On Tuesday 8th August five Spirit of Monmouth running club members took part in the last race of the Rose Inn series.

The race series was held by Chepstow Harriers and was based at the Redwick Village Hall, near the Rose Inn pub, Redwick, this was a fast, flat four mile road race which Martin Blakebrough still on race form took the 1st Spirit position and crossed the finish line in a speedy time of 27:07 making this his best time in the series.

Renske Bouwens the only Spirit female to race that night had a brilliant run finishing 2nd Spirit with a time of 29:09 placing 4th in her age category that night and took podium 2nd in age category for the whole series.

Jeremy Creasey crossed the finish line in 3rd spirit position in exactly 30:00, making this his fastest time out of the four races with Maixent Gallard right on his tail crossing just two seconds behind with a very near photo finish.

Steve Reason picked up the speed and finished the race well in great time of 33:11. Spirit of Monmouth would like to thank Chepstow Harriers running club for putting on a brilliant race series and look forward to taking part again next year.

Saturday saw Nick Sloper from SOM who thoroughly enjoys the hilly trail runs, fly the Spirit flag at The TEC Cotswold Challenge half marathon . A beautiful scenic route around the Cotswolds With some serious climbs and obstacles to navigate over, which included some of the Cotswold and Monarchs way. Nick actually ran 15.13 miles in the event and described it as a brilliant event by TEC and he was joined by some great competitors sharing their trail stories along the route. Nick’s official finishing time was 03:04:45 and he crossed the line in 51st position and achieved an elevation of 1814ft.

Sunday was a busy day for runners taking part in the Wyedean Relay another race put on by Rogue runs. The Wyedean Relay is an off-road team event starting in Ross-on-Wye and finishing in Chepstow a total distance of 52.9km. The relay runs over the beautiful countryside in the Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean. Teams were made up of seven runners who each ran a separate leg made up of different distances throughout the day.

Spirit of Monmouth entered two teams made up with Katie Adams, Marina Wright, Lucy MacDonald, Brain Evans, Renske Bouwens, James Exton, Stuart Morris, Andy Jackson, Alison McMenemy, Stephen McMenemy, Robert Nelson, Kirk Hill, Trina Sami–Brown and Andrew Hillis.

Both teams ran absolutely amazing races and finished in an overall position of 8th and 12th out of 36 teams. Spirits team 1 was made up of mixed age categories and came overall 5th in the mixed groups category . Spirits team 2 was a Vets 40+ team and they also came in 5th place overall in their category.

Spirit of Monmouth showed true teamwork and support throughout the day, following and supporting each other throughout with families and fellow club members supporting.

The competitors certainly carried smiles throughout, even whilst climbing some tough hills and muddy trails.

Katie ran leg 1, an 8.3km tricky run from Ross to Kerne Bridge and managed to come 1st female home in a fantastic time of 43:26, this also meant Katie smashed a new leg record for the Wyedean relay and got a place on the Leg record board.

Lucy ran Leg 2, a 9.8km run starting at Kerne bridge and finished at Symonds yat ( top). Lucy also came in 1st female on her leg with an amazing time of 49:12 . This also meant Lucy smashed a Leg record and gained a deserving place on the Wyedean relay Leg record board.

Spirit would like to thank Rogue runs for hosting another fantastic relay race on a beautiful route and would encourage others to take part next year .