Members of Dursley Running Club were out in force for a number of events over the past week.

First up was the Cattle Country Dark Skies 5/10K that took place on Thursday November 22.

All together there were over 200 runners with 19 of them being from DRC.

The 5km off road course took the runners across numerous fields and rutted tracks on a mainly flat route with some muddy sections around the main farmyard area.

Those taking part in the 10km race had to run the circuit twice.

A carnival atmosphere met the racers once they ventured outdoors into the cold; leggings, hats and gloves were the order of the day for the majority as well as the compulsory head torch.

Mike Brown took the race by the scruff of the neck from the off leading both 5/10km runners with Mark Sprigings in close attendance.

Father and son combo of Dave and Josh Wood were also in the top 10 runners in the first 5K lap, with the rest of the DRC runners dotted through the field.

At 5km, Brown was leading with Mark Sprigings not far behind with the runners in the shorter event peeling off into the finish funnel as the 10km runners headed out onto their 2nd lap.

A great run by Brown saw him a worthy winner of the 10km race in just over 42 minutes, with Sprigings doing almost as well and finishing 2nd in the 5km race. Darren Smith placed 9th overall in the 5km nipping under 29 minutes.

The father and son combo saw the youth of Wood junior win out over the experience of Wood senior with them placing 4th and 5th respectively in the 10km race.

As ever DRC performed well in the age categories, in the 10K Rachel Brown 1st F40, Di Gore 2nd F60, Jo Lewis 4th F50, with Sara Eden 3rd F50 and Darren Smith 4th Senior male.

In the 5km race there were 81 finishers and DRC runners placed as follows; Mark Sprigings, 2nd, 21:56 (1st SM); Darren Smith, 9th, 28:59 (4th SM); Cara Zoglowek, 69th, 42:27; Sarah Wilcox, 72nd, 42:42; Sarah Eden 73rd, 42:44 (3rd FV50).

In the 10km race there were 121 starters with 119 finishers and DRC runners placed as follows; Mike Brown , 1st, 42:19 (1st SM): Josh Wood , 4th, 46:20 (1st MU16); Dave Wood , 5th, 47:02 (2nd MV50); Jon Morgan , 19th, 54:02; Rachel Brown, 22nd, 55:05 (1st FV40); Andy Hara, 23rd , 55:35; Andrew Ferguson, 63rd, 65:18; Carly Heath, 79th, 69:18; Nicola Christopher, 80th, 69:22; Julie Furneaux, 82nd, 69:52; Ian Roberts, 85th, 71:07; Jo Lewis , 87th, 71:41 (4th LV50); Di Gore , 99th, 74:16 (2nd FV60.

Nearly 50 running club members showed up to take part in the Kingsway, as they all celebrated Julie Gowing's birthday.

This left just two DRC at Wotton for a change, Nigel Burford taking the opportunity to come home first overall in 20:39, leaving him as the 4th quickest DRC parkrunner, behind Matt Hazell-Livall 18:58, Nigel Sankey 19:44, both at Kingsway, and Neil Hodgson 20:25 at Cirencester.

There were another 6 DRC runners under 22 minutes, including Zoe Lammerton, junior Jake Matthews and Stuart Watts. Huw Poppy, Lucy Fairall, Ellen Efford, Lila Heath rounded off the list.