IN A quiet week for Thornbury Running Club, two of the club's mature ladies showed they are still young at heart when they took part in Tough Mudder on Saturday, 11.5 miles of mud and obstacles around Cirencester Park.

Recent rain had made the going tiring and the course, designed by ex-special forces physical training instructors, included walking the plank, crawling under barbed wire, scaling high walls then jumping from height into water tanks, as well as running through the strength sapping muddy sections.

For Rebecca Dunsford, who has not been running for long, this was definitely a new experience and one that she thoroughly enjoyed.

Nancy Harding, who has been running for quite a while longer, yet again showed she can do anything she sets her mind to.

With completion being the aim rather than competition, there are no formal result times.

The four club members who turned out at Little Stoke parkrun had a totally different experience with a short, sharp run over 5k with no obstacles, hills or mud. Matt Johnstone achieved a new personal best time to dip below 19 minutes for the first time; 18:56 and two seconds in front of Garry Slater 18:58.

Malcolm Carr finished in 26:06 and Karen Carr in 27:28.