SPIRIT of Monmouth Running Club had a great start to the new 2026 running calendar, starting with hosting the third race of the Gwent Leisure Centre X-Country League on Sunday.

The race was held a few miles over the border at Oldfield Farm near Garway, at a farm owned by one of the members, with amazing views.

And although frosty with a chill, the sun shone brightly, allowing runners to wear a mixture of attire of shorts, sunglasses, wooly hats and gloves.

It was four miles long and consisted of one lap around fields that luckily had dried out or become hard from the frost, meaning a lucky escape from winter mud as they came away pretty clean.

David Mather, race director, had worked hard to organise the event, ensuring a fun, safe and interesting course.

He started by welcoming everyone with his impressive Welsh language, wishing everyone a Happy New Year.

As the whistle blew 171 participants from the various clubs in the old county of Gwent ran off into the distance enjoying spectacular scenery and support from the Spirit marshals.

Race winner was Mynydd Du fell runner Jonathan Ford, racing for Fairwater Runners, who came home 19 seconds ahead of Parc Bryn Bach’s Dane Williams in 25 minutes dead.

Third in 25.54 was Parc’s Daniel Bodman 15 seconds ahead of Chepstow Harriers’ Tim Batchelor, followed by former Monmouth School teacher Huw Evans running for Parc in fifth, who was fastest over-50 in 26.23.

Adam Grey of Pont-Y-Pwl & District Runners came sixth just four seconds further back, closely followed by Parc duo Adam Roberts (26.30) and Paul White (26.32), Lliswerry Runners’ Lee Drew (26.43) and rounding out the top 10 Parc’s Ashley Middlewick.

Fastest woman home in 22nd was Antoinette Rose of Lliswerry in 28.48 followed by Parc’s Karri Hinshelwood in 30.41 and the winner’s club mate Sandra Chipper (31.13), who took the female over-50 class.

Harriers’ Tony Marshall took the men’s over-60 class in 29.07, a second and six seconds ahead ahead of club mates Douglas Briggs, second over-55, and Chris Martey.

The first three Spirit men through the finish line were Ben Saunders (29.22) in 30th, James Robinson (30.18) in 33rd, who took second in the over-45 class, and Matthew Visser (31.39) in 44th.

Spirit’s Katie Adams won the women’s over-45 class and placed fifth fastest female in 31.35, followed by Vicky Roberts who took the over-35 category in 33.20, Renske Bouwens in 38.51 and Rachel Waters as third over-35 in 42.53.

Harriers’ Niki Morgan was fastest over-55 woman in 32.57, while club mates Barbara Maddison (44.24) and Brenda Avery (50.05) took the over-65 and over-75 titles classes respectively.

Parc Bryn Bach took the men’s team prize ahead of Lliswerry, with the result reversed in the women’s competition, where Chepstow Harriers’ Katherine Matthews, Kathy Stringer, Niki Morgan , Sarah Bell and Lisa Jeffrey took third, with their men sixth.

The host teams ran well against some tough competition with the ladies teams finishing fifth and 15th and the men seventh and 19th.

Spirit thanked Sarah and Graham Heath for all of their hard work preparing the land and allowing them and the GLCL to use their farm to host the event.