DURSLEY Running Club made a splash at the Riverbank Rollick in Thornbury.

Ben Amigoni led DRC with Francois Low, Jon Tudor, Simon Jones and Dave Durden in close attendance. As the runners turned down Cow Hill, Fran Amigoni was out front for the DRC wmen having moved away from Jadie Cotterell after the first half-mile. Ben Amigoni led DRC on to the riverbank section with Jones in close attendance and Dave Durden about 30 meters behind, Tudor and Francois Low, behind Durden. Fran Amigoni led Cotterell by about 800m in this section.

Whilst the runners had favourable conditions under foot, the riverbank was extremely challenging. A strong south westerley ensured the athletes worked very hard.

Once off the bank the runners just had to contend with hills, a small section of stream and an extra 1.3 miles to the new finish.

Ben Amigoni yo-yo-ed in front of Durden. Low eventually passed the obdurate Durden and chased after Amigoni in the closing mile.

Fran Amigoni extended her lead by a considerable margin with just over one mile to go.

Finishing at his limit, Low was just one second behind Ben Amigoni in a great tussle to be first DRC athlete home.

Ben Amigoni finished triumphant, in 01:12:41, 22nd overall and sixth senior male.

Dave Durden finished 18 seconds behind, a good result for DRC men placing the third behind Chepstow and Weston AC. Jon Tudor ran a very good race to be fourth home just in front of Simon Jones.

Fran Amigoni led the DRC female contingent home, 92nd overall, 8th F35 in 01:21:33. Cotterell claimed second spot and Immi Testa third for DRC women,10th F45, Testa just in front of Lise Hindshaw. Louise Beck were swept up for DRC.

Beck had not run properly for some months so it was a great achievement to get around in 02:26:05 to claim Dursley’s Lanterne Rouge spot. DRC achieved 8 top ten finishers and another 10 in the top twenty of their categories. Durden highest placed in the MV50 cat. in 5th, with Ben Amigoni and Low 6th and 7th Senior males (SenM) respectively. Fran Amigoni was 8th F35-39, Cotterell 8th Sen female, Immi Testa 10th F45-49, Jon Tudor 10th SenM.

Results: Ben Amigoni, 22nd, 01:12:41, (6th Male Senior); Francios Low, 23rd, 01:12:42, (7th Male Senior); David Durden, 26th, 01:13:00, (5th M50-54); Jonathan Tudor, 37th, 01:14:25, (10th Male Senior); Simon Jones, 41st, 01:14:52, (7th M40-44); Darren Kitchin, 67th, 01:18:25, (12th M50-54); Andrew Oborne, 83rd, 01:20:22, (13th M45-49); Francesca Amigoni, 92nd, 01:21:33, (8th F35-39); Jadie Cotterell, 136th, 01:26:11, (8th Female Senior); Damian Lai, 146th, 01:27:07, (8th M40-44); Pete Dunn, 150th, 01:27:24, (29th M40-44); Imi Testa, 201st, 01:33:14, (10th F45-49); Lise Hindshaw, 202nd, 01:33:16, (11th F45-49); Catherine Pinnock, 203rd, 01:33:17, (15th F35-39); ntony Ball, 226th, 01:35:28, (27th M50-54); Nick Fennell, 241st, 01:37:43, (31st Male Senior); Susan Peachey, 245th, 01:38:14, (15th F45-49); Erica Fuller, 247th, 01:38:24, (13th F50-54); Steve Rugman, 248th, 01:38:28, (17th M55-59); Lisa Young, 255th, 01:39:06, (16th F45-49); Louise Biddell, 256th, 01:39:07, (22nd F35-39); Adam Cook, 266th, 01:40:00, (38th Male Senior); Lyn Murray, 271st, 01:40:26, (16th F50-54); Julie Gowing, 278th, 01:41:12, (25th F35-39); Kris Rymer, 279th, 01:41:13, (38th M40-44); Darren Smith, 299th, 01:44:05, (40th Male Senior); Kathryn White, 307th, 01:44:32, (19th Female Senior); Michelle Ball, 314th, 01:45:26, (26th F40-44); Katrina Fletcher, 319th, 01:45:51, (28th F35-39); Andrew Ferguson, 320th, 01:45:59, (43rd Male Senior); Claire Searle, 322nd, 01:46:20, (20th F50-54); Dave Halford, 351st, 01:48:53, (44th M40-44); Steve Barnes, 379th, 01:53:43, (13th M60-64); Sandra Lewis, 385th, 01:56:10, (28th F50-54); Carly Heath, 412th, 02:02:23, (42nd F35-39); Ben Houghton, 413th, 02:02:29, (49th Male Senior); Nicki Cowle, 414th, 02:02:35, (41st F40-44); Jo Fearns, 415th, 02:02:37, (40th F45-49); Karen Eadon, 418th, 02:04:04, (37th F50-54); Terry Cother, 419th, 02:04:04, (38th M50-54); Sarah Willcox, 433rd , 02:14:56, (45th F45-49); Anya Eames, 434th, 02:14:56, (43rd F40-44); Cara Zoglowek, 440th, 02:25:38, (50th F45-49); Louise Beck, 441st , 02:26:05, (44th F40-44);

James Price completed the “WDW Disney Dopey Challenge”, his children taking part in junior race.

The events take part at Disney world in Florida. James reports “The Dopey challenge is 4 races on 4 consecutive days a 5k, 10k, Half Marathon and a Marathon. As all the races start at 5am and you need to be on the transport buses by 3am sleep deprivation plays a big factor” Price ran three impressive races over 5k, 10K and Half Marathon distance before producing an amazing Marathon effort of 03:26:11 which many club runners would be pleased with on its own without three consecutive days racing before it, added to this he ran the last two events in hot and humid conditions

Results: 5k 82nd (18th Cat). 21.13. 10K 88th (21st cat) 42;35. Half Marathon: 189th (30th Cat) 01:34:48. Marathon 03:26:11 (Pos tbc)

Friday saw the Glos. AAA Road Race Series Awards held at Gloucester City Council’s Civil suite, the mayor presenting the medals. Dave Saunders and Dave Durden picked up silver in the MV65 and MV50 categories with Alice Lewis, unable to attend, picking up bronze in the F55

Three DRC athletes headed over the Forest of Dean, for the second Rogue Runs night race series of the winter from the Cannop Cycle Centre on Thurday the 10th Paul Gebbet reported it to be “challenging off road course”. Gebbet was first DRC runner home in 65th in 41:45. Second DRC finisher was Rachel Brown,140th (25th female and 7th FV45+) in 50:44, followed by Kevin Brockway, 203rd (17th V50+) in 55:03.

Amanda Hensman ran her 50th parkrun at Kingway on Saturday, husband Richard celebrated with a PB of 23:32. Another DRC 28 parkrunners were out on Saturday, including Russell Rolls who ran a PB at Thornbury of 23:22.

Best AG grading again went to Neil Parry, 70.26%, who ran his second ever parkrun in Western Springs in Auckland NZ. With Mouse Clutterbuck closer to home debuting at Seven Bridge, not far behind on AG with 69.87%. Fastest DRC parkrunners of the weekend were Jon Tudor 20:45, saving himself for the Rollick? and Shona Darley 24:18 at Kingsway, Shona was top of AG for the DRC women at 64.75%.