ON a fairly quite weekend for Chard Road Runners, it was down to Nina Wagstaff to represent the club at the Avon Valley Runners’ Wiltshire Half Marathon, based out of Edington, near Trowbridge.

Wagstaff, having been suffering with a virus, took the gamble to run this popular event, and heading out from the start Nina took a more cautious approach.

Finding her pace over the first few miles, with the hills claiming some of the early sprinters, she was starting to feel her racing pace returning and pushed hard to move up the field with confidence.

As the miles passed, Wagstaff had made up some good places, and heading into the finish she crossed the line in 1h 31m 50s (53rd out of 336; second in her category).

The Bicton Blister 10-mile off-road race was the second event for CRRs as Wayne Loveridge headed off to Bicton Gardens, East Budleigh.

This race starts in the grounds of the gardens and heads out for a short road section.

With the road section cleared, Loveridge took to the trails and tracks around Woodbury Common, and with the gradient changes the going was definitely starting to take its toll, but he was in his element and was chasing down the very competitive field of frontrunners to move into the top five.

With the route peaking at eight miles, the smoother and more predictable paths back down towards the finish line allowed Loveridge’s smooth running style to come to the fore, seeing him cross in 1:03:26 - third out of 439 runners.