Yet again it’s been a busy couple of weeks for the Monross-Trailblazers.

On Saturday, November 18th, club member, Andrew Stephens finished in 12th place in the famous Elan Valley 10 mile road race. After months of hard training, Andrew came in first in his age category for east Wales in this race.

On Sunday 19th, Monross-Trailblazers club members took on the Black Mountain Trail race. This was an out and back nine mile race from Crickhowell to Llanbedr following the Grwyne Fawr, fast flowing river.

Andrew Stephens finished in fifth place in 1 hour 2 minutes, Robert Pritchard 12th in 1 hour 6 minutes. Gavin Jones followed close behind in 1 hour 7 minutes, and James Fletcher completed the race in 1 hour, 12 minutes to come 35th out of a field of over 250 runners.

On Sunday, November 26th the club took on the Ross race, organised by Dan Sandford, The Howling Bull. This consisted of an 850ft elevation, six mile race, from Walford Village hall, heading up into the woods around the local area.

Gavin Jones set off with the leaders in the competitive race and pushed to get sixth place in a time of 42 minutes, 28 seconds. Luke Gray followed close behind in seventh with a 42 minutes, 46 seconds. 12th place was Toby Dickens in 44.08, and Sam Weale in 23rd, 47.47. Richard Bevan made a comeback from his injury in 49.02, with James Fletcher breathing down his neck in 49.12 in 32nd place. Martin Scrivens followed in 33rd place 49.20. Tony Davies was 77th in 55.11 and Ian Gray was 87th in 56.19.

Laura Lelievre was seventh female home in 51 minutes 44 seconds, Vanessa Ball came in soon after, 60.08, in 30th place. In 49th, was new club member Luisa Sadler, in 65 minutes, 55 seconds.

Monross-Trailblazers finished second, following the Forest of Dean Athletics Club.

The next training session will be from Monmouth Leisure Centre at 18:30 on Wednesday, November 29th.