THE Gloucestershire Cross Country Championships were held at Rendcomb College near Cirencester on Saturday and a smaller team of eight Thornbury runners headed across to compete, writes Matt Johnstone.

The three women and five men were rewarded for their efforts with a demanding, yet scenic course through the undulating grounds of Rendcomb College, with several stream crossings and a chilly detour across River Churn.

Laura Orna and Hannah Kinloch-Haken led the TRC team out amongst the top 20 runners. Laura extended her advantage on the second lap and finished in 15th place overall in 30:15 mins, the highest position of any of the female or male TRC runners this season. After forgetting her off-road trainers and having a spare pair provided on the start line by a team mate, Hannah did well to finish in 20th place in 31:01 mins. Judy Mills had her best result of the season, finishing in 60th overall and 2nd in the FV60 age category in 39:56 mins, which meant the ladies finished 8th out of 15 teams.

Nick Williams maintained his recent form and ran in good company to finish in 26th place in 39:13 mins. Will Hamilton made a quick return to the fray after making his cross-country debut in December in Wotton and fared well in 55th position in 43:32 mins. Martyn Green’s last appearance for the team was in the same fixture in 2018, so after a year out and a knee operation in between he should be very happy with his performance of 58th in 43:39 mins.

TRC cross-country captain, Jim Godden, took one for the team, gamely completing the race while nursing a calf injury. Jim crossed the line in some discomfort in 98th place in 50:35 mins. Kevin Arnold did his now customary parkrun – cross-country double, completing the Cirencester parkrun in the morning in 24:04 mins and completing the cross country in the afternoon in 106th in 52:44 mins. The men’s team were 1 man short of registering a result in the overall team competition but finished 13th out of 15 in the vets team competition.

Rosina Rowland spent New Year’s Day running 30 miles along the North East coast in the Hardmoors 30. The route was circular between Robin’s Hoods Bay and Whitby before heading southwards along the Cleveland Way. Rosina’s latest ultra-marathon exploit was completed in 7 hours 33:52 mins and she finished in 155th place.

At Thornbury parkrun there were 10 TRC results, including Paul Thomas 20:59 mins, Richard Jackson in a new PB 22:14 mins, Ian Shepherd 23:02 mins, Martin Smith new PB 24:38 mins, Chris Foley 25:02 mins, David Palmer 26:43 mins, Josie Cole new PB 28:08 mins, Chris Lee 28:56 mins, Pamela MacLeod 33:35 mins and Anne Palmer 33:49 mins.

There were some quick times at Severn Bridge parkrun, Henry Orna and Kevin Wood set new PBs of 18:49 mins and 21:46 mins. Christopher Pritchard ran 26:22 mins and Clare Evans finished in 31:02 mins. At Chipping Sodbury parkrun, Paul Newnes ran 30:03 mins.