15, (2nd VM50-54); Kris Rymer, 47th, 23:37, (8th VM35-39), PB; William Fairall, 57th, 23:58, (1st JM10), PB; Anthony Matthews, 64th, 24:20, (10th VM35-39), PB; James Durden, 68th, 24:26, (3rd JM11-14), PB; Kevin Higgins, 69th, 24:28, (1st VM60-64); Louise Biddell, 82nd, 25:56, (5th VW35-39), PB; Mike Hanman, 83rd, 26:04, (3rd VM60-64), PB; Lucy Fairall, 87th, 26:12, (6th VW35-39), PB; Claire Searle, 90th, 26:14, (2nd VW50-54); Charlotte Palmer, 94th, 26:27, (4th VW40-44), PB; Liam Clark, 108th, 27:45, (2nd JM10); Jake Matthews, 110th, 28:00, (3rd JM10), PB; Ethan Matthews, 111th, 28:08, (4th JM10), PB;Janet Matthews, 112th, 28:09, (7th VW35-39); Eileen Hieron, 115th, 28:19, (1st VW70-74), PB; Anya Wood, 126th, 28:56, (5th VW40-44), PB; Julie Furneaux, 162nd, 30:32, (10th VW45-49), PB; Chipping Sodury: Garry Strickland, 26, 21:10:00, (1st VM50-54).,

Later that day Carolyn Thraves was at the Ridgeway Revenge Trail Half. With just a week’s notice of the opportunity to run Carolyn was very pleased to finish in 02:36:59.

The race organisers describe it as a “cracking off-road long half marathon. The scenic route meandering over fields, up and down hills, through wild flower meadows before the “revenge” a quad-shredding hill at 12 miles”.

Sunday saw Steve Watson Andy Hara and Mike Brown off-road at the Cheltenham Challenge – an event offering optional distances.

Mike Brown opted for the 10K race finishing 70th out of 568 runners in just over 50 minutes. Steve Watson and Andy Hara went for distance and did the Trail Half, Steve Watson led Andy Hara home and was a creditable 52nd in a field of 350.

Results: 10K Mike Brown 70th 50:36 Half: Steve Watson 52nd 01:59:56;Andy Hara 95th 02:06:56

The weekend also saw Dursley triathletes competing; with Joe Browning knocking ten minutes of his 2015 time at the Wotton Sprint Triathlon completing the course in sixty eight minutes he came in 6th, with Zoe Lamerton completing her first ever Triathlon in a very respectable 01:25:49.

The previous Tuesday saw 81 runners take part in DRCs first Club Handicap Race. Lisa Gillooly first home just in front of Eric Fuller and Nicki Cowle, Chris Sweet first male. Mike Crompton was fastest over the 6 mile course in 20:47 with Molly Willcox fastest woman in 26:45.

The first club Handicap race on the evening of 14th of JUne the saw a record breaking 81 athletes starting at Hamfield Leisure. As ever the fastest last format causes a few nerves as runners are called to the start line to await their turn.

Julie King was first off in ideal weather conditions; cool with intermittent drizzle. A steady stream of runners were marshalled to the start line to be put under starters orders by Rob Woodward. Woodward.

The women were at the forefront on this first event , Lisa Gillooly, three and a half minutes faster than her predicted time, coming in first, just two seconds in front of Erica Fuller with Nicki Cowle and Charlotte Palmer in close attendance. All significantly faster than their estimated times.

Chris Sweet was first man home, with Simon Jones and Kevin Higgins next in.

There were few sprints to the line, as requested, but many runners finished with a traditional endurance runners gimace to show they had left nearly everything out on the course.

Some were unsure they liked the format, the loneliness of the long distance runner coming to the fore, plus the temptation to chase down the runner in front leading to some over cooking the early part of the race.

Tony Ball said that he likes shorter races such as the hundred metres where he can see the start and finish line from where he is standing.

It was pointed out that you can do this at the handicap, and so we expect great things of Tony now we know it's one of his favourite type of races!

Mike Crompton was fastest on the night in 20:43, with Brad Johnson and Tim Ennis over a minute behind him.

Molly Willcox was fastest woman on the night almost 30 seconds faster than Margaret Johnson.

A number of runners have got some low scores in, but things can change rapidly over the course of the series, especially as the handicapping changes.

