LAST weekend saw the return of Dursley Running Club to the Cotswold Century race, some excellent trail running and a great turn out for Dursley RC tri at the Warwick Standard Tri.

Gareth Bradbury has been using his deep love of nature to fuel his running and his focus on the Cotswold Century has seen Bradbury move his running to another level.

The event was the culmination of months of training for Bradbury.

The organisers make it sound simple. “It’s the Cotswold Way. Start in Chipping Campden at the Village Hall, stop…at Bath Abbey, follow the signs marked “Cotswold Way”.

Runners have thirty hours to complete the one hundred miles, with intermediate cut-offs along the way.

The course is extremely undulating with a range of surfaces for the runners to cope with, and just when they think it is all over, there are a couple of very nasty hills entering Bath.

Former DRC Runners’ Runner Brad Johnson was offering his support to Bradbury.

Bradbury followed the example of the great Emile Zatopek with a pint of stout before the race, a wise combination of liquid and carbohydrate.

By the third checkpoint at Birdlip, Bradbury and Johnson were separated by two minutes.

Bradbury started to stride out on his own at Coaley Peak reaching the checkpoint on 14 hours and 11 minutes, 15 minutes in advance of Johnson.

Wyclef Forbes from Cirencester hit Dursley in the late evening, two hours up on the course record.

Bradbury ran into Cold Ashton after 24 hours and 22 minutes of running as he entered the last ten or so miles.

He finished at Bath Abbey in 27 hours twenty minutes and an incredible achievement for this quiet man of DRC.

The race saw the course records broken by Forbes, completing the course in 17 hours 34 minutes, and Holly Rush in 20 hours 17mins.

Sunday saw a strong turnout at the Forest of Dean Autumn Trail Marathon, organised by FOD Round Table.

Seventeen runners were on the start line with Francois Low and Georgina Whitlock starting their first ever half marathon.

It was a very testing course to complete for any runner let alone a half marathon novice.

After a quick downhill start, runners were faced with a sustained three mile climb, and after some more swift descents the race finished with a seemingly interminable uphill drag.

Mark Brasier had an impressive run placing 25th and first home for the club in just over ninety minutes.

Margaret Johnson was first DRC woman home in a very impressive one hour 38:51mins, not quite a PB as the course was short, but she was second FV50, with Alice Lewis third and Jackie Creed tenth in their categories.

At Disneyland Paris, Neil Hodgson ran an 83-minute half marathon despite stopping for a picture with all the characters along the route.

Results: Mark Brasier, 25th, (7th MV40), 01:31:11; David Durden, 77th ,01:37:34; Margaret Johnson, 90th, (2nd FV50), 01:38:51; Jonathan Tudor, 119th, 01:42:16 Francois Low, 132nd,01:43:24; Tony Waye, 236th,01:51:51; Jackie Creed, 239th, (10th FV45), 01:52:00; Alice Lewis, 242th , (3rd FV50), 01:52:31; Rebecca Topham, 419th,02:05:48 Lisa Hindshaw, 487th, 02:10:47; Lisa Young, 488th,02:10:48; Kevin Brockway, 609th, 02:22:19; Julie Froggatt, 610th, 02:22:32; Nicola Cowle, 672nd, 02:33:53; Karen Eadon, 678th, 02:35:08 Eileen Hieron, 679th , (5th FV60+), 02:35:12; Georgia Whitlock, 704th,02:43:13 Caroline Whitlock, 705th, 2:43:14,19

The weekend parkrun saw Robyn Jackson both fastest runner and highest age grade with 19:26 at Wotton recording a AG of 76:16%. Joe Ball continued his good run of form with a 19:30 at Kingsway, behind Jackson at Wotton Derek Jackson recording an AG of 72:71% and Paul Gebbett 72.64% at Kingsway.

DRC Juniors Luke Davis, Jake Matthews, Ethan Matthews and Liam Clark were in action, Liam completing his first parkrun at Wotton. Course bests were achieved by Joe Ball, Jake Matthews, Chris Barnes, Sam Martin, Ethan Matthews, Angie Sinton, Carley Heath and Terry Cother.

Aby Cairns a graduate from 2017 Walk2Run programme ran to Wotton from Dursley and then completed the parkrun, another amazing journey for a DRC walk to runner.