Spirit of Monmouth were out on force last week, starting off at the last Gwent Leisure Centre League summer race, reports VICKY ROBERTS.

The GLCL are nine running clubs in Gwent that take it in turns to put on five closed road races of about 5 miles on Tuesday evenings in the Summer, and five weekend cross-country races in Autumn and Winter.

Tuesday’s race saw ten women Spirits and ten men race the five-mile course across the Old Severn bridge in Chepstow, with boh finishing 10th overall.

Katie Adams had another exceptional run coming first Spirit and second in her age categoryin 32mins 38secs.

Lucy MacDonald and Linsey Holt worked together throughout pushing each other to the finish line in 41.19.

Sian Burns completed the course in 53.41 with Joanna Martin and described it as lovely route with beautiful views across the bridge.

Kirk Hill was first male Spirit in 34.31 with Martin Blakbrough crossing just a second behind.

Jeremy Creasey and James Exton also had great races and battled it out to finish in 38.19 and 39.20 with just one second between them.

It was great to see Rod Wyatt racing and enjoying the views whilst bringing the men’s team home, crossing in 57.21.

On Saturday, Katie and Phil Chadwick took part in the Wye Valley Trail race put on by Dave Talbot adventure events, a scenic half marathon starting and finishing at Chepstow racecourse.

Crossing the England-Wales border, it included two bridges over the Wye, two famous landmarks – Tintern Abbey and Chepstow Castle – and included two famous trails, Offa’s Dyke and the Wye Valley Walk Way.

The route comprises rolling forest trails, stunning views, historic landmarks and a mix of technical ascents/descents, open fields and views across the Severn estuary and Wye.

Katie was on fire again and came in seventh overall and first woman in 2 hours 13.42. Phil was taking part in his 1st race after a few weeks off and enjoyed the beautiful but tough hilly race, finishing in 3.18.56.

Sunday saw the sun appear and two Spirit members took part in the hot Cardiff 10k.

Stuart Morris and Richard Wonson ran the Cardiff 10K with a sightseeing tour of the city, past Cardiff Castle and the Principality Stadium. The race journeyed through the heart of Cardiff, before crossing the Taff and heading towards the leafy suburb of Pontcanna and the parkland of Llandaff and Pontcanna Fields.

Runners then enjoyed the fantastic sights of Sophia Gardens, the home of Welsh cricket, before the grandstand finish in the Edwardian Civic Centre.

Stuart took minutes off his last 10k with a new PB of 42.03.

Richard found the route tough in the heat along with the rest of the 4,061-strong field, but managed to finish with a smile that he started with in 55:27.

Nick Sloper joined 2,037 runners in the Cheltenham half marathon, finishing in 1.52:.59 finishing 46th in his age category. Currently at 998 running miles for the year, Nick is looking forward to achieving his 1k miles for the year !

Sunday also saw Spirit’s Renske Bouwens take on the Helvellyn Triathlon at Ullswater, which included a 1500m swim, 59k bike ride including The Struggle hill climb and a 15k run up Helvellyn which included scrambling up Swirral Edge.

Renske described it as very scenic but brutal.

The overall race took 5.54 to complete which saw Renske come third in her age category .