THE GROWTH of Dursley Running Club was exemplified on Sunday at the 36th running of the Stroud Half Marathon with 93 club athletes on the start line.

There were nine first timers and one 36th timer in the form of Kevin Jackson.

With the DRC flags fluttering in a strong westerly wind, the club gathered for a photo shoot and a much-needed warm up.

The weather was almost perfect for the event with wind on the outward leg negated by the large number of runners and then, as the runners turned for home, it was at their backs.

The brisk temperature was also ideal for running.

The club had a number of athletes who had shown impressive form over the year already but Joe Browning’s run of one hour 20:48mins, knocking almost four minutes off his personal best, was an revelation. His great run took him to 26th overall and eighth senior male.

Behind him Robyn Jackson was battling out with Mike Brown for second Dursley runner home.

Jackson won the day, and came second woman overall and first senior woman.

Her objective was to beat Browning’s best only to find this was now substantially faster.

She found it hard and this may have been down to a sizzling first mile of 06:03mins, a pace that she was unable to hold over the distance.

Brown’s steady progress over the year suddenly rocketed forward with a great run of just over 85 minutes.

Matt Rogers was two minutes in arrears with Matthew Read and Jonny Marks both coming in under ninety minutes.

Matt Rogers was the first DRC vet home, but as the clock passed ninety minutes, there was to be a flurry of older runners pushing for home.

Unsurprisingly, Kevin Jackson was at the front of proceedings, Peter Chaffer confirmed that he had taken some great form into the race, leading Jackson until he started to struggle to extend his right leg.

Jackson finished just twenty seconds in front.

Behind these two, a battle was taking place between Jo Ball and Dave Durden.

As they approached Ebley Mill, Simon Jones cruised past both of them, but the Ebley Mill Hill concertinaed the three and in a hard sprint finish there was just a nine seconds gap between them on the line.

Martin Bragg was next home with an impressive PB run of 94minutes. Margaret Johnson came home second DRC woman, looking strong throughout the race with Kim Bird also running very strongly just 13 seconds behind her.

Emma Denton, fourth DRC woman, was sprightly as ever.

Darren Kitchin expertly paced Damian Lai, keeping him around eight minute mile mark for most of the event.

Lai’s marathon journey this year took its toll as he had to dig deep on the return, with Kitchin stretching away at the end.

This partnership was just one of many between club members supporting each other around the course, helping each other get through the darker moments.

Running a Half for the first time were Louise Biddell, Sarah Newell, Claire Norman, Louse Beck, Nicki Squire, Julie Furneaux, Tom Workman, Sam Stevens and Ben Houghton.

Dursley produced a number of top ten and top twenty category finishers (ten year age gaps) including Robyn Jackson 1stSenF, Joe Browning 8th SenM, Martin Bragg 4th M60. Margaret Johnson 3rd F50, Derek Jackson 9th M60, Alice Lewis 7th F55, Annette Heylings 7th F60, Eileen Hieron 1st F70, and Pete Brown 4th M70 in the top twenty finishers Kevin Jackson 18th M50, Pete Chaffer 20th M50, Kim Bird 12th F30, Emma Denton 13th F40, Derek Jackson 9th M60, Alice Lewis 7th F55, Fran Amigoni 19th F30, Dave Saunders 13th M65, Andy Kilby 14th M60.

PBs were run by: Joe Browning, Robyn Jackson, Mike Brown, Matthew Read, Simon Jones, Shona Darley, Margaret Johnson, Martin Bragg, Fran Amigoni, Richard Hogg, Hayley Hogg, Andrew Probert, Ian Cole, Steve Barnes, Damian Lai, Andrew Eades; Mike Thomas, Kelly Gabb, Lise Hindshaw, Lisa Young, Mark Owen, Becky Court, Dominique Pemberton Hannah Butcher, Sally Williams, Sarah Willcox and Sam Hill.

Over in Wales James Everett did what he does best running up and down hills very fast to win the Trellech Beacon Dash, the race is just over 6 miles and hilly, Everett finished in 38:19, just over half a minute ahead of his closest competitor.

Over the weekend four Dursley Running Club members helped Bristol Orienteering Klub win the final of the Compass Sport Cup, the national inter-club competition. Paul Gebbett captained the team, that also included Tim and Laura Britton and Alan Honey.

With Storm Brian lashing the British Isles PBs were probably not the order of Saturday morning parkruns, Diana Gore managed the sole DRC PB at Kingsway with a run of 30:25. Neil Hodgson ran 19:33 at Teesside to be fastest DRC parkrunner with a 72.55% age grading.