NO matter how well a race is planned and organised, no-one has control of the weather.

After a week of snow, rain and gales, Riverbank Rollick race director Steve Dimond did hoped the forecasters had it right for last Sunday and the 11th staging of the event by Thornbury Running Club.

The day started with fog and frost but by the 11am start time, the sun shone in a near-cloudless sky and although cold, the air was still.

The Rollick is not a race for the weak or fastidious. There will always be mud somewhere along the nine-mile course, and this year only the few road sections were dry.

The puddles could usually be avoided but strength-sapping mud was the alternative, and the flat riverbank section was tough and slippery.

The race was a sell-out, and although not every entrant turned up, around 350 set off from the start.

First runner back was Stroud’s Lee Rankin in 58.44mins, followed by Sean Taylor of Pontypool and District Runners in 59.14mins then Nicholas Smart (Westbury Harriers) in one hour 00.39mins.

The first lady was not far behind. Annabel Granger (Bristol and West AC) was 11th overall in one hour 05.20mins, with Westbury Harriers taking second and third places through Catherine Lee, in one hour 06.35mins and Bridget White who finished in one hour 08.19mins. As both male and female winners were in the Vet40 age category, the prizes went to the next finishers.

They were Darren Wilkinson (sixth place in one hour 02.36mins) and Catherine Tailby (Penarth and Dinas, ninth placed lady in one hour 18.24mins).

In the Vet45 category, Westbury Harriers’ David Hobbs was eighth overall in one hour 03.05mins, with Niki Morgan, of Chepstow Harriers, the fifth lady in that category in one hour 10.57mins.

Thornbury’s Ros Rowland won the ladies Vet50 category in one hour 18.18mins. Other category winners were Dave Gapper and Alison Engledew (Vet55); Michael Murphy and Gillian Murphy (Vet60); Paul Snelling and Sue Nicholls (Vet65) and Ralph Davey (Vet70).

In the ladies team event, Bristol and West AC athletes finished second, third and 27th to win that trophy, while Stroud Men finished first, 10th, 11th and 21st. The prize for each team was a beautifully decorated home-made cake.

Most available members of Thornbury were helping, and those who did run had tasks to complete first. The first man home for the club was Rob Hopkins who was 22nd in one hour 07.18mins.

All runners were rewarded with free tea and cake, though donations were invited for Cerebral Palsy Sport and over £300 was collected.

A few Thornbury members had been to one of the local parkruns last Saturday with Dan Harding finishing at Chipping Sodbury in 21.27mins and Hugh McPherson running 23.21mins.