THORNBURY Running Club were out in force for the hilly and challenging Doynton Hard Half Marathon on Sunday, writes Matt Johnstone.

The team of 21 Thornbury runners were looking to build upon their success in last year’s race, which had been contested in monsoon-like conditions across the trails on the outskirts of Doynton and Wick.

The race HQ was on the village cricket field and as the team gathered together near the pavilion there was the usual mix of pre-race excitement, team photos, injury excuses and horror stories from last year’s mud bath.

The first mile is a steady climb up a long straight trail, which slowly and cruelly increases in gradient until the summit. Nick Williams was 3rd in last year’s race and used his hill climbing ability to keep himself in contention with the top runners in the early stages. Behind Nick, Matt Johnstone was the next TRC runner over the first climb, followed by Rob Cowlard.

In the women’s field, Thornbury had two runners with realistic chances of challenging for the top prizes. Both Laura Orna and Hannah Kinloch were in the top five in the first section of steep hills and were carefully tracking the early leader from Bristol and West.

Nick Williams had another good performance after a closely fought battle near the top of the field, finishing fifth overall in 1 hour 37:53 mins. Rob Cowlard moved through the gears in the final four miles and started picking off several tiring runners, finishing in the top 10 again in ninth place and retaining the 1st prize in the V40 age category in 1 hour 41:01 mins.

Rob Watkins was another who timed his run well, holding back a little on some of the earlier climbs and pushing on the quicker sections to gain positions. Rob crossed the line with his arms outstretched and was welcomed home in jubilant scenes by his colleagues, as he capped another winning performance for Thornbury’s men in the team competition. Rob was 13th overall, 3rd V40 in 1 hour 43:10 mins.

Laura Orna produced the individual performance of the day. She was 2nd overall in the ladies race out of 127 runners and 48th overall in 1 hour 53:57 mins.

Hannah Kinloch Haken was 1 place higher than last weekend’s Riverbank Rollick, finishing 6th in the women’s field and 74th overall in 1 hour 58:56 mins. Joanne Emerson was the third Thornbury woman in 30th place, 171st overall in 2 hours 18:43 mins and helped the women’s team finish in 2nd place in the team competition.

The prizes didn’t stop there for Thornbury’s runners. Jim Godden was a clear winner in the V50 age category and 36th overall in 1 hour 50:30 mins. Hugh McPherson was 2nd in V60 age category and 236th overall in 2 hours 28:27 mins and Judy Mills was 3rd in the VF60 age category and 267th overall in 2 hours 35:54 mins.

Matt Johnstone was 14th overall in 1 hour 43:59 mins, closely followed by Henry Orna in 19th place in 1 hour 44:53 mins.

The picture of Dave Beard’s grimace at the top of the first hill in the 2018 race has entered club folklore and was used as a sadistic recruitment tool to encourage more TRC runners this year. Dave returned in triumph in 2019, fitter and more prepared for the waiting camera lens at the top of ‘Beard Hill’. Dave finished 41st in a finishing time of 1 hour 51:46 mins.

Other results included Robert Hopkins 69th 1 hour 58:26 mins, Paul Thomas 73rd 1 hour 58:51 mins, Kevin Cundy sprinted past 2 runners at the line to take 201st place in 2 hours 21:45 mins and Sarah Newnes made a good Doynton debut in 232nd in 2 hours 27:23 mins. Martin Smith was 237th in 2 hours 28:28 mins, Angela Bushell 249th 2 hours 30:42 mins and Sonya Bryson 272nd 2 hours 36:25 mins. Finally, John Grimsey and Arthur Renshaw crossed the line together in 363rd and 364th in 3 hours 6:41 mins.

John Grimsey prepared for Doynton with a run at Weston’s 5-mile Prom Run on Thursday. He was joined by Ian Shepherd, who was 191st in 39:50 mins, followed by Janet Gaze in 270th in 48:29 mins and John in 289th in 56:21 mins.

There was an international flavour to this week’s TRC parkrun results. Kevin Wood was in New Zealand at Taupo parkrun and ran 22:02 mins and Brian Godsman ran 24:05 mins at Skatas parkrun in Sweden.

David Palmer ran in his 99th parkrun at Chipping Sodbury and finished in 27:03, followed by Anne Palmer in 33:59 mins. Pamela MacLeod ran 32:07 mins at Riverfront parkrun.

At Thornbury parkrun there was a 1-2-3 finish for the home runners with Nick Williams finishing first in 19:23 mins, followed by Henry Orna 20:00 mins and Dylan Roberts 20:03 mins. Moray Sloan recorded a new personal best of 22:16 mins, Kevin Arnold was next in 22:45 mins, Malcolm Carr 27:23 mins, Chris Lee 27:29 mins, Karen Carr 29:55 mins and Ian Shepherd 54:08 mins.