A BIG turn out of 16 Spirit of Monmouth runners travelled to Cardiff for the second Gwent League XC race of the season on Llandaff Fields.

The race was part of ‘The 2025 Cardiff Cross Challenge’, which holds a prestigious Gold Label in the World Athletics Cross Country Tour, and attracted some of the top runners in the UK.

Tom Chinnick came 172nd out of 592 in 37. 13 in the men’s race, followed by Ben Saunders in 246th in 39.09.

Katerina Adams was 42nd and third over-45 in the women’s race out of 417, crossing in 25.53, followed by Sarah Baker in 165th in 30.18.

Spirit’s men were 51st out of 149 in the team rankings, while the women were 33rd out of 109.

New member Liberty Barlow also took on the tough hilly Beacons Marathon, including a 1300m elevation gain up Pen Y Fan and Cribyn on a mixture of road, trail, canal paths and fields.

She finished in 6 hours 07.18 coming 59th out of 119 and eighth woman.

Julie Gee also raced at the The Newent 9 on Sunday alongside a 260-strong field, an undulating 9.5km road race that led out from Newent Community School up towards Clifford’s Mesne and back via the old International Birds of Prey centre.

This race marked the 10th anniversary of the race, with Julie coming home in 1.06.24.

Martin Blakebrough and Jeremy Creasey also teamed up again to race at the Bath Hilly Half on trails, with two laps offering spectacular views.

The race started and finished at Bath Racecourse in Lansdown, and both men enjoyed the race which involved 1,650ft (500m) of elevation gain.

Martin finished first in 2.17.42 and Jeremy close behind in 2.27.10.