With the snow mostly melted, Thornbury Running Club welcomed around 300 runners on Sunday the 17th of January to the River Bank Rollick. Dursley fielded 4 runners with some regulars missing the trip to the riverbank, ski-ing being used as an excuse by some. A bright sunny day with a gentle breeze boded well at least for the section along the Severn, everyone wondered what conditions under foot would be like!

In Roly Hobbs cases he found out more literally than many others as the soles of his shoes parted company with the uppers with around 2 miles to go. The sight of Roly flapping across the finish line in his socks was one not to be missed, although I'm sure this is not a sentiment he would agree with. We haven't found out which manufacturer was to balme for this calamity. Roly finished in 1:24:18, 157th with Mike Leeson  ahead of him in 01:21:18  141st.

The race offered mixed conditions with some sections being extremely muddy and slippery but the long section along the Riverbank was not as windy as in previous years and with quite good grip. Many runners veered off the bank to cut the corner as they came off the riverbank , which was down to poor marshalling and signage. Dave Wood was the exception showing a great fair pay ethic, knowing the correct course he ran to the corner and down, losing around 15 places as a result. Dave Wood came into the finish 44th in 01:06:44. Dave Durden ran a slightly less ethically pure race coming in 23rd  in 01.06.39. both Daves ran faster than last year Durden by 1:48 Wood by 29 seconds. The Winner was Phillip Mathews, Swansea Harriers in 54:47 beating last years winner Lee Rankin.

Again Thorbury excelled themselves with tea, coffee and more importantly a splendid array of cakes.