ELEANOR Hathaway came second in the under-15s girls' race at the latest County Cross-Country League fixture at Crypt School in Gloucester.

With Emily Dowle finishing fifth and Tara Sladen seventh, the Forest girls won the team gold.

The under-20s Forest men also won a shock team gold, thanks to the efforts of Marcus Bennetto (fourth), Freek Van Arkel (fifth) and Ben Robbins (sixth).

Marcus had jogged the 5km Five Acres Park Run in the morning, while Ben was running his first competitive race outside of school events and Freek had done little recent training.

Bethan Samuel came third in the under-13 race, with team-mate Katie Kearsey fifth.

In the senior men's race, two Forest-based runners made the top 10. Richard De Camps (Gloucester AC) was fourth and Berry Hill's Kyran Hale (Severn AC) came seventh.

The only senior Forest of Dean AC runner was club captain Simon Dimmer who had a turbulent start to the afternoon. He lost his keys after leaving his car and by the time he found them he was late for the start. He finished 62nd.

THE Forest of Dean team achieved some excellent results at the Cardiff Winter Open at the National Indoor Athletics Centre.

The team picked up seven gold medals, one silver and five bronzes.

The under-sevens were particularly impressive, accounting for five of the 13 medals.

Under-nines athlete Sophie Harvey won two gold medals, in the 50m sprint and the long jump.

Other gold medal winners were: Drew Dixon (under-13s shot putt); Scarlett Peglar (under-11s 800m); Amy Dowle (under-11s high jump); Charlie Wellsted (under-sevens foam javelin) and Thomas Creed (under-sevens 50m sprint).

Thomas Creed (under-sevens 400m) won a silver medal, with bronze medals going to: Amy Dowle (under-11s long jump); Joshua Compton (under-nines shot putt); Harrison Coppen (under-nines long jump); Charlie Wellsted (under-sevens 50m sprint) and Thomas Creed (under-sevens long jump).