SPIRIT of Monmouth members Barry Burns, James Robinson, Katie Adams, Renske Bouwens, Vicky Roberts, Marina Wright and Sarah Heath were all selected to run and represent East Wales at the Welsh Inter-Regional Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Dolerw Park in Newtown .

Unfortunately, Barry, Vicky, Marina and Sarah could not make the event this time, but it was great to see lots of Spirits being selected and having an opportunity to race.

Katie, Renske and James all swapped their Spirit running vest to proudly wear their purple ones and race alongside friends from other local running clubs against some strong competition from other Welsh regions.

The women raced first following the youth teams, who had started to churn up the course and create a tough cross country race.

Three laps of a challenging 6.3km course saw Katie sprint finish across the line and gain herself gold in the over-45 age category in 25 minutes six seconds, winning by 11 seconds from Chepstow Harriers East Wales team-mate Kath Matthews, and also taking age category team gold.

Renske was also sixth fastest over-50 woman in 28.28.

James had a slightly longer course over 9.5km having to race an extra lap, and by the time the men were racing, the ground was like a mud bath and each step became harder.

Albeit a churned up course, it was a fantastic effort from James who enjoyed running for East Wales for the first time and crossed in 41st in the over-45s race in 39.17.

For those who fancy a festive trot, Spirit host the Monmouth Santa Fun Run starting at 10am on Sunday (December 7) at the historic Monnow Bridge.

That's the event's usual starting point, but for the second year running it will head around Chippenham playing fields owing to the closed Vauxhall Inglis Bridge.

Entry forms are available at https://www.facebook.com/MonmouthSantaFunRun