NOW in his fortieth year Martin Hula gave another reminder that he is one of the west's most consistent runners with a well-deserved victory in the Avon and Somerset cross country championships.
The Bristol and West athlete is relishing the new lease of life that is coming not just with the approach of veterans' status but also a change in job.
Handed redundancy from finance giants AXA Sun Life Hula is now re-training as a teacher and admits the student schedule is helping his running.
'' My training has not changed greatly over the last few years but the difference now is that I'm studying full time and so have more leisure time and this aids my recovery," said Hula.
"I still get valuable advice from my mentor of the last twenty odd years - Dave Jennings (mentor to Olympian Nick Rose) and in addition to this I now get solid back up support from the university (UWE) that I'm at.
'' I still enjoy running and that is the key thing for me.  Over the years I've been privileged to have trained with some great athletes like Nick and have learnt so much from them. Now, though, I tend to do most of my sessions on my own."

On the opening lap of the race it was Somerset athlete Carl Morris who forced the pace with Hula following closely.
Hula made his move on the second lap and quickly opened a small gap over the Wells City Harrier.
"I sensed he slowly slightly on the second lap so I put a small burst in and was able to open up a few yards," added Hula.
"I consolidated this on the final lap and felt better as the race went on. And amazingly it is the first time I have won the senior title!"
Morris held on to second with Alec Woods, another Bristol and West newcomer, finishing third and first veteran.

Weston-super-Mare based athlete Ursula Counsell shrugged off her recent injury worries to win the senior women's race for the first time.
Counsell was closing in on early leader and Bristol and West clubmate Abi Wilshire when the latter dropped out with breathing problems leaving Counsell well clear of her rivals.

In the younger age groups there were fine wins from B&W's England youth international Craig Peters in the U17s event.

It was another good day for the Peters brothers with Richard winning the U15s age group with his Westbury Harriers' clubmates Steve Nash and Eloise Barrington both claiming silver medals in the U13s races.

Lee Bartlett looked very comfortable in winning the U20s title while Jenny Binks was top U20 runner in the women's race.


* Bristol and West's Caroline Kloiber finished fourth overall and top woman from almost 200 runners in the inaugural Riverside Rollick 7.5 miles multi terrain race in Thornbury. The race was won by Dursley's Kieron Leeson from David McNally of Great Western Runners.

* The Bristol and West pair of Kevin Heywood and Amy Wilkinson won the Devon County senior titles with Heywood beating defending champion Stuart Hall.


Avon and Somerset cross country championships, Clifton College Sports Ground, Bristol - senior men: 1 M Hula (B&W) 35:07; 2 C Morris (Wells) 35:39; 3 A Woods (B&W, M40) 35:54; 4 R Williams (Bris Uni) 36:25; 5 P Parry (B&W, M40) 36:42; 6 S Shepley (Tip) 36:51; 7 M Shore (West) 36:54; 8 A Baker (Wells) 36:57; 9 N Adams (B&W) 37:18; 10 T Kingsnorth (B&W) 37:37; 11 D Moore (B&W, M40) 37:43; 12 W Joyce (Taun) 37;50; 13 J James (Wells, M40) 37:52; 14 I Stuart (B&W) 37:54; 15 M O'Doherty (B&W, M40) 37:59; 16 R Wallis (West, M40) 38:06; 17 P Grist (Poole) 38:32; 18 M Roberts (B&W) 38;37; 19 M Gilbertson (GWR) 38:39; 20 N Hides (Cleve, M40) 38:49; 21 J Gilling (Taun) 39:33; 22 A Henderson (Wells, M40) 39:42; 23 S Curtis CoB) 40:04; 24 W Fortescue (Bitt, M40) 40;20; 25 M Pearse (Taun, M40) 40:32; 26 A Sheppard (Bitt) 40;39; 27 A Deamer (Wells) 40:44; 28 J Malone-Lee (B&W) 40;50; 29 C Richards (Cleve, M40) 40:54; 30 N Somerville (Wells, M40) 40:58.
M50: 1 D Wintle (GWR) 41:46; 2 T Hutchison (CoB) 42:18; 3 K Harris (GWR) 43:08.
M60: 1 T Jefferies (West) 43:27; 2 B Atkinson (Cleve) 45:52; 3 J Canning (West) 51:24

U20 men: 1 L Bartlett (B&W) 24:05; 2 S Somers (W&B) 26:53; 3 C Randall (Taun) 28:37.

U17 men: 1 C Peters (B&W) 20:15; 2 D Stevens (W&B) 20:27; 3 D Mullett (B&W) 20:28; 4 C Allbrowe (Langport) 21:00; 5 J Tavener (Mendip) 22:01; 6 C Gallagher (W&B) 22:05; 7 M Evans (Taun) 22;33; 8 J Collier (West) 2:56; 9 O Berry (Taun) 23:31; 10 D White (Wells) 23:55.

