CHEPSTOW Harriers kicked off the Leisure Centre League road racing series with a victory.

On Tuesday 19th May, Chepstow Harriers' women were the winning team out of ten local running clubs from south east Wales at the six mile race in Parc Byrn Bach.

It was a very cold and windy evening, and the race took in a few hills so the runners faced challenging conditions.

The race was the first in a series of five in the summer Leisure Centre League series. The women's A team took first place, with the B team coming third, and C team fourth.

The first six women scored for the A team, and these were Jane Horler, Niki Morgan, Lisa Jeffrey, Sophie Gilbert, Jan Morris and Berna Cantwell.

The women's B team were second with Brenda Avery, Sian Stroud, Teresa Tranter, Joc Dodd, Berta Havers, Tanya Forehead scoring.

The C team were 4th with Jane Bayliss, Jenny Bell, Caroline Thomas, Carol Dunsbee, Daphne Austerberry and Suzie Shepherd scoring.

The men's A team were in fifth position. Sadly the men were lacking some of their faster people to race due to injuries.

The men's team captain James Blore said that he was hoping for a much bigger and stronger turn out for the next race in the series.

The next race is closer to home in Trellech, near Monmouth, so more attendance from Chepstow is anticipated.

Women's team captain Sophie Gilbert said "I was delighted with the strong performance from the women's teams.

"For our A team to come first and our other two teams to be in the top half bodes very well for the series.

"It's always good to start on a high to keep team motivation levels up.

"We have good strength and depth and hopefully this will give us a good chance of another series win.

"Competition gets more fierce every season, so we continually have to up our game."

The next race in the series takes place on Tuesday 16th June at Trellech.