FORTY thousand runners of all different shapes, sizes and costumes lined up on Sunday morning in fantastic racing conditions in South East London to contest the Virgin Money London Marathon.

A Royal delegation sounded the starting horns to set the runners on their way and amongst the huge pack were five hardy Thornbury runners.

Rob Hopkins has been trying to crack the three hour barrier for the marathon in recent years and came closest of all in 2016 in an excellent time of 3hr six minutes time.

His strategy this year was to set a a more conservative pace in the first half of the race and he crossed the mid-way point over Tower Bridge in a good position.

Rob finished in a time of 3 hrs 12 mins 59 secs (3:12:59) and will no doubt be back next year to solve his marathon puzzle. Rob finished in 3,409th place and 742nd in the 40-44 MV age group.

Joanne Plumbley was the next to reach The Mall in front of Buckingham Palace and after setting a blistering pace in the first half she held on to finish in a great time of 3:33:12. This placed Joanne just outside the top 1000 female runners in 1019th ( 6865th overall ) and inside the top 10% of the 40-44 FV age group in 197th place.

Emma Barnes gauged her effort around the 26.2 miles with metronomic precision. The second half of the race was only 1 minute slower and she even saved her fastest kilometre with the finishing line in sight. Her time of 3:49:54 was a fantastic run, placing her 2209th female ( 10446th overall ) and 1215th in 18-39 age group.

Chris Foley used all his experience to hang on for a sub 4 hour time in 3:59:14 in another measured performance of well-paced distance running. Chris finished in 13121st place and an excellent 59th in 65-69 age group.

Judy Mills set out aggressively and paid the price for her ‘no guts, no glory’ tactics as the race wore on. The second half of the race was harder going, as the clouds disappeared and the sun started taking a toll. Judy held on to complete the course in 4:48:41, 7881st female ( 25268th overall ) and 111th in 60-64 age group.

John Grimsey was back on Weston Prom on Thursday evening, aiming to banish the memories of his last race there. John was back on form this time and completed the 5 mile course in 47:30 mins, almost 3 minutes quicker than in March.

Kevin Cundy was our quickest parkrunner of the weekend, finishing 55th at Chipping Sodbury in 22:44 mins. He was followed by Malcolm and Karen Carr, who both set new PBs in 25:10 mins (116th place) and 26:19 mins (151st overall, 25th female), respectively.

As well as being one of Thornbury’s most prolific racers, Kevin Arnold likes nothing better than venturing to different parkrun courses. Newport Riverfront is a recent addition to the parkrun family and Kevin’s maiden run on this course was completed in 23 mins exactly (40th place).

Rachel Terrett finished Wotton parkrun in 28:45 mins (61th place, 27th female) and Liam Symonds-Barry set another PB on the Gloucester Parkway parkrun in 23:07 mins (38th place).