SPIRIT of Monmouth Running Club took on their third Gwent Leisure Centre League series road race at the reclaimed Parc Penallta colliery site in midweek, reports VICKY ROBERTS.

Twenty three Spirits enjoyed the five-mile Ystrad Mynach course made up of two laps of tough hilly fire track.

Ben Saunders flew home in a speedy 30 minutes 10 seconds, followed exactly a minute behind by Katie Adams finishing fifth fastest and first over-45 woman.

Sarah Heath and Alison McMenemy ran like the wind to also take first places in their age categories, with Sarah running 34.37 in the over-60 class and Alison 46.11 in the over-65s.

The ladies teams finished in fourth and 19th overall, with the men also running well to finish 13th and 27th.

The whole of the Spirit team had a great run racing past Sultan The Pit Pony., located on the site of the old Penallta Colliery, who serves as a memorial to the pit ponies that once laboured in the mines of South Wales.

Chepstow Harriers also raced, with James Blore finishing eighth in 27.32, followed by Tim Batchelor 10th in 27.44 and Mark Gillett 12th in 27.54, as their men placed second.

Their women also placed third, with Cherry Fowler seventh woman and fastest over-55 in 31.49, Niki Morgan ninth in 32.16 and Sarah Bell 10th in 32.46.

Also in midweek, Spirit’s Nick Sloper rounded off his Llanfrynach 3-4-5 race series with the longest five-mile stage.

The heaven's opened on this one in the final mile, but he managed a decent final sprint cheered on by some energetic marshals from Brecon AC and some friendly competition with Aberdare Valley AC, to finish in 40.41 and place 60th out of 133.

His series time of 1.37.19 for all three runs saw him finish 37th overall.

On Saturday, Matteo Merola Scott took on his first ever half marathon in Cardiff after some hard training with Spirit.

This was the Conquer Cardiff Summer Half Marathon in the city centre’s Bute Park.

The 13.1 mile race consisted of four laps on flattish paths shared with other 5k and 10k participants.

Matteo really enjoyed his first half and was pleased to finish in the time of 1.43:45 for 25th out of 195 starters.

On Sunday, Nick Sloper continued his racing by running the Swansea half marathon, shifting from his preferred trail to road for the first time this year, and coming home with a time of 1.52.43 and a position of 2,158th out of 5,730.

He was happy with the result as he was bang on his target time with consistent pacing throughout.

The course took the field through the city centre and along the seafront, all helped along with a coastal tail wind pushing runners in for the final four miles.

Also on Sunday, Spirit’s Chris Baber enjoyed the Bradley Stoke 10k on the edge of Bristol, with the 2025 race being their 20th edition.

The route was a looped course starting at the Jubilee Centre which headed out through the tracks and footpaths of the Three Brooks Nature Reserve.

Chris had a great run after coming back from an ankle injury and ran home in 1.01.09.