IF YOU walk your dog around the streets of Thornbury on Thursday evenings you may have encountered Thornbury Running Club.

Hopefully it wasn’t too traumatic an experience, as a group of runners, maybe wearing headtorches and reflective clothing, sprint or lumber past you calling out ‘dog!’ or ‘walker!’ to warn that there are others using the path.

The club says it is for ‘runners of all abilities’. Add ‘and ages’.

Although it can only cater for under-18s accompanied by an adult there are regular runners in the 70+ category, and some of our 60+ men will see off very many younger athletes.

People run for different reasons and the club tries to support all its members, providing a safe and sociable running environment, as well as encouraging all to participate in races, often subsiding entry fees.

Once you start, you can’t but help wanting to improve, and if that doesn’t mean getting faster it might mean managing to go further without feeling anything more painful than a sense of achievement at the end.

Three open races are hosted annually. First the popular Riverbank Rollick which will be on Sunday, January 17 in 2016.

Usually a sell-out, it sees around 350 runners tackling fields and mud from the Pithay, past St Arilda’s Church at Oldbury to drop onto the Severn riverbank before turning through Littleton and back to the Mundy playing fields.

The 2015 winner finished the nine-mile course in 58.44 minutes, the last runner in two hours 18.56.

In July, there is a 10k evening race and in October a flat, fast Sunday morning 10 mile event, both on road.

For completely new runners, a Beginners’ Course was held starting in May and finishing with the group triumphantly completing the club’s 10k race.

While chiefly for runners, the club also supports those who swim and cycle, and in 2015 the duathlete and triathlete members have competed success - fully at home and abroad.

Rob Hopkins, one of our most loyal members and perhaps the club’s strongest runner, took on a series of marathons and triathlons, his best result being 3rd at the Brutal Extreme Triathlon in September which included a run up and down Snowdon.

Two weeks earlier he had sprinted up Helvellyn, then two weeks later it was Ben Nevis.

Representing Great Britain, in their categories Roger Denton came second at the Long Distance World Duathlon championships in Switzerland, and Arthur Renshaw was fourth at the Standard Distance European Duathlon championships in Spain.

Rob Watkins’ London Marathon time of 2 hours 56.15 took the club record, held by Richard Illingworth since 1989.

At Thursday club nights, different-paced groups allow runners to choose their own speed.

There are also club races; 5k winter and 10k summer series and a 10-mile, all handicaps, where winning is about improvement, not coming first.