On Thursday I raced the Thornbury 10k organised by Thornbury Running Club. This is a flat and fast race held on quiet country lanes on the outskirts of Thornbury and Oldbury. Kinisi Run Hub were proud to be supporting this great event!

It was one of the hottest days of the year with clear blue skies and sunshine so a lovely evening to be out but not to be racing! As everyone started arriving it was evident no-one was really too excited to be racing in such extreme heat but at least it was the evening and had cooled down a bit. One positive was there wasn’t much wind.

There was a strong turnout for the race with athletes from many local clubs showing up to race. Looking around at the start there were some familiar races and it looked like it would be a good race.

It was a fairly controlled start with no-one bombing off too quickly, which did surprise me slightly as Adam Holland was there and he has a history of setting off very quickly. Adam and me found ourselves at the front of the race behind the lead bikes and it stayed this one for about 1km.

After the first kilometre I started to pull away from Adam and realised it was going to be a very hot and lonely solo effort. The country lanes were very flat but they had been soaking up the sun all day and were reflecting a lot of heat. I got my head down and focused on taking it one kilometre at a time.

The kilometres slowly ticked by and there were two water stations on the course, one at about 6k and one at about 7.5k. I made sure to take water at both. It was tough but I was feeling strong and kept pushing myself even up an unwelcomed hill at 9km. The only positive of the hill is the last few hundred metres are all downhill.

I was happy with my race and time given the heat. I took the win in 31:53 which was also a course record for the new course that changed a number of years ago. Philip Blackburn (Thornbury Running Club) was second in 35:13 and Adam Holland (Tavistock AC) was third in 35:22. Jenny Gardner (New Berkeley Harriers) won the women’s race in 41:12 with Laura Fricker (Weston AC) second in 41:26 and Ali Vaz (Thornbury Running Club) third in 42:48. In total there were 272 finishers. Full results here.

The race HQ is at the Oldbury Sailing Club where there is plenty of space to park as well as enough toilet facilities and even showers for after the race. The presentations took place on the terrace overlooking the river. We were able to set up a Kinisi Run Hub pop-up shop and people were very grateful for the Goodr sunglasses we brough along!

The roads are open during the race but there are plenty of Thornbury RC marshals on the course to ensure any pedestrians, cyclists and cars are aware of oncoming runners.

Well done to everyone who raced and thank you to Thornbury RC for organising another great Thornbury 10k race!