Stormtroopers, Darth Vader and Princess Leia were among the characters chosen by runners as fancy dress costumes for the Star Wars-themed Trowbridge 5K on Sunday.

Nearly 200 runners lined up in the Town Park for the event, organised by Stampede Sports, which adopted a sci-fi theme as it was held on May the Fourth – known as Star Wars Day by fans of the films.

The event was also host to race four of the Wiltshire Road Race League, sponsored by Newsquest, so as well as Stormtroopers, Jedis and Jawas there were some of the leading local athletes present in the field.

The best fancy dress awards were presented, by Darth Vader, to Kelly Zarrett, of Devizes Running Club, and Helen Veleski, of Avon Valley Runners, who both dressed as Princess Leia.

Managing director of Stampede Sports Darren Wrintmore said: “The atmosphere was really good and the whole event was very well received.

“We had lots of help from our friends at Albany Palace, where race HQ was.

“Lots of runners got into the spirit of the event and dressed up. We had everything from Stormtroopers to Princess Leia and there were also a few people who dressed up as Star Trek characters.

“Our course sweeper Carl Davies dressed up as Darth Vader, so he got quite into it, and we also had a good mix of ages running the race, with runners starting as young as 11 and some in their 70s.

“Previously we have had a Diamond Jubilee race and last year it was a chocoholics race. We already have our theme for next year thanks to one of the runners, who suggested that we do a superhero-themed 5K.”

Simon Nott, of Calne Running Club, won the men’s race with a personal best time of 15min 15sec on the new, flatter course, which took in Green Lane and Paxcroft Mead.

Ruth Barnes, of Avon Valley Runners, successfully defended her Trowbridge 5K title recording a time of 18min 12sec to keep ahead of second placed Denise Grech, of Calne Running Club.

The Trowbridge Sci-Fi 5K also played host to race four of the Wiltshire Junior Race League, sponsored by Wiltshire and Swindon Sport, which was dominated by Avon Valley Runners.