North Somerset Athletic Club members recorded some fine results at the Gwent Cross Country League fixture held at Brecon.

Brecon may be the furthest place to host a Gwent Cross Country League fixture, but it is probably the most picturesque.

However, for the 40 North Somerset Athletic Club athletes who made the journey to Brecon, it was the racing not the scenery that was spectacular.

The races started with the Under-11 boys and the team had four debutants. Sam Holloway looked strong in his first cross country was first boy home in 40th. The next three runners were close with Elliot Jeston 62nd, Kian Newman 65th and Noah Newman 70th. The team was completed by Jacob Forsbrook, who finished in 79th, beating his position from last month.

Kiera Devereux had a strong run to cross the line in 26th place in a large field of Under-11 girls. Poppy Adams consolidated her great start to cross country finishing 50th, with another debutant Emma O’Connor having a super run right behind her in 51st.

Louie Brunsdon’s recent improvement has been spectacular and he put in a fantastic effort to lead home the Under-13 boys in 19th place, a massive improvement from his 62nd place last month.

Will Maine, Guy Owen and Emile Swanson claimed 30th, 32nd and 33rd, less than 20 seconds later. Cameron Barker-Perry put in a strong run to finish 43rd and debutant runners Ollie Andrews and Lewis Lazenby had promising starts to running cross country with 46th and 51st place respectively.

By now the course was becoming increasingly muddy, but this did not stop Ruby Owen leading the Under-13 girls home with a confident run finishing 13th overall. Stephanie Brooks, Connie Ballentine and Holly Avery followed in 31st, 34th and 59th respectively.

Sam Gentry battled with his fierce rival from Westbury Harriers up at the front from start to finish of the Under-15 boy’s race and they crossed the line together in joint first with the decision going to his rival by a head.

Ollie Lock finished 15th, 22 places higher than last month, with Kes Pitchers, Jacob Faulkner, Will Cheek and Alex Collins all improving on their positions from Bridgend in finishing 32nd, 36th, 46th and 55th places respectively.

Megan McCrum continued her good form and also improved on the last race by leading the Under-15 girls’ home in 18th place. Ruth Day was the second North Somerset girl finishing in 41st, followed by strong efforts from Maisie Squire and Isobel Grey in 52nd and 56th.

The combined Under-17/20 race had some strong runners which produced a fast race. Joe Gentry had a terrific run and was second overall and first in the Under-20 category to give the club its sole victory.

Callum Smith had another super run and led the Under-17 team challenge to finish in fifth place overall with strong finishes from Luca Murray (14th) and David Hazon (34th).

Celine Swanson ran her first Gwent League race in the senior ladies having and enjoyable, but tough run and finishing 172nd in a field of nearly 300 runners.

James Rodgers followed up his fantastic PB of 31.16 at the Leeds Dash 10k the previous Sunday by leading the senior men home with a 20th place finish. Josh Davis was not too far behind in 38th, while David Warnes had a great run in his first-ever senior men’s race crossing the line a respectable 69th place.

Steve Hollier was the sole V65 and finished in 202nd with Andy Devereux (V40) completing the teams scores in 287th.