Alastair Campbell stormed to a hugely impressive victory in the Tewkesbury Half Marathon yesterday.

The Stroud and District Athletic Club runner raced home in a time of one hour, 11 minutes, 58 seconds, some 13 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

“He’s naturally talented,” said Stroud AC chairman Jim Adams. “He trains hard, he works hard, he’s one of our best runners.

“He’s been with the club for a quite a long time, we’re very proud of him. He runs from the front and his success is all down to talent and hard work.”

Campbell’s closest rival was Max Kelly, the Hatherley and Reddings 1^st XI cricketer, who ran unattached.

“It was my best performance by far,” Kelly said. “I ran nearly two minutes quicker than my previous best which was at the Stroud Half in October, it was a good one.”

Now Kelly, who sat out Hatherley’s five-wicket defeat by Stroud on Saturday to prepare for yesterday’s race, is setting his sights on the Cheltenham Half Marathon which will take place on Sunday 4^th September.

“I’ll run a couple of 10Ks in preparation for that race,” said Kelly, who won the Chepstow 5K back in January.

Owen Grant was the first competitor home for Tewkesbury Running Club and his time of one hour, 14 minutes, four seconds smashed a club record for the race which had stood for more than 30 years.

It was enough to earn him fifth place and Nigel Tillott, chairman of Tewkesbury Running Club, said: “He’s been around for a while, he’s a very good runner.”

More than 30 runners from Tewkesbury Running Club took part in the event and Tillott added: “It was a really good event, the support on the streets was excellent and they really cheered the Tewkesbury runners.”

Tillott was one of around 1,000 runners who took part, finishing in a very solid one hour, 35.