Dursley Running Club news

THOMAS Smith had the pleasure of finishing first at Kingsway parkrun on Saturday, a mere 11 seconds off his best, with a number of strong runs from other Dursley athletes.

These included Gareth Bradbury (first MV40), Richard Pitts (second MV50) and Kevin Higgins, placing second MV60 with a new personal best, other runners achieving a PB were Jo Fearns, knowing over a minute off her previous best and Veronica Higgins almost two and a half minutes faster.

Annie Hidden running the event for the first time finished in 31:44mins.

Eileen Hieron celebrated her fiftieth parkrun with a first FV70 and she still sits atop of the age graded results table for Dursley RC at Kingsway with a magisterial 82.7 per cent.

Shona Darley was another DRC category winner first Fv40. At Chipping Sodbury, Claire Searle posted a PB of over thirty seconds coming in fourth in her category.

Results: Thomas Smith, 1st , 18:38, (1st JM15-17); Gareth Bradbury, 4th , 19:23, (1st VM40-44); Richard Pitts, 7th, 19:59, (2nd VM50-54);Kevin Higgins, 32nd, 22:57, (2nd VM60-64), PB; Shona Darley, 53rd, 24:44, (1st VW40-44); Steve Barnes, 66th, 26:11, (2nd VM60-64); Nicki Cowle, 76th, 27:02; Eileen Hieron, 107th, 29:21, (1st VW70-74); Charlotte Palmer, 109th, 29:32; Julie Furneaux, 117th, 30:16; Richard Hensman, 124th, 31:10; Jo Fearns, 129th, 31:40, PB; Annie Hidden, 130th, 31:44; Veronica Higgins, 145th, 33:28, (3rd VW55-59), PB John Hensman, 167th, 42:06. Chipping Sodbury: Claire Searle, 139th , 27:03:00, VW50-54, PB.

David Saunders and Damian Lai travelled down to the Isle of Wight Marathon.

It was the sixtieth anniversary of the event, drawing large crowds to support the runners.

Lai and Saunders ran together taking in the atmosphere and scenery until mile 22 when Saunders pulled out.

Lai went on to finish in a provisional time of four hours 54:36mins.

Last Sunday at the Oxford Half Marathon, Lucy Fairall went under the two hour mark placing 3,591st in one hour 59:42mins, smashing her PB in the process.

Neil Hodgson followed the Bournemouth Marathon with the York 10 mile in one hour 04:18mins as a preparation run for the Manchester Half.

The Cotswold All Runners Bisley 5 and 10k events saw Cara Zoglowek in the 5k finishing in 33rd position in 36:34mins, in the 10K Nicki Squire first home for Dursley in 146th position with a time of one hour 04:32mins, Becky Whatling 172nd in one hour 12:29mins.

Chris Young completed the Devil’s Aquathlon at Cheltenham.

Starting with a challenging 2km swim, Young was out of the water in 41:45mins.

After a 02:29mins transition, he finished the 10K in one hour 02:38mins.

Young declared himself happy with the swim and said the 10K was the hardest he had ever done, but vowed to be back next year in search of a PB At the Bowood Park Super Sprint Duathlon, Deb Seal and Phil Young both raced well to finish first in their categories.