A PAIR of runners who take part in the Chipping Sodbury parkrun every week are celebrating the completion of their 50th course.

Helen Durnford, from Yate, and Rowan Marshall, from Wickwar, decided to team up as they both ran their milestone run on Saturday, July 9.

Helen, 37, and Rowan, 39, both civil servants, donned special T-shirts for the occasion and were cheered on by other parkrun enthusiasts.

“We both did our first parkrun in 2014,” said Helen. “I was running before but Rowan started with parkrun. We really like the atmosphere, it is a free timed run but everyone pitches in and cheers people round.

“It doesn’t matter where you are from or how good you are and people celebrate each other’s successes.”

Parkrun is a global initiative which organises free runs in communities all over the world on a weekly basis. Participants are encouraged to achieve 50 and 100 run targets.

Added Helen: “We try to do it every week and we are getting there with our fitness.”