THORNBURY Running Club’s cross country team took in their second race in two days, with the first of the season’s Gwent League races held at Bridgend.

First home in the ladies’ 6k race was Ros Rowland, 76th in 31:53 having already been first club lady at Guiting Power the previous day.

She was closely followed by Nicky Davies, 82nd in 32:09.

Davies’ performances have improved greatly over the past year, and kept her well ahead of Clare Watt, 116th in 34:10.

This was Davies’ returning-to-fitness race and she has the ability and dedication to speed up considerably.

For Rachel Mills, cross country was a new experience, but she finished well in 182nd place (38:17).

In the men’s 10k race, Ashley Hodgetts set out well, showing more confidence than last season to finish in 83rd place in 39:13.

This was the only the second time he had beaten Andi Davies (117th, 40:42), and it was a decisive victory, though Davies is not yet at peak form.

Steve Allen was 142nd in 43:43, after which came the club’s over-60 team: Nick Langridge (310nd, 49:32), also having his second race in as many days, held off longer and fresher legs.

Steve Dimond held his ground but could not make any impression on Langridge, finishing 331st in 51:19, and Pete Mainstone so much enjoyed his run on his native soil that he took his time and came in 355th in 56:45.

There was a better club turnout at Little Stoke parkrun this week with Paul Horsfall, as predicted, improving on his previous time to finish the 5k in 18:35.

Garry Slater remains consistent (19:11), while Daniel Harding completed in a more typical time this week: 21:20.

Malcolm Carr also was within his usual time range (25:48) with Karen Carr in 28:04.

At Chipping Sodbury, Judy Mills completed her first parkrun since arm and pelvic injuries in May in a time of 27:34, vowing to knock a couple of minutes from her time in the coming weeks.

Junior parkrunner Eve Slater showed most of the adults how to do it, gaining a personal best by 50 seconds at the Sunday Little Stoke 2k event with a time of 11:46 and finishing well inside the top half of the field.