North Herts Road Runners put on their flagship race - and it was another huge success.
The Standalone 10k, which doubled as the Herts County Championship for the distance, was centred as usual around Standalone Farm.
That was buzzing before and after the race with runners, supporters and sponsor stalls from businesses enjoying the blue skies and friendly atmosphere.
The host club also helped provide around 135 volunteers with help from the Letchworth Army Cadets.
This year also saw the return of the popular children's 800m fun run which took part during the main race.
That main event had a field of more than 1500 runners, with nearly 1,300 completing the course on the day.
Mike Phillips, making his debut as race director said: "This race couldn't happen without the amazing race committee team who put in so much work and effort in the run up to the race, and all the fantastic members of the club for marshalling and making the course safe for every runner."
Phillips also thanked the sponsors and the community for all of their support.
The winning ladies' team was made up of Rhia Botha (40:32), Hannah Ridley (41:48), Helen Nutall (43:55) and Tracey Pitcairn (44:27) while the men’s squad boasted Andrew Leach (34:34), Shahab Ahmad (35:32), Matt Sayers (35:51) and Stewart Overton (37:23).
Mike Roberts (33:25) and Botha were both fifth in their respective genders in the open race and the latter secured first place in her age category for the county.
Nutall and Pitcairn took second and third in theirs while there were podiums in the men's categories for Leach, Ahmad and Sayers.
The ladies' course record was broken by Annabel Gummow of Herts Phoenix in 34:25 while the winner of the men's event, Oluwatatosin Adedeji, clocked 31:59.
Simon Jackson was the fastest of them, winning the MV40 group in 35:20, placing him 14th overall.
Suzy Hawkins (43:06) was second woman 45 plus and Claire Pullen (49:11) took bronze in the same category.
There were two bronze teams. Jackson teamed with Adrian Donnelly (40:54) Matt Gifford (43:36) and Danny Scanlon (44:07) for the men while Hawkins was with Pullen and Tracy Pez (52:25) for the women.
Sally Reeve was first of the PBs with 51:28 and was followed by Pete Cook (53:11), Andrea Westcott (54:22), Megan Sutton (1:00:24) and Rose Sutton (1:09:49).
Ian Harvey was first home in 42:35 followed by Ian Young (45:42) and Conor O’Neil (46:01).
Jodie Kantas managed 49:16, 24 seconds ahead of Ken Hall whose time was not only a PB but a club 10k record for MV70.
It also earned him a county silver.
Damla Akkul (54:14), Neil Homewood (58:07), John Harris (1:02:06) and