U15 boys: 1 R Peters (West) 15:56; 2 T Carpenter (West) 16:39; 3 N Todd (B&W) 16:47; 4 H Webb (West) 17:10; 5 M Dunkerley (B&W) 17:24; 6 R Witham (B&W) 17:34; 7 L Lawrence (Taun) 17:45; 8 C Fisher (B&W) 17:56; 9 N Bennett (Taun) 18:06; 10 T Jacob (West) 18:18.


U13 boys: 1 Nathan Young (Mendip) 8:55; 2 S Nash (West) 9:14; 3 B Venus (Butlers Mead) 9:16; 4 C MacLean (Wells) 9:17; 5 D Studley (West) 9:24; 6 A Wiltshire (Wells) 9:29; 7 M Peters (B&W) 9:48; 8 C Davidge (West) 9:54; 9 T Junker (Taun) 10:00; 10 A Kula (West) 10:04.

Senior women: 1 U Counsell (B&W) 22:54; 2 Z Tucker (Bitt) 23:14; 3 H May (CoB) 23:45; 4 J Binks (B&W, U20) 23:51; 5 V McConnell (B&W, W40) 23:57; 6 K Buckley (Wells) 24:07; 7 S Monahan (B&W, W40) 24:13; 8 A Granger (B&W) 24:17; 9 H Fines (B&W) 24:22; 10 V Tester (Wells) 24:24; 11 S Partridge (B&W) 24:30; 12 T Elson (West) 24:6; 13 S Urwin-Mann (CoB) 25:11; 14 C Dulle (West) 25:13; 15 S Jones (Wells) 25:29; 16 E Whittaker (B&W) 25:34; 17 P Spruit (CoB, W35) 25:40; 18 A Taswell (Wells) 26:19; 19 R Edwards (West) 26:29; 20 Y Cox (Bitt, W40) 26:38.
W40: 3 S Curnow (Bitt) 26:49.
W45: 1 Alison Roberts (Cleve) 27:57; 2 J Hector (Taun) 28:51; 3 H Kula (West) 29:49.
W55: Kirtsy Robertson (West) 29:48; 2 M Coffey (West) 30:04; 3 A Butler (GWR) 39:36.
U20s: 1 Binks; 2 F Harker (Taun) 27:08; 3 C Griffin (Wells) 27:48.


U17 women: 1 S Barnes (Cleve) 18:00; 2 J Bailey (CoB) 19:29; 3 L McQuaid (West) 19:40; 4 K Winstone (West) 19:49; 5 T Lawson (Taun) 19:52; 6 V Curtain (Cleve) 20:37; 7 S Hector (Taun) 20:45; 8 E Crowe (Langport) 21:03; 9 L Thomson (Cleve) 21:38; 10 S Kynon (West) 21:58.

U15 girls: 1 Laura Parker (Wells) 14:57; 2 H Lawrence (Taun) 15:11; 3 Hannah Patmore (CoB) 15:29; 4 N Taschimowitz (Taun) 15:52; 5 L Taylor (B&W) 16:03; 6 R Penfold (Mendip) 16:10; 7 J Batson (Cleve) 16:19; 8 H Forrest (Wells) 16:22; 9 Y Lockett (B&W) 16:22; 10 L Meech (Cleve) 16:30.

U13 girls: 1 Leighanna Chappel (Wells) 10:25; 2 Eloise Barrington (West) 10:27; 3 S Parsons (Cleve) 10:30; 4 J Bowers (Wells) 10:31; 5 E Triggs (B&W) 10:34; 6 N Parker (Wells) 10:36; 7 R Kelly (Cleve) 10:40; 8 S Gordon (B&W) 10:43; 9 L Tunnel (Mendip) 10:47; 10 A Woods (Wells) 10:53.



Gloucestershire cross country championships, Pittville Park, Cheltenham U17/15 women: 1 C Cogger (Chelt, U15) 18:58; 2 Sophie Cooke (Chelt, U15) 19:50; 3 A Drew (FoD, U17) 20:08; 4 Ellie Dove (West, U15) 20:30.

U11 girls: 1 Vicky Budd (West) 6:39; 2 Holly Hill (West) 6;43; 3 Lydia Mitchell (Chelt) 6:44; 12 Irish McNeill (West) 12; 13 Bethan Thomas.
Teams: 1 Westbury Harriers 15.

U15 boys: 1 M Withey (Stroud) 17:03; 2 E Cross (FoD) 17:42; 3 Tom Wintle (West) 18:03.

U13 boys: 1 B Coldray (Gloucs) 11:32; 2 Robert Galt (West) 21:13; 3 J Salter (Chelt) 12:34; 4 Martin McNeill (West) 12:54.
Teams: 1 Cheltenham 14; 2 Westbury Harriers 17; 3 Bourton RR 13.

U11 boys: 1 Thomas Purnell (Stroud) 6:17; 2 Will Woodcock (Chelt) 6:27; 3 George Collings (Ciren) 6:29; 4 G Richards (FoD) 6:33; 5 George Wintle (West) 6:37; 8 James Wilson (West) 6:42; 9 David Dukes (West) 6:45.
Teams; 1 Cheltenham 20; 2 Westbury 22; 3 Cirencester 36.