THERE were nine Dursley Running Cub athletes lined up at the Staverton 10 mile just west of Cheltenham on Sunday.

Mike Crompton was in first to finish for DRC in 59.57.06, a super run from Crompton, who ran a very even pace after a fast first mile. He was 10th overall and 8th senior male.

Neil Hodgson focused on pacing himself as part of VLM training was second in for DRC with a time of 01.06.39 and Andy Probert ran strongly coming in third for the club in 01.16:49.

Star of the day was Alice Lewis - 1st female veteran. 55+ with a seventy-seven second personal best.

Damian Lia was paced in at 01.18.08 by training partners Darren Kitchin and Simon Jones, they helped produce a 80 second PB for Lai. David Saunders recovering from a cold finished in 01.22.32 with a fantastic effort from Eileen Hieron finishing in 01.53.52. Sadly there was no female vet 70+ prize to reward her for the effort

Results: Mike Crompton, 00:59:57, 8th, (10th SenM); Andy Probert, 01:16:49, 6th , (80th M50-54);Alice Lewis, 01:17:22, 1st , (83rd F60-64), (1st in 55-64 cat); Damian Lai, 01:18:09, 16th , (86th M40-45); Darren Kitchin, 01:18:09, 7th , (87th M50-54); Simon Jones, 01:18:10, 17th , (88th M40-44 David Saunders, 01:22:33, 2nd , (100th M65-69); Eileen Hieron, 01:53:53, 1st , (176th F75-80), (2nd in F65+).

Steve Barnes journeyed south to sunnier climes to take part in the Cajasiete Gran Canaria Half Marathon.

Barnes was delighted with his performance and the fact he did not run out of energy, crossing the with a chip time of 02:13:34, in 1221st position (1536 finishers), 44th in his age category and running is third best Half ever.

Off Road, three DRC athletes completed endurance challenges - Kevin Brockway and Rachel Brown taking part in the Stonehenge Stomp on the 27th.

The race is not timed the challenge is to complete either the 10K, 20K, 30K or 40K route visiting checkpoints. Brockway completed the 30K and Brown the 40K events.

Meanwhile, Kate Browning was getting lost of “Offa’s Trail” but enjoying herself in the sun. Organised by the Long Distance Walkers Association Kate took some time to complete the route due to some map reading issues, in her quest for 100 Marathons the event was sadly reduced from the planned 26 miles down to 24 due to footpath closures.

With a plethora of events for all comers, Chepstow Harriers Speedway 10K is unashamedly focused on promoting an event for top level club competitors with the event taking place on January 20.

Illustrating the quality of the field all 163 competitors finished under the hour, the top four coming home under 30 minutes with almost three quarters under 40 minutes.

Steve Millward of Gloucester AC was 25th in 32:41, which might stand him in good stead for the Berkeley 10K this year after a second place in 2018. Alice Lewis was the sole DRC representative finishing on 154th place in 47:06 first female vet. 60.

There was a big turnout on Saturday morning with 36 DRC parkrunners braving the cold, 19 were out to celebrate Darren Smith's 50th parkrun in a year, a fabulous achievement.

Joel Worsfold now running for DRC Juniors (after some time with Stroud) posted the fastest time of the weekend with 18:39, 3rd place overall and a 74.6% on Age Grade at Kingsway.

Not far behind on age grading at least were Graham Tudor running a PB at Chipping Sodbury AG 69.7% and Annette Heylings dead on 67% at Kingsway. Chipping Sodbury was the place for PBs with Graham, Tel Cother and Julie Furnuex joining him. Whislt at Kingsway Jackie Pennington ran the sole PB. Fastest woman was Shona Darley, clearly recovered from Doynton, 43 seconds ahead of Nicola Christopher. Liz and Dave Hallford were the DRC parkrun toursist as the StrickRugs took a weekend of from their travels. Amazingly the Halfords were part of 670 odd strong field at Poole! Whilst Karl Fivey was DRCs furthest flung parkrunner.

Having bumped into Garry Strickland and Steve Rugman Tour in Mediera last week, Matt Strzelecki was all on his own for his second Marathon in a week in Murcia, Spain.

Through the halfway mark in 01:52 Matt went on to finish in a time of 04:16:58, c. 15 minutes quicker than last weekend placing 283rd(49thM35).