THROUGHOUT the season, members of Thornbury Running Club have been taking on ten kilometre distance races, and gaining points in the Club Championships.

The final qualifying event was held at Bath on Sunday.

Relish Races, in partnership with the National Trust, offer races of all lengths focusing on scenic courses at locations where runners can take the family.

Four Thornbury runners competed in the ‘Two Tunnels’ race, a flat, out-and-back course which passes through the 408m long Devonshire Tunnel and the 1,672m, over a mile long, Combe Down Tunnel following the route of the Somerset and Dorset Railway.

Although much of this race isn’t scenic in the normal sense of the word, it is certainly different.

It may have been the fact that there were also 5k, half-marathon and ultra distance options that confused one runner, so that he set off twenty minutes early and achieved a winning time.

But once all was corrected, the club results still looked good with Clare Watt winning the FV50 category in 46.42minutes and Nick Langridge second in the MV60 class in 44.41mins.

Kevin Arnold finished in 46.04mins in his first race since May, and John Watt in 61.34mins.

The Club Championship results have now been calculated, with Clare Watt winning the Ladies Championship as well as coming top of the table in the age-adjusted results. Langridge won the age-adjusted with Matt Johnstone already having maximum points overall.

Sunday August 13 saw two members take part in Stroud Athletic Club’s annual Standish Woodland Chase, a hilly race of almost ten miles over woodland tracks.

Angela Bushell improved on her 2016 time by over six minutes, finishing 76th in one hour 28.48mins, with Mike Bennewitz 94th in one hour 32.38mins.

It was at parkrun on Saturday that the club performance of the week was achieved, with Jim Godden sprinting around the 5k Chipping Sodbury course in a time of 18.47mins; the best Thornbury age-adjusted Sodbury parkrun performance of all time.

Kevin Wood also completed the course in a more modest, but still good time of 22.35mins, while at the Forest of Dean, David Palmer ran 28.42mins and Anne Palmer 33.44mins.

Paul Thomas had his first outing on the Wilmslow course in Cheshire running the 5k in 21.27mins.

On September 3, Thornbury will host its third race of the year, with the Oldbury Power ten-mile race, a figure-of-eight course starting and finishing in front of Oldbury Power Station.

The race is full, with runners keen to test themselves on the flat course with potential for athletes to achieve a personal best time for the distance.

Finishers will receive a medal.