The penultimate race of the winter cross country league was held on Sunday January 8th and it was back to business for Monross Trailblazers following the Christmas break.

Monkhall Farm on the Dewsall Court Estate, provided the venue; the route compromising of a mix of farmland, estate grounds and woodland. The race was blessed with milder but wet conditions, which the runners found heavy going in places when they got underway at 11am.

The Monross team had several runners missing for this event, so the remaining nine battled for position around the 6.4 mile route, which featured several sharp inclines and lots of glorious mud.

Barry Davies was the first Monross runner home in 47 minutes and 14 seconds and 16th place, continuing his ongoing battle with Luke Gray, who finished close to him in 47:52 and 20th place.

Another close pairing were Sam Harness (50:22, 36th) and Dan Gray (50:35 in 37th). Dan is a fairly recent running convert so the future looks good for him!

Dave Knapper followed Dan in 50th place in a time of 52:21 and the guy with the racing bug, Bobby Pritchard was 60th in 54:31. Ian Gray completed the Monross men’s team efforts in a superb 93rd place (62:04).

Monross ladies posted a couple of great times, Laura Lelievre finishing sixth in 55 minutes 04 seconds and promptly ran back down the final  hill to spur on the determined Vanessa Ball who finished 19th in 59:49.

Meanwhile, other Trail-Blazer members Gavin Jones and James Fletcher took part in the Kymin Fell race which was held on Saturday 7th January. The Kymin Fell race is organised by Les Croupiers running club of Cardiff, and it is always a popular event with 97 runners taking part. The race started at the bottom of the Kymin and took runners up the muddy uphill’s and slippery fast descents for 4.1 miles and a challenging elevation of over 1000ft. Gavin Jones came in 10th overall in 36 minutes 5 seconds, James Fletcher followed close behind in 37th in a time of 47 minutes 15 seconds.

With the last XC race approaching in February, Monross are back in training this Wednesday, January 11th, meeting at Monmouth Leisure centre at 6.30pm.

Visit www.monross-trailblazers.co.uk or their Facebook page for more information.