Stevenage & North Herts Athletics Club held their annual club championship in conjunction with Ware Combined AC at Ridlins Stadium - with the depth of talent in the club shown off to its fullest.
More than 100 athletes from the two clubs, each competed in three events of their choice to decide the champion of each age group.
And when the action began there were many PBs, some very close finishes and great jumping and throwing.
The U11 titles were won by Hetty Billany-Connell (212pts) and Kieran Kealey (199pts) while the U13 girls saw a win for Sadie May Bannister.
Stanley Wilkinson won the boys' title.
Rosie McLeod triumphed in the U15 girls and Alastair Gall-Gray was victorious in the U15 boys.
Emily Rapley and Hugo McFarlane-Cushing won the U17 competitions, with Aimie Taylor and Uzo Dike winning the U20 age groups.
Overall the club champions for 2024 were Libby Taylor, competing in the hammer, shot put and discus, and gaining a total of 226 points, and and Nile Odejimi-Riley who picked up 271 points from the 100m, long jump and triple jump.
His time of 10.99 in the 100m was a PB while for Taylor, she retained the title won last year.
And, although he was not competing in the championship itself, senior athlete Elior Harris cleared 1.90m in the high jump, lifting him up to fifth on the national veteran ranking tables for 2024.
The afternoon had begun with a presentation SNHAC’s Norma Harris, who retires as club secretary in November.
She has been involved at Stevenage for over 30 years and the championship was her last event as meeting manager.
Stevenage Phoenix had a takeover at Stevenage Parkrun, supplying 35 volunteers, plus a few mini helpers, from the club.
Roles included marshals, pacers, tail walkers and barcode scanners.
The second round of the Hatfield 5k series incorporated the Herts veterans 5k championships.
Ken Hall was involved in what was his first 5k road race and he finished in a time of 23:51 to become county champ in the MV70 group.
The St Albans Stampede is a 12 hour endurance run around Heartwood Forest and Nomansland Common.
Phoenician Jamie Long and three friends took part, running 22 laps despite one member turning up nine hours late.
Long personally ran 7 laps or a total of 28 miles, making this his first time running more than a marathon distance in one day.
The Bedford Running Festival was another popular event with nine from the Phoenix club taking part over various distances across the two days.
Sue Pudner took on the 5k and 10k in one day while Ashley Bates added the half marathon to that schedule.
The 5k was first, Bates finishing in 24:11 and Pudner 36:01 while they clocked 54:42 and 1:22:05 in the 10k.
Melissa Tanti ran a 10k PB of 54:43 while Sue Leigh managed 1:03:29 and Wendy Summerbee 1:10:35, her second ever 10k race.
Sunday was the day for the long distance races.
Bates completed the half marathon in 2:10:35 and Hayden Cooper ran it in 1:55:21, placing him first in the U20 age category.
This was the 18-year-old's first half marathon and part of his journey to running the London Marathon in 2025.
Gemma Holloway (3:41:08), Scott Crawford (3:50:27) and Graham Eden (3:17:52) all ran the 20 mile race.
Lewis Green returned to Letchworth for the Run around the Garden on Sunday, running 19 seconds quicker than last year for a time of 1:06:12 and first in the MV40 category.
The Ponton Plod self navigation trail marathon near Grantham had Chris Leigh in action, finishing it in 5:57:10, 44 minutes quicker than he did it in 2022.
Stevenage Striders had some parkrun tourism as part of a busy weekend.
Lauren Pegg and Laura Duffield visited Chichester while on a Butlin’s weekend getaway, both finishing in 29:45, while Steph Thompson completed her first parkrun in 44:36.
Paula Heyes meanwhile racked up her 100th, the milestone coming at Stevenage, while there were parkrun PBs for Bethany Smyth (31:45), Michael Tillett (30:22), Francesca Mansi (38:38), Keith Dennis (21:24), Steve Moore (21:25) and Chris Rowlands (20:29).
Marc Hagland ran the Phoenix Jubilee River in 2:27 and one night later completed the Phoenix Track Wars in 2:45.
Peter Moye ran La Gurrinada, which is an 11.5km night time race near Barcelona, covering trails and mountains, while the Striders were also in action at the Bedford running festival.
Ben Ward ran the 5k in 23:34 and the 10k in 55:16, Russell Edwards managed 37:15 and 1:20:00 while Chrissie Thomas did 32:02 and 1:09:33.
