Spirit of Monmouth running club took on their first club championship race this weekend at The Forest of Dean spring half marathon.

Starting on the road adjacent to the Speech House Hotel in the heart of the forest, the course then left the road to follow a loop of well maintained forest trails (with gentle inclines) before eventually leading back to the Speech House Hotel for the finish.

The Spirits enjoyed the fresh damp morning racing to gain points for the club championships, others ran to gain a Pbs and some ran training for upcoming longer distance races.

Kirk Hill was the first SoM to cross the finish line. Even after suffering with food poisoning he walked part of the course and gained a fantastic time of 1:44:25, followed by club chairman Barry Burns in 1:48:12.

Barry said that the event was very well organised and well marshalled. A very undulating course with a strong competitive field with teams from across southern England and the Midlands including local teams. Andrew Jackson had a brilliant run, stating “it is his favourite race of the year” and finished 3rd Spirit.

Andy’s run was enjoyable as he got to run with a friend that he joined the navy with back in 1991 who had travelled from Portsmouth to take part in the beautiful trail race. With some disruption to his training Andy decided to start at the back and work his way up. This paid off as Andy started to pick up the pace and finished in chip time of 2:03:32.Steve Waygood enjoyed the local race, finishing in a fabulous time of 2:07:45 taking a huge 12 minutes off last years time and gained a great 16th place in his age category.

Marina Wright was the first Spirit of Monmouth female runner to finish. Marina used this as a great training opportunity for London marathon. After competing in the tough hilly 20 mile Grizzly race just two weeks ago, Marina found this race enjoyable, enjoying the local Forest of Dean woodlands.

Marina crossed in a fabulous time of 2:09:1. Sian Fielding was unsure about the race and nearly pulled out, doubting if she could make it around. After putting her worries aside, Sian ran a great race and enjoyed the route. “I managed to pick up my pace after the climbs and thoroughly enjoyed it, I’m now debating the Forest autumn half” said Sian crossing the finish line in 2:09:56.

Chris Baber felt this was one of his better races even from the lack of training he had done, with great pace management throughout the course. Chris said the conditions were decent and he really enjoyed the race finishing in 2:17:03. The Spirits men team finished overall in 18th place .

In Reading Spirits Sarah Baker, whose recently got back into running after having a baby, this weekend took on her first event since last year ‘Green park Reading half marathon’. Sarah found the race very tough but was very pleased to get to the finish line and see she still has the mileage in her.

Unfortunately a cramp at mile eight caused Sarah to to stop and stretch it out. After some positive talking throughout the final five miles, Sarah finished the race in 1:50:43 gaining 23rd place in her age category.