CHRIS LEE took a giant leap into the running unknown at the weekend, running his first half marathon in ‘The Space Race’ along the River Thames, writes Matt Johnstone.

There were a variety of distances to choose from on Saturday and Sunday in this inaugural festival of running, which also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing. Chris warmed up on Saturday with a 10k race in a gentle 64 mins, before embarking on his first race over 13.1 miles on Sunday, which he duly completed in 2 hours 26:39 and received a planet-sized medal for his efforts.

The Rockhampton Fun Run is an increasingly popular family event which includes a 4.2-mile race, followed by BBQ and bar at the old village cricket pitch. The race is a mix of flat country lanes and a more undulating gravel track which starts and finishes on the cricket pitch. Defending champion and Westbury Harrier, James Harrod, has been slowly coming back to form after having his appendix removed in April and with the added distraction of his GCSE exams to contend with, some of his older challengers were hoping to capitalise. No such luck, James may have not been back to his best but had enough in reserve to still win by a comfortable margin in 24:41 mins from Thornbury duo Dylan Roberts in 2nd place in 25:08 mins and a bigger gap to Phil Lucker in 3rd place and top V40 in 25:56 mins. In the women’s race, Jenny Binks-Gardner was first placed and 13th overall in 27:34 mins, followed by Thornbury’s Hannah Kinloch Haken in 2nd place and 19th overall 28:43 mins and Emily Rennison in 3rd place and 21st overall in 29:04 mins. There were numerous Thornbury runners in the field, including some age category winners. Nick Langridge won the MV60 age category and was 24th overall in 29:17 mins, Natalie Bennett won the FV40 and was 30th overall in 30:13 mins and Karen Carr was top in the FV60s and 80th overall in 36:16 mins. As well as a highly entertaining event, the record number of 165 race entries raised £750 for charity and the BBQ will help fund a local defibrillator.

As a keen hill runner, Jim Godden was in his element at Pen Y Fan Trail Challenge in Brecon Beacons on Sunday. This 13-mile trail race had over 1000m of climbing and included 2 ascents up the highest peak in region. Jim coped well in the hot conditions and used his experience on the downhill sections to run through the field and finish 5th overall in 2 hours 29:37 mins.

Mike Bennewitz’s quest to complete a half-marathon every month in 2019 took him to Froome on Sunday and after picking up an injury at Rockhampton earlier in the week he finished in a slower than usual 2 hours 6:26 mins in 372nd place.

Thornbury Running Club proudly sponsored and provided the Athletics Awards for Marlwood and Castle School this year.

The awards were presented to one boy and one girl from each year group at Marlwood School. This year’s winners were Ethan LeAnstey and Anna Shrimpton in Y7, George Peacock and Laura Evans in Y8, George Shrimpton and Amie L-B in Y9 and Ceredig Jones and Dalis Jones in Y10. At Castle School, the Endeavour Athletics Award was presented to Eva Robson in Y9 for her cross-country performances.

Thornbury’s parkrun results included a 22:25 mins effort from Nick Langridge in Stamford Park. At Pomphrey Hill, Richard and Ross Phillips ran 23:13 mins and 24:13, respectively. At Thornbury parkrun, Richard Jackson was the first TRC runner in 22:18 mins, followed by Kevin Arnold 23:13 mins, Ian Shepherd 23:58 mins, Peter Blenkiron 27:11 mins, Chrisopher Pritchard 28:24 mins, Emma Pritchard 29:04 mins, Karen Carr 29:11 mins, Mel Lloyd 31:19 mins, Richard Illingworth 32:51 mins and Rebecca Twyman 49:16 mins.

At Skatas in Sweden, Angela Bushell ran 27:47 mins and Brian Godsman ran with the last runner in 44:36 mins on their local and hilly course. At Rogiet parkrun, David Palmer and Anne Palmer ran 27:09 mins and 34:52 mins, respectively.