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Less than 24 hours after experiencing the agony of defeat against Leinster, Moseley marathon man Ollie Thomas risked pain in the feet by

The full-back was one of the Championship outfit’s five-man team – but the only player – which completed the 13.1 mile course to raise money for charities including Cure Leukaemia.

Not only that, even though Mose missed out in the B&I Cup the day before, Thomas was a victor in the long run as the Moseley Players’ Association quintet won the Small Business category with their first four runners home in a time of 7hrs 14mins.

And even if the 30-year-old wasn’t the fastest of his colleagues, finishing just outside the two hour mark, he took everything in his stride having played 80 minutes and scored all of Moseley’s points in their 24-22 reverse to the cup holders.

Indeed, Thomas admits he trudged off the pitch last Saturday hardly looking forward to the fact he would be doing his first long-distance run the next morning.

“My first thought after the game was trying to come up with ways to get away from the club because my knee was sore and my back hurt,” Thomas said.

“By the time I’d had a shower I felt okay and then started thinking that I didn’t want to let anybody down. When I woke up in the morning I had an adrenalin buzz and I really wanted to get there and see if I could do it.”

That rush carried him through the city centre streets, down the Pershore Road and back into town and it was only near the end that the previous day’s exertions began to catch up with him.