THORNBURY Running Club’s Rob Hopkins frequently gets a mention for completing marathons and triathlons, but it seems there was no longer any challenge in these.

So, on December 5 he upped his distance to 43 miles for an Ultra race in the Brecon Beacons.

The course, starting at Tal-y-bont included 2,800 metres of ascent and tough terrain with mud, felled forest, and features on the map entitled ‘Bog of Doom’ and ‘Tricky river crossing’.

He finished the event in 14th place in a time of eight hours 10.21 minutes and his comments say it all: “Baptism of fire for my first ultra. Amazing experience, well organised, great cameraderie, fantastic route. Looking forward to the next one.”

Also on December 5, the mere mortals met at Blaise for the third race of the season in the Gwent Cross Country League.

The course was familiar to most of the athletes, but everyone had to battle with the strong winds from Storm Desmond.

Despite being close by – just across the Severn Bridge – the Ladies were unable to enter a full team, but Taryn Roberts made her first appearance for Thornbury, having a good run to finish 82nd in 27.39minutes. Angela Bushell ran well in a strong field, 179th in 32.18.

The men were there in greater numbers with Matt Johnstone also making his debut for the team, to finish first for the club and 155th overall in 41.46 minutes with Jim Godden (164th, 42.11) and Steve Allen (173rd, 42.28) close behind.

Veteran Mike Willis had an off-day, yet still completed in 228th place in 44.06 ahead of Chris Dawes, another first-timer for the event (270th, 46minutes), Nick Langridge (289th, 47.24) and Kevin Arnold who had already completed a 5k parkrun that morning (330th, 49.58).

Further back, but still of value came the duo of Jerry Clothier (368th, 56minutes) and Pete Mainstone (371st, 56.19) whose performances brought the Masters Over 55 team to eighth of 38 teams to score.

The following week it was only a slightly longer journey to the Crypt School at Gloucester for the third race in the Gloucester Cross Country League.

In the men’s race, that man Rob Hopkins came to the fore again, first to finish for the club in sixtieth place in 40.57minutes. Vet60 Mike Willis had a better race than the previous week, finishing third in his category and 88th in 43.12.

Captain Paul Thomas followed, 114th in 45.35 with Moray Sloan just a few places behind, 121st in 46.19 and Nick Langridge 4th V60, 125th in 46.48minutes.

Amongst all the veterans, it was good to see a younger member competing for Thornbury with Chris Thomas having his first outing to come 134th in 48.18minutes, and 3rd in the U20 category.

This only left Pwete Mainstone out on the course, who finished safely in 161st place in 54.45minutes.

Again the ladies were unable to produce a full team, but Ros Rowland came third in the FV50 category, 46th in 35.38mins with Angela Bushell again running strongly to come 83rd in 39.48mins.

At Little Stoke parkrun the same day Kevin Cundy completed the 5k course in 23.46minutes and Jon Welsh in 24.15mins.