Weston Athletic Club members were met by plenty of mud at the Riverbank Rollick.

The strong headwind that characterised last year’s Riverbank Rollick was replaced by mud, and plenty of it, at this year’s race.

Deep mud, sticky mud, muddy puddles, slippery mud and in more colours than found on a Dulux paint chart, it kept all 408 runners occupied for the duration of the nine-mile course.

Weston Athletic Club fielded 23 runners at the sell-out event, always popular at the start of the racing year, despite the challenging course.

Marc Molloy was the club’s first runner to complete the course which culminates in a 100-metre stretch of icy cold stream water and a final scramble up a muddy bank. His time of 1.07.25 put enough distance between him and Guy Bradford, who took second club spot in 1.07.57. Josh Harris was next in 1.09.26.

Niki Fulstow ran a strong race to finish first among the club’s women in 1.22.04. Helen Diamond took six minutes off her time from last year to complete the course in 1.32.25, and Vanessa Andrews managed to stay upright the whole way round to finish third in 1.40.10.

Paul Snelling was also rewarded for his efforts and won his age category with a time of 1.22.46.

The club’s next event is the fifth race in the 2015-16 Weston prom run series tonight – (Thursday). As well as the main five-mile route, there’s a one-mile event for younger runners.

The junior race starts at 6.45pm, followed by the main race at 7.30pm. Race HQ for both events is the Bay Cafe on Weston seafront. Runners can enter on the night, or online at www.westonac.co.uk/promrun