Again as ever a huge thanks to Ray Williams for setting up the course and getting all the equipment to site, Rob Woodward, Dave Lane, Annette Heylings, Tara Truman, John Rogers, Kate Browning, Julia Newman, Sue Jones, Kelly Gabb, Rich Shirley Charlotte Pitts and John Hensman, with all your help it ran like clockwork.

Results: Lisa, Gillooly, 1st , 00:35:44;Erica, Fuller, 2nd , 00:29:58; Nicki, Cowle , 3rd , 00:33:44; Charlotte , Palmer , 4th, 00:30:53; Chris , Sweet, 5th, 00:26:08; Nicki, Squire, 6th, 00:30:42; Simon, Jones, 7th, 00:26:34; Jadie , Cotterell, 8th, 00:31:53 ; Becky, Whatling, 9th, 00:35:45; Kevin, Higgins, 10th, 00:28:01; Chris, Ashworth, 11th, 00:29:01; Anthony, Matthews, 12th, 00:28:55; Sam, Martin, 13th, 00:28:02; Joe, Browning, 14th, 00:22:26; Vicci, Phillips, 15th, 00:31:20; Andy, Hara, 16th, 00:25:22;Haydn, Smith, 17th, 00:22:45; Harry, Cruse, 18th, 00:24:09 Debi, Jones, 19th, 00:33:22 Jacky, Gilmour, 20th, 00:30:51; Susannah, Gwilliam, 21th, 00:36:31; David, Wood, 22th, 00:24:28Dave, Saunders, 23th, 00:26:20;Graham, Tudor, 24th, 00:26:24 Braddan, Johnson, 25th, 00:22:01; Carolyn, Thraves, 26th, 00:30:04;Dave, Halford, 27th, 00:25:05 Steve , Watson, 28th, 00:24:47 Liz, Halford, 29th, 00:30:59; Lucy, Fairall, 30th, 00:30:31; Mike, Crompton, 31st, 00:20:47; Damian, Lai, 32nd, 00:31:00; Deborah, McFarland, 33rd, 00:40:29; Annette, Swift, 34th, 00:38:50; Mel, Williams, 35th, 00:29:20; Michelle, Ball, 36th, 00:32:13; Sarah, Willcox, 37th, 00:40:59;Richard , Pitts , 38th, 00:23:15; Pete, Dunn, 39th, 00:27:11; Debbie, Seal, 40th, 00:32:21;Sarah, Miles, 41st, 00:41:24; Charlotte, Strickland, 42nd, 00:30:39; Neil, Truelove, 43rd, 00:25:14; Sally, Williams, 44th, 00:35:18; Hannah, Carter, 45th, 00:31:06; Annette, Keevil, 46th, 00:30:54; Jonathan, Kerry, 47th, 00:25:39 Tony, Ball, 48th, 00:30:49; Tim, Ennis, 49th, 00:22:23; Garry, Strickland, 50th, 00:25:02;Neil, Malpass, 51st, 00:29:00; Louise, Biddell, 52nd, 00:30:59; Louise, Beck, 53rd, 00:38:08; Thomas, Smith, 54th, 00:23:15; Molly, Willcox , 55th, 00:26:45 Mark, Brasier, 56th, 00:23:25 Alan, Honey, 57th, 00:27:15; Claire, Searle, 58th, 00:31:36; John, Delafield, 59th, 00:26:05 Hannah, Butcher , 60th, 00:35:53; Paul, Dunn, 61th, 00:30:05; Emma, Boxall, 62th, 00:34:13 Phil, Young, 63th, 00:31:09; Jo, Shean, 64th, 00:31:35 Margaret, Johnson, 65th, 00:27:12;Mike , Hanman, 66th, 00:31:32; Gillian, Durden , 67th, 00:35:32 Emma, Richards, 68th, 00:38:50; Joseph, Ball, 69th, 00:24:44; Alice, Lewis, 70th, 00:27:48; Anya, Wood, 71st 00:35:23; Cara, Zoglowek, 72nd, 00:40:29; Amanda, Hensman, 73rd, 00:33:45; Richard, Hensman, 74th, 00:24:56; Julie, King, 75th, 00:46:49 Francesca , Amigoni , 76th, 00:30:09; Julie, Fenn , 77th, 00:35:39;Kris, Rymer, 78th, 00:29:13; Caroline, whitlock, 79th, 00:33:58;Avril, Bagnall, 80th, 00:41:15;Karen, Eadon, 81st , 00:42:32