It was a busy day for race timing and multi-sports teams from DB Max on Sunday (6 December) with both the Castle Combe 'Chilly' 10K at the famous motor racing circuit five miles northwest of Chippenham and the Mapledurham 10 at Mapledurham House by the River Thames near Reading. 

The Wiltshire-based company hardly has time to catch its breath with Westonbirt Christmas 10K next Sunday (13 December); Chippenham Longest Day 10K on 20 December and the brand new Hair of the Dog trail run at Chippenham on New Year's Day – making Wiltshire the current hotspot for race action.

Given Wiltshire's pre-eminence in the racing calendar, we start our report with news from Castle Combe, where 278 runners finished the aptly-named 'chilly' 10K in 1:25:55. Setting a hot pace at the front were five men inside 32 minutes as more than 150 raced home inside 50 minutes. 

Matthew Rees (Swansea Harriers, 31:22) was crowned unofficial 'King of Castle Combe' ahead of Ben Neale (Tavistock Run Project, 31:36), Matthew Collins (Oswestry Olympians, 31:44), Charlie Jones (31:46) and his Western Tempo clubmate Alex Lee (31:49).

Two women were among the 46 runners to beat 40-minutes: Freya Spruit (Team Bath, 39:13) and W40 Aine Halton-Hanley (39:42). Rebecca Pierce (Bristol & West, 41:15) was third.

Meanwhile, over at the Elizabethan stately home that borders affluent Caversham in Berkshire but is actually seated in southern Oxfordshire, a further 400 race-starved athletes assembled with a choice of 10K or 10 miles on the menu.

This is a classic trail race, part of DB Max's Winter Trail Run Series, and the response from the running community was commendable with two-thirds of last year's pre-pandemic entry in action.

The top three men in the longer race were Luc Jolly (Vegan Runners, 58:25), Richard Price (Wargrave Runners, 59:24) and M40 Paul Fernandez (Abingdon, 1:01:12). There was a close women's race with an all-veteran W40 podium: Jessica Franklin (Newbury, 1:14:42), Joanne Widdup (1:14:48) and Melissa Venables (Spa Striders, 1:15:20). 

Mapledurham 10K featured a big win for Cameron Coveney (BMHAC, 36:29) a mile clear of M40 masters Chris Callow (43:10) and Mark Tigwell (43:18). Hannah Ridout (44:47), Susan Francis (W50 Compton Harriers, 46:11) and Nicola Lee (47:38) headed the women's field.

Check out all of the weekend results at runABC South December race listing here      

Image: DB Max on Facebook