AFTER the demise of Aztec West Fast 5k last year, a firm favourite with many of the quickest runners in South West and those looking for PBs, its organisers at Bristol & West AC have created the Filton Flyer 5k.

The inaugural Filton Flyer 5k took place on March 27 and a lone Thornbury runner joined a field of 80 trailblazers. Colette Jackson was in 70th place overall and ninth woman in a time of 23:07 mins.

Martyn Green and Kevin Wood raced in Tockington on March 25 at Sri Chinmoy GO TRI Duathlon. The race is contested over 2k run, followed by a 15k bike and a final 2k run.

Martyn has been very active in the cyclocross scene in recent years and used this biking pedigree to gain several places on the bike segment. Martyn finished in an excellent third overall in a time of 40:46 mins. Kevin raced in this event on several occasions last year and was 31st on this occasion with a time of 53:03 mins.

Henry Orna is tapering down his training as he prepares for Taunton Marathon at the weekend, but still managed to finish in the top 10 at Chipping Sodbury parkrun on Saturday with a time of 19:08 mins in seventh place. Behind Henry, Kevin Arnold ran 21:13 mins and Angela Bushell was 7th woman in 24:44 mins. Clare Evans ran 28:42 mins and Richard Illingworth finished in 29:55 mins.

Last Saturday Paul Thomas was taking part in his 53rd parkrun and his first at Eastville Park, finishing in 33rd place in a time of 21:54 mins on Saturday morning.

Thornbury RC runners were at three other parkruns and the most popular location this week was Chipping Sodbury. Andrew Darton was running with his fleet-footed son, Thomas, and finished in 22:02 mins. Kevin Wood was next in 23:12 mins, followed by Angela Bushell in 25:17 mins.

Richard Illingworth was a sub three-hour marathon runner in his heyday, so was understandably surprised to find himself being overtaken by a runner in a dinosaur costume.

However, there aren’t many people over the age of 70 who can run 29:47 mins for a 5k,which was Richard’s finishing time. Anne Palmer completed the quintet of TRC athletes at Chipping Sodbury in 34:19 mins.

Rebecca Dunsford was making a comeback after an injury and ran 37:18 mins at Pomphrey Hill. Malcolm and Karen Carr were furthest afield of all, in Weymouth, and they completed the course in 27:14 mins and 27:52 mins.