Gloucester Athletic Club are closing in on the Birmingham and District Men’s Cross-Country League Division Two title after another fine all-round team performance at Coombe Abbey Park in Coventry.

They strengthened their grip at the top when they took second place on the day behind a very strong Birmingham Running and Triathlon Club and are right on course to win promotion to the top tier in the final race of the campaign at Telford next month.

James Denne followed up his win at the County Championships the previous week with another excellent run, coping with the very difficult conditions underfoot to take second place behind runaway winner Shaun Gray of Royal Sutton Coldfield and to consolidate his own position at the top of the individual overall placings.

Team-mate Harry Wells travelled back from Cardiff University to post another fine run, placing sixth overall to remain second in the individual standings, while team captain Steve Millward repeated his 11th place finish from round two.

Owen Parry was the team’s fourth man home, placing 28th, with Jeremy Mower (62nd) and James Walters (66th) completing the scoring ‘A’ team with a total of 175 points, 35 behind BRAT.

The club’s reserves were once again out in force, providing essential back-up to the ‘A’ team. Jason Tilley was first man home for the ‘B’ team, placing 82nd, Steve Haines came back in 107th, Pete Haynes placed 151st, Dave Gresswell 161st, Lloyd Andrews 187th and Arthur Daley 194th for a team score of 887 points and a 6th place finish on the day.

After the race, Steve Millward said: “This was a great result considering we were missing a couple of key runners on the day. We’re 65 points ahead of BRAT going into the final fixture, so it’s vital that we have all our runners there on the day if we are to win the title.”

Race results: 1st Shaun Gray, RSC; 2nd James Denne, Gloucester AC; 3rd Ian Allen, Spa Striders. Team results: 1st BRAT 140 points; 2nd Gloucester AC 175; 3rd Kenilworth Runners 205. League standings after three of four fixtures: A teams, 1st Gloucester AC 380 pts; 2nd BRAT 445; 3rd Newcastle (Staffs) AC 547. B teams, 1st BRAT 1428 pts; 2nd Kenilworth Runners 1499; 3rd Gloucester AC 1993.

The club’s ladies’ team was decimated by illness, injuries and non-availabilities and were barely able to raise a complete team, however, those who made the trip to Trentham near Stoke-on-Trent battled gamely to ensure the team placed a credible 15th of the 19 teams in the division.

Briony Bishop, still only an under-20, ran her best race of the season by far to take an excellent 39th place finish, with Anna Midgley (45th) and Bethan Moor (49th) hot on her heels. Trudy Wells completed the scoring team when placing 117th.

Team manager Paul de-Camps said: “All credit to the ladies who ran to make sure we completed a team. We always knew this league was going to be tough, but we will have to make sure we have a better turn out in the final match next month.”