Charlotte Moye managed a half marathon PB of 1:58:40, 10 seconds ahead of Helen Moye, while there were eight in the 20-mile run, five of them getting PBs.
They were Andrea Skidmore (2:56:06), Dave Skidmore (2:37:27), Glenn Cuzner (2:27:26), Neil McKinnon (3:45:37) and Matthew Robinson (2:15:22).
Lianne Loosley (4:28:55), Chris Newton (4:21:30) and Jess Ives-Keeler (3:07:57) were the others.
The biggest and best half marathon in the world, the Great North Run, saw five Striders involved.
They were Martin Scales (1:34:58), Jon Renney (1:30:00), John Odong (1:38:58), Claire Storey (2:02:40) and Laura McLaughlin (2:44:21).
Jennifer Graham completed the Run Norwich 10k in 1:16:27 and Ashley Harrison completed the South Coast Challenge 25k, a very hill and muddy course, in approximately four hours.
Moving on to a highlight of the Striders calendar, a group of grapes went down to Denbies estate for their Bacchus wine half marathon.
Aaron Casper and Kirsten Jarvis finished in approximately 4:28, while Chrissie Thomas, Russell Edwards, Martin Watson, Kevin Fisher, Ally Brown, Marc Hagland, Julie Vooght and Jim Callagham all finished in approximately 4:46.
Esther Dixon also completed the 10k at the same venue, finishing in approximately 1:37.
North Herts Road Runners were the hosts for the annual Run Round the Garden in Letchworth, which attracted a great turnout despite the rainy weather.
Club members put in an outstanding performance across the board too.
Matthew Sayers led the charge for the club, finishing third overall and first in his age category in the 5k race, while Ian Datlen followed closely, placing sixth overall and first in his age group too.
For the ladies, Hannah Ridley impressed with a fantastic second place finish overall and first in her age group, while Tracy Pitcairn powered through to claim third overall and second in her category.
Lucy O’Connor and Joanne Hoare also delivered standout performances, placing first and fifth in their respective categories.
The Squirrels were out flying the flag for NHRR at other events too, such as the Bedford Running Festival, the Great North Run, the Dunstable Downs Marathon Challenge and Run Norwich 10k, as well as a wide variety of parkruns.
There were medals of all colours for Fairlands Valley Spartans at the second in the series of Hatfield 5K races.
Ashley Johnson (FV35) and Alison Wood (FV55) won gold in their categories while Yuko Gordon took silver in the FV65 group.
The men's team of Jonathan Parr, Mike Jeffs, Ross Gallagher and Grant Ramsay took a team bronze.
Five of 22 Spartans who ran recorded PBs too - Gallagher (), Paul Shelley (18:31), Johnson (), Matt Tutton (22:53) and Megan Sutton, taking another 22 seconds off her PB recorded in round one.
Andrea Westcott meanwhile equalled her previous PB of 25:53.
Andy and Kerstin Prior ran the half marathon at the Bedford festival, finishing in 1:43:06 and 1:57:12.
Jim Brown (2:02:19) was third in his age group while Conor Eccleston clocked 2:41:41.
Craig Bacon ran the 20 mile route in 2:44:56 which was a 13-minute PB, while Ross Gallagher was running at close to three-hour marathon pace for his 2:17:24, placing him 28th.
Paul Shelley (2:39:30), Samantha Tophill (3:05:57) and Alison Shelley (3:33:53) were the others.
Jay Papa ran the 5k race in 19:07 and was 11th out of the 350 finishers while Charles Arnold ran the 10k in 47:22.
Three Spartans were at the Great North Run with Mike Jeffs clocking 1:23:54 for 587th, Chris Watling 1:57:20 and Sarah Illingworth 2:14:24.
Karen Liddle and Tricia Hopper took part in the St Albans Stampede.
Liddle completed nine laps, or 36 miles, and Hopper 11 laps for 44 miles.
Yuko Gordon represented Eastern Masters at the England Masters Athletics Association Inter Area Championships at Corby, running and coming second in each of the 400m, 800m and 1500m.
The Eastern region won the overall championship along with women’s and men’s trophies.
John Harris did the Run around the Garden 5K in Letchworth in 21:21 for second MV60 man, 24th in the race.
Nikki Nation won her category with 31:25 and Brian White (22:58), Keith Abraham (27:27) and Nick Gill (31:26) were also involved.
Maurice Ballard and Judy King both ran a parkrun PB, clocking 28:11 and 29:15.
Simon Jackson was second in Stevenage with Grant Ramsay third.
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