England success at the Forest of Dean

The Forest of Dean was the setting for the England v Wales Masters Trail race. Over 13.1 miles the athletes weaved their way through the undulating forest trails.

The difference between this and the recent representative road races was in the safety brief with runners given guidance on what to do if wild boar and deer were encountered. Luckily neither made an appearance during the race.

As the runners set off into the forest under a light rain shower, the pop-up café operated by the Rotary Club of the Royal Forest of Dean did a roaring trade with the homemade cake sales and cups of warming hot drinks. The rain eased and as spectators prepared to welcome the runners into the finish the sun came out to light them home.  

In a closely fought finish taking both the M35 and overall race victory was Wales’ Daniel Kashi, closely followed eight second later by England’s M45 athlete Richard McDowell, who also took second place overall. It was a similar story in the ladies race where Wales’ Gemma Moore took victory in both the W40 category and the main race, chased home by England’s Carolyn Hay (W50).  The gap between the top two ladies was only seven seconds.

England took a clean sweep in the W50 age category, with Anne-Marie Bayliss and Toni Alcaraz joining Carolyn Hay on the podium. This was matched by a clean sweep in the M75 category, Owen McLaughlin taking gold, Francis Brennan silver and Doug Alsop taking bronze. It was a double celebration in the Alsop family as son, Dan, was also representing England in the M45 category.
Brian Symonds (M80) took home a collection of trophies including gold in the representative race, and the category win in the main race.

Yate and Sodbury Striders provided the most medallists for England from a single club with Lucy Wilson taking W35 bronze, Caroline Nicholas taking W40 bronze and Caroline Lavis taking W75 gold.

While the trail race marked the end of the outdoor representative season, the attention now moves to the Winter Endurance Training Days, the first of which is being held in Shrewsbury on Sunday 8 November.

If you would like to know more about being involved in the England Athletics Masters programme and how you can gain England selection visit our webpage.