THORNBURY Running Club runners arrived en masse to tackle the ‘Bluebell Blunder’, an off-road circa 10k race set in the glorious Wye Valley.

The route snakes up and down the steep forest trail, including a short section along the Offa’s Dyke Path.

The last mile features beautiful fields of bluebells, followed by a quick dash down to the finish while trying to avoid the hazardous roots, which are very easy to trip over.

The highlight of the day belonged to the women’s team who won first prize in the team competition.

The first three ladies over the line were Joanne Plumbley, Rosina Rowland and Clare Watt.

Jo carried over her London Marathon form and was third female and 33rd overall in 54:53mins.

Ros and Clare had a ding dong battle throughout the race with Ros prevailing in 59:46mins, only six seconds ahead of Clare.

Ros and Clare finished second and third in the FV50 age category and 54th and 55th overall, respectively.

Michelle Turner completed the undulating course in one hour 8:22 mins in 96th place and 28th female.

While the men could not match the women’s domination, they did manage to make the podium in third place in the team competition.

First finisher for the club was Matt Johnstone who finished 10th in a time of 49:31 mins. Paul Thomas was next in 53:53 mins in 28th place, followed by Moray Sloan in 54:48 mins in 32nd place.

Nick Langridge ran a well-paced race, picking off several runners in the final third of the race. His time of 56:30 mins was good enough for second MV60, 45th overall and was three minutes quicker than his time in the same race in 2016.

Kevin Cundy highlighted the perils of off-road racing when he turned his ankle with one mile to go and was forced to walk to the end.

Hugh McPherson finished together with Kevin in one hour 11:23 and one hour 11:25.

Fortunately, St John’s Ambulance were on hand to help Kevin at the finish and thanks should always go to them and the army of volunteers who make these races possible.

Nigel Hale continued the Welsh theme to this week’s racing by taking part in the Porthcawl parkrun on Saturday and finished in 35:24 mins.

Paul Thomas and Chris Dawes joined the field of 333 runners at Chipping Sodbury in windy conditions. Paul’s time of 19:40 mins placed him 11th overall. Chris finished in 37th place in 21:48 mins.

Paul Thomas and Moray Sloan were out racing on multiple occasions over the weekend. Moray’s first outing was a 20:33 mins performance in Kingsway Gloucester parkrun in 15th place. Most people tend to slice seconds off their personal best times but Liam Symonds-Barry has made a habit of bringing his best time down in one minute increments.

His latest personal best on the Kingsway course was 22:12 mins in 31st place.

Kevin Arnold finished the Pomphrey Hill parkrun in 23:00 mins.

If you are interested in running, getting fit or looking for a new challenge and need a little motivation you should try the Thornbury Running Club Beginners Class. These start on Tuesday May 9.