THE main event for the last weekend in June was the Cotswold Way Relay, a real team event with 90 teams each of ten runners racing the entire length of the Cotswold Way.

Thornbury Running Club entered two teams; Quality Street comprising the best veterans available on the day, and Allsorts in the mixed team category, therefore requiring a minimum of three lady runners.

Once all the times for all the teams had been totted-up, the veterans were found to have taken a total of 13:29:12 to run the 102 miles, third in the veteran category and ninth team overall.

The mixed team took 16:55:56 to cover the distance; ninth in the mixed category and 69th overall.

The stages are of different lengths; some tougher than others but all hilly and scenic with a glorious downhill finish to stage 10 in the pedestrianised area close to Bath Abbey, much to the bemusement of evening tourists.

Martyn Green had a great start for the veteran team, finishing stage one in 10th place, with Chris Ashworth in a respectable 60th.

Roger Denton performed almost as well, 11th to finish stage two, with Nigel Hale 73rd.

In stage three Rob Watkins had the best club result of the day to come fifth with Arthur Renshaw 66th, while in Stage four it was a tale of two Jims; Godden 12th and Williams a very good 33rd.

Vic Williams finished stage five in 38th place with Gareth Thomas 66th.

Rob Cowlard also managed a single-figure place in stage six, coming eighth, with Claire Demarquet another 66th place.

Paul Clark was 15th in stage seven; Jerry Clothier having a good run to take 58th place, and in stage eight Mark Curtis was 13th and Ros Rowland 63rd.

The Slaters took on stage nine with Garry 15th and Selina 72nd and on the final stage Nick Langridge was 35th to reach the Abbey and John Watt not too far behind in 51st.

Due to the Relay there were fewer runners than usual at the parkruns.

At Little Stoke the first junior parkrun was held for four to 14-year-olds over a 2k course.

Inspired by their athletic parents, two Thornbury youngsters joined in: Thomas Darton finished 18th in 9:50 and Eve Slater 67th in 13:47.

In the 5k run Daniel Harding had a time of 19:52 and Kevin Arnold 21:02, with Malcolm Carr 25:15.

First timer Jennifer Spence started with a bang and a great time of 22:39, which she will surely improve upon.

At Chipping Sodbury, Hugh McPherson completed in 22:45 while Angela Bushell had a boost to her confidence with a new personal best of 25:58.

On Sunday two Thornbury members took part in the Bristol Harbourside Standard Triathlon.

Ashley Hodgetts, fairly new to the game, had good quick transitions and swam and ran well to finish 38th overall in 2:20:26.8.

The much more experienced Rob Hopkins had a faster bike time, but finished 51st in 2:22:45.7.

Thornbury Running Club meet weekly at 7pm on Thursdays at Thornbury Leisure Centre and new members are always welcome.