AN exciting start to the 2024 race calendar saw Spirit of Monmouth Running Club host the 3rd race of the Gwent Gwent Leisure Centre League X-Country race at Garway Hill, reports VICKY ROBERTS.
Nearly 250 runners from the clubs in the old county of Gwent took part in the gruelling four-miler which included lots of hills and mud, making it a fantastic XC route.
The course was surrounded by beautiful views of the country side and views of the Black Mountains in one direction and the Malverns in the other.
The Spirit team running on the day consisted of eight women – Sarah Heath, Vicky Roberts, Katie Adams, Lucy Macdonald, Renske Bouwens, Sarah Baker, Marina Wright and Rachel Waters, and seven men – Kirk Hill, Lee Davies, Andrew Jackson, Julian Howe, Andy Clifton, Maixent Gailard and Rod Wyatt, each one giving it their all around the tough trails and finishing with some brilliant results.
Spirit’s women were on fire and came in a superb fourthplace overall finishing behind Chepstow.
The Spirit men battled against some very strong runners from the other clubs and managed to place 15th overall.
Kirk Hill led the Spirit team up front and crossed as the first Spirit home in 32mins 20secs.
Lee Davies made his debut run for Spirit at Garway, powering up the muddy fields to finish second Spirit and thoroughly enjoyed the race and its atmosphere.
Sarah Heath on home turf again managed to put on an amazing show, flying to the front and running across the line in 34:.15 as first Spirit female home and first in her age category V60.
A huge thank you and well done goes to the team of volunteers who on a very wet week and cold morning were happy to help make the run possible before, during and after the event, directing, organising, car parking, setting up, marshalling, tail walking, time keeping, closing down, etc.
Meanwhile, Spirit are encoraging those thinking of boosting theit fitness and health by starting off 2024 by taking part in a C25K programme with the support of the club .
The nine-week programme is based on the NHS C25K app and is for people who are new to running and want to take on a new challenge, such as those who may be returning from injury and want to gradually get back into it, or people who haven’t run for a while and wish to ease back in.
Or you might just want to be more active and start the new year off getting fit and making new friends.
Anyone interested in taking part can get in touch with Spirit of Monmouth at [email protected] for details.