Some hardy souls braved the wet and windy weather to run the first Clacton Half Marathon and 10k races for 20 years, on Sunday 10th August. Despite battling rain and a head wind in the return leg of the course, some excellent times were achieved, not least by Charlie Keitch, 12th home in 1:25:54. Gary Hill only narrowly missed out on a PB in 1:59:06, while Steph Horner was 8th lady in just 1:49:22. Other runners were Michael Clark 1:58:10, Mark Crittendon 2:09:30, Ben Ficken 1:29:30, Darren Horner 1:34:35, Sue Sorrell 2:03:48 and Kieron Hayes 2:04:05.
Scott Young and Patrick Reynolds ran the 10k event in 49:16 and 41:50 respectively, a PB for Reynolds and club bronze age group standard. Other runners were Ray Baggs 42:21, Grahame Clark 46:33 and Sandra James 1:07:15.
Young also ran the Colchester Castle Parkrun the previous day, clocking 32:10 as he paced his sister round the course. The race was won by Joe Alexander in a stunning 17:04. Other Parkrunners were Belinda Palmer-Jones 29:29 (PB) and Ruth Metcalfe 34:18, her best time this year.