THE BIG race of the weekend was the London marathon which saw great achievements by all four Thornbury Running Club entrants.

Closer to home, shorter in length but arguably just as tough was Chepstow Harriers ‘Offa’s Orror’ a race of just under 20 km up and down the Wye Valley.

At Chepstow, Rob Cowlard was hoping to improve upon his 2015 time and placing.

Conditions were ideal with the ground almost dry and the weather fine if a little warm for the exposed riverbank stretches.

The race starts with a hard climb to spread out the runners, with steep downs as well as ups.

Cowlard ran a great race, improving by ten places to finish fourth in one hour 29.39 minutes and first over-40, three-and-a-half minutes faster than last year.

There was a race between Jo Plumbley, who had cycled to the event, and Paul Thomas, with Thomas (one hour 48.11 minutes) outsprinting Plumbley (one hour 48.13 minutes) to the uphill finish for 62nd and 63rd places respectively.

Kevin Arnold, who has been concentrating on off-road work finished well in 107th place in one hour 56.40 minutes, while Emma Barnes, 132nd in two hours 1.52 minutes was able to say she was quicker than the London marathon winner.

Not so Pete Mainstone who spent three-quarters of the race trying to catch Judy Mills, then had to work to stay far enough ahead not to be overtaken on the final downhill.

Their final placings and times were 167th in two hours 13.51 minutes and 170th in two hours 14.28 minutes.

In London, Rob Watkins had, last year, achieved the club record.

Rob Hopkins should still have been recovering from the 82-mile Oner two weeks ago but instead romped home in three hours 6.33 minutes, first Thornbury runner to cross the line.

Andrew Darton followed in three hours 13.03 minutes with Watkins in three hours 28.48mins.

Finally Chris Foley’s hard training paid off as he finished in three hours 57.21 mins.

And whilst the other Thornbury men are in their forties, Foley was competing in the 65-69 year age group.

Four Club runners took-on the slightly shorter Frenchay 10k, with Liam Jones first home in 117th place, 48.33 minutes.

Angela Bushell had a good run in 52.32 minutes while Ian Peacock recorded 55.08 and Kevin Davis 59.53.

Little Stoke parkrun was back in action on Saturday, though sadly and probably not for much longer.

Garry Slater should be able to complete his 100th run at the venue, this time running his 97th in 18.27 minutes and finishing sixth.

l Entries are now open for the Thornbury 10k which is on Thursday 14 July at 7.30pm.

Entries will be taken on the night but details of online entry (£2 cheaper) are on the club website thornburyrunningclub.co.uk which also details other Club activities and meetings.