IT was a weekend of great achievements for Thornbury Running Club members.

At noon on Saturday 24 September, Ros Rowland, Rob Hopkins and Dave Beard set off from Chipping Camden to run south.

They and the other competitors in the Cotswold Way Century then had thirty hours to run, walk, stagger to Bath, 102 miles away.

Other club members were following the Cotswold run on a live tracker, and there was some consternation when the trio appeared to have stopped at 4.30pm on Saturday, but all was well, if heavy rain at 3am can be considered ‘well’, and despite head torches all took minor tumbles in the dark.

At various times they were joined and encouraged by clubmates, then, with the end almost in sight, the tracker again stopped at 2.30pm on Sunday.

In a great weekend for the distance, there were races at Bristol, Cheltenham and the Forest of Dean with Thornbury members at all three.

Far from being the fastest, but possibly the highest achievers, were the two ladies at Cheltenham who owe their success in part to the training and inspiration of Ros Rowland – still out there battling with the Cotswold Way.

Both running the distance for the first time, Cathy Watkins finished in two hours 17.16minutes with Magda Johnson in two hours 33.30minutes.

At the Forest of Dean Autumn Half Marathon, Moray Sloan took over eight minutes from his previous best time to complete the course in one hour 36.26minutes.

Hugh McPherson (one hour 52.34minutes) and Mike Bennewitz (one hour 57.29minutes) were 10th and 11th in the Vet60 class respectively.

Dylan Roberts was Thornbury’s fastest finisher in Sunday’s Great Bristol Half Marathon. The event boasted the biggest field and also the greatest number of Thornbury runners.

Roberts finished in one hour 27.04minutes ahead of Andrew Darton in one hour 30.08minutes.

Taryn Roberts, in one hour 36.33minutes, was only seconds slower than Sloan’s Forest of Dean time, though he probably had a tougher course.

Steve Dimond in one hour 49.19minutes bettered his Severn Bridge half marathon time by half a minute. Robert Parker ran well in one hour 50.15minutes but Liam Jones was not happy with two hours 1.09minutes, and Kevin Davis completed the distance in two hours 14.24minutes.

Meanwhile, the rain soaked the Cotswold Way trio, and with the half-marathoners home, the trio had reached the edge of Bath with 2.5miles to the finish.

At Saturday's parkruns, Garry Slater ran 19.55minutes at Chipping Sodbury, while Malcolm Carr achieved a new personal best for the course in 25.42minutes.

David Palmer finished in 27.30minutes ahead of Karen Carr with a time of 27.50minutes. Anne Palmer crossed the line in 31.45minutes.

The Cotswold runners averaged about three miles per hour over the route, allowing for some very stiff climbs and reached the Bath finish after 29 hours of running.