A NEW year and a new attitude ensured normal service was resumed as Tom Curr cruised to victory in the Midland Cross Country Championships.

The 17-year-old Stroud & District AC runner destroyed his rivals on Stafford Common as he won his first regional cross country title in the Under 17 men's race, finishing 38 seconds clear of the field.

That the success came just two weeks after a below-par ninth place at the McCain Cross Challenge in Cardiff reflects Curr's decision to take on board the advice from coach Chris Frapwell that he needed to get more serious about his training if he was to maintain the success he has enjoyed so far in his young career.

"I enjoyed Saturday and I'm definitely back to where I want to be," said Curr. "After a rubbish run in Cardiff I realised I needed to start running more so I have increase my mileage from 15-20 miles a week up to 40.

"I had done really well off 15-20 but now I know that everyone else in my age group has moved up a gear and I did not realise how much difference that would make."

Curr's eyes were opened on a recent England trip to Spain when he talked to his team-mates and found they were doing three, four and even times as many miles as he was doing – explaining why they were suddenly beating him.

Hearing that message from his rivals re-enforced what Frapwell had been telling him and Saturday's emphatic victory should be a warning to the rest that Curr has now moved up a gear himself.

"To be honest I didn't know that much about running and I never thought about these things before even though Chris (Frapwell) has been telling me for ages," added Curr.

"But I have picked up the training now and it was certainly nice to enjoy winning like that again."

It proved to be a great day for Curr as he also led Stroud to the team gold as well with Tom Purnell finishing 7th, Aaron Phelps 12th and Jordan Frapwell having the best race of his life to complete the scoring in 16th to give Stroud a huge 29 points winning margin over Cannock & Stafford.

"It was great to win the team title as well," added Curr.

The only other local medal winner was 14-year-old Will Paulson in the Under 15 boys' race. The Stroud & District AC runner, who is also coached by Frapwell, made a remarkable comeback to finish runner-up and claim his first major medal.

Fourth is never an easy place to finish and the Stroud trio of Tom Russell (senior men), Amber Watson (Under 17 women) and Imogen Briscoe (Under 15 girls) will all be thinking what more could they have done to make the podium.

There was were also top ten finishes from Cheltenham & County runners Jane Thomas (Under 20 women) and Harry Mahony (Under 13 boys), Stroud's Matt Withey (Under 20 men) and Seven AC's Kyran Hale (Under 15s) while a further eleven local athletes secured creditable places in the top twenty.

■ For full results, see out website www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk

RESULTS Midland Counties Cross Country Championships, Stafford Common Senior women: 1 Gemma Steele (Charnwood) 31:35; 2 Claire Hallissey (B&W) 31:38; 3 Debbie Walters (Birch) 31:42.

LOCAL: 12 Louise Durman (Stroud) 34:43; 13 Gwen Kinsey (Sev) 34:48.

Under 20 women: 1 Hayley Munn (Kettering) 20:41; 2 Emily Merrick (B&W) 20:44; 3 Sara Johnson (Trentham) 21:23. LOCAL:9 Jane Thomas (Chelt) 23:11.

Under 17 women: 1 Annabel Gummow (B&W) 19:08; 2 Katie Holt (Stoke) 20:0; 3 Imogen Wolsey (TBAC) 20:06. LOCAL: 4 Amber Watson (Stroud) 20:19; 20 Beth Hawling (Chelt) 22:25; 40 Thea Marshall (Stroud) 23:45; 46 Elizabeth Sandham (Chelt) 24:28.

U15 girls: 1 Sophie Coldwell (Charn) 15:56; 2 Alice Wright (Worcs) 16:04; 3 Amy Griffiths (Leics) 16:25.

LOCAL: 4 Imogen Briscoe (Stroud) 16:30; 30 Lucy Goudsward (Stroud) 18:18; 70 Katy Townsend (Chelt) 19:58.

U13 girls: 1 Hannah Nuttall (Charn) 10:36; 2 Mari Smith (Leics) 10:45; 3 Lucy Holt (Stoke) 10:51.

LOCAL: 68 Danielle Sharpe (Stroud) 12:31; 89 Jessica Robbins (Stroud) 13:01; 90 Bethan Skuse (Chelt) 13:02; 97 Emma Minnican (Stroud) 13:19; 123 Cailin Tootell (Stroud) 15:23.

Teams: 1 Charnwood 48. 11 Stroud & District AC 377.

Senior men: 1 James Walsh (Leeds) 40:25; 2 Robbie Bugden (B&W) 40;29; 3 Billy Farquharson (Notts) 40:31.

LOCAL: 4 Tom Russell (B&W) 40:39; 14 Seb Foy (Chelt) 41:46; 15 Josh Lilly (Sev) 41: 54; 21 Tim Dalton (Sev) 42:32; 42 Ander Russell (Stroud) 44:00; 58 Sam Dalgleish (WH) 45:17; 84 Russell Forsbrook (Chelt) 47:19; 102 Elliot Prince (Chelt) 48:14; 116 Corin Hughes (Chelt) 49:22; 118 Dave Gilbert (Sev) 49:32; 145 Dave Lander (Sev) 51:09; 157 Steve Hale (Sev) 51:46; 168 George Robinson (Stroud) 52:31; 172 Alan Pitt (Stroud) 52:39; 202 Kenny Roberts (Stroud) 54:21; 222 Nick Gaulder (Sev) 55:32; 238 Ian Smith (Sev) 56:28.

Teams: 1 Coventry 116; 2 Notts 118; 3 Tipton 120. 10 Severn AC 678.

Under 20 men: 1 Matt Clowes (Staffs M) 27:15; 2 Ben Norris (Notts) 27:25; 3 Josh Norman (OWLS) 27:39

LOCAL: 7 Matt Withey (Stroud) 28:23; 11 Rob Gault (Stroud) 29:00; 16 Ben Coldray (Stroud) 29:23; 20 Richard De-Camp (Gloucs) 29:43; 36 Carl Frapwell (Stroud) 31:19; 44 Will New (Chelt) 32:02; 49 Andrew Kaighin (CHelt) 34:13; 50 George Livingstone-Thompson (Chelt) 34:19.

Teams: 1 Owls Leicester 45; 2 Bristol & West AC 51; 3 Notts AC 52. 5 Stroud & District AC 70

Under 17 men: 1 Tom Curr (Stroud) 23:34; 2 Brett Halliwell (WH) 24:12; 3 Rhys Park (B&W) 24:16.

LOCAL: 7 Thomas Purnell (Stroud) 24:48; 12 Aaron Phelps (Stroud) 25:16; 16 Jordan Frapwell (Stroud) 25:47; 26 Will Massey (WH) 26:14; 57 Ollie Starkey (Sev) 27:57.

Teams: 1 Stroud & District AC 36; 2 Cannock & Stafford AC 65; 3 Rugby &Northampton 89.

U15 boys: 1 Harvey Brown (Halesowen) 14;14; 2 Will Paulson (Stroud) 14:20; 3 Zak Tobias (B&W) 14:23.

LOCAL: 6 Kyran Hale (Sev) 14:47; 15 Xander Brown (Stroud) 15:12; 35 Thomas Parnell (Stroud) 15:50; 41 Matt Parr (Chelt) 15:54; 49 Patrick Sekinger (Chelt) 16:09; 61 Matt Davies (Stroud) 16:25; 75 Matthew Doyle (Stroud) 16:45; 110 Matthew Bedwell (Stroud) 18:32.

Teams: 1 Coventry 67; 2 Leicester 68; 3 Halesowen 84. 6 Stroud 113

Under 13 boys: 1 Dominic Bill (Hales) 9:45; 2 James Halton (Charn) 9:48; 3Josh Cara (Kettering) 9:56.

LOCAL: 8 Harry Mahoney (Chelt) 10:05; 14 Connor Wray (Chelt) 10;22; 17 Cameron Wassell (Stroud) 10:29; 25 Jack Cooper (Chelt) 10:38; 98 Jonathon Parr (Chelt) 12:24.

Teams: 1 Halesowen 76. 5 Cheltenham & County Harriers 145.