THE Thornbury 10k was hotly anticipated by the sell-out field and it was a sweltering evening of racing.

Organised by Thornbury Running Club, it is their second race of the year, and is run on the undulating country lanes from the Thornbury rugby club to Rockhampton and over the Sundayshill Lane and back, writes Matt Johnstone.

Bristol and West AC’s stranglehold of the men’s race was broken by Gavin Jones from Monross Trailblazers in a winning time of 35:02, followed by Gloucester’s Owen Parry in 2nd place in 36:00 mins and in 3rd place was Andrew Kirrup of Wotton Runners in 36:27 mins.

Susan Duncan broke the 40 min barrier with an excellent time of 39:34 mins to take first place in the women’s field. In second place, Thornbury’s Taryn Roberts went 2 mins quicker than 12 months ago in a barnstorming run of 40:23 mins. Taryn had the added satisfaction of breaking her club’s 10k record which had stood for 26 years. Third place in the women’s race was Westbury’s Vicky Tester in 40:45 mins.

As well as an army of Thornbury volunteers, there were several TRC runners taking part. Nick Williams was 12th overall in 39:06 mins, followed by Paul Harrod in 16th in 39:59 mins, Adam Frontczak 34th in 42:41 mins, Jay Mosley 35th in 42:50 mins, Paul Saville 38th in 43:06 mins, Chris Gaze 46th in 44:40 mins, Matt Johnstone 47th in 44:45 mins, Ian Hoffman 48th in 44:49 mins, and Martin Abrahams 58th in 45:42 mins.

Thornbury’s second woman to finish was Hannah Kinloch-Haken 59th overall and 7th woman in 45:42 mins, followed by Digby Lees 63rd in 46:26 mins, Michael Barnes 67th in 46:38 mins, Melanie Wilson 68th and 8th woman in 46:41 mins, Sean Underwood 124th in 52:30 mins, Ian Shepherd 125th in 52:30 mins and Michael Owen 151st in 54:56 mins.

Peter Blenkiron was 163rd and 3rd in the MV60 age category in 55:33 mins, followed by Chris Lee 178th in 56:21 mins, Sarah Dix 183rd in 56:44 mins, Rachael Underwood 185th in 57:00 mins, Katie Dent 283rd in 1 hour 7:42 mins, Simon Groves 300th in 1 hour 10:30 mins and Carol Mosses 334th in 1 hour 23:04 mins.

The next round of TRC’s 10k championships for 2019 was Sunday’s Braen Down 10k. Nick Langridge took maximum points by virtue of being the only Thornbury runner to enter, finishing 12th overall and 1st in the MV60 age category in 48:40 mins.

3 Thornbury triathletes took part in the gruelling Ironman UK in Bolton on Sunday, which starts with an open water 2.4-mile swim in the early hours, followed by a testing and hilly 112-mile bike section and then a 26.2 mile run on tired legs to the finish in Bolton town centre. Emma Barnes produced a fantastic performance across all 3 disciplines to take 3rd place in the FV40 age category, 28th woman and 350th overall out of over 1600 finishers. Emma started with a 1 hour 14:13 min swim, followed by a 7 hour 8:22 bike and ran the marathon in 4 hour 29:12 mins for an overall time of 13 hours 07:07 mins.

Selina Slater was the next Thornbury finisher, 69th woman and 757th place overall. Selina started with an excellent swim of 1 hour 07:26 mins, followed by a 7 hour 22:05 mins bike ride. Selina’a day ended with a 5 hour 36:59 mins marathon to complete the Ironman in 14 hours 24:49 mins.

Dylan Roberts had enjoyed a momentous week by becoming a father for the first time the week before. However, the emotional rollercoaster of adjusting to life with a baby was far from ideal preparation for racing a long-distance triathlon, and after 7.5 hours of swimming and cycling, and feeling drained, he decided to save himself for another day before the marathon.

Elsewhere, TRC’s parkrun results included a 20:17 mins run from Jim Godden in Thornbury. Behind Jim, Richard Phillips ran 24:00 mins and John Mann finished in 24:08 mins. Laura Orna made a comeback after an injury layoff in 24:24 mins, James Marshall 24:40 mins, Jeremy Clothier 26:37 mins, Peter Blenkiron 26:38 mins, Rebecca Twyman 33:22 mins, Ian Shepherd 35:40 mins and Colette Jackson 44:22 mins.

At Cirencester, Lynne Turner finished in 25:31 mins and Duncan Pauly was only 2 second behind. At Severn Bridge, David Beard ran 33:31 mins and Pamela MacLeod finished in 31:01 mins. Chris Lee ran Chipping Sodbury in 27:41 mins. At Burnham and Highbridge, David Palmer ran 26:51 mins and Anne Palmer ran 34:18 mins.