THORNBURY Running Club members and others must be aware that one of the club’s main strengths is in its senior runners, and, where ‘senior’ is usually used to refer to over 18, 21 or 23 years old, at Thornbury it means over sixties.

For those who really enjoy running, it is a great pleasure to be able to continue in the sport well past retirement age, even though times will inevitably drop-off.

So, with only one club member racing this past week, we look to the faithful John Grimsey who, even though he has moved further away from the area, still retains his club vest and sets an example to the youngsters.

Last week’s race, on Thursday, was the latest in the Weston Prom five-mile series, a flat course covering two laps of the Promenade.

This is not Grimsey’s race-length or terrain of preference, and he has been carrying a hamstring injury for a couple of months.

So a finishing time of 49.11minutes was a great achievement as was 308th of 332 runners and quite possibly the most senior entrant as next year he will reach the MV70 category.

A few club members used a parkrun as a training session on Saturday.

At Chipping Sodbury, Angela Bushell ran close to her all-time parkrun best, covering the 5km in 24.21minutes.

Andrew Darton was second to cross the line in 18.06minutes and Anne Palmer was the fastest in her age category in 31.53minutes.

Paul Thomas went to Wotton-under-Edge to sample the course, and decreed it good training for cross country races, finishing in 21.49minutes, about a minute-and-a-half slower than his previous week’s run which had been on a hard, fast surface.

Judy Mills, 27.11minutes and first to finish in the FV55-59 category, felt better about her own time after hearing this, but in any case enjoyed the tough, muddy terrain.

Tom Usherwood was on his own at the Stonehouse parkrun, finishing in a personal best of 20.17minutes.

Meanwhile, preparations are on-going for the 2017 Riverbank Rollick and there is a little extra something for finishers this time.

The race has been a sell-out for the past few years, and Thornbury Running Club is extremely grateful to those regular entrants who repeatedly support the club’s races, especially as it has been a ‘no-frills’ event.

So, after listening to feedback from runners, the club is pleased to say that, as well as chip-timing, all 2017 finishers will be awarded a specially-designed medal.

Furthermore, if they complete the other club open races, the 10k in July and the 10-miler in September, they will get two more medals, and the three can be interlinked to form a single piece.

With less than seven weeks before the race, entries are filling fast, so sign up quickly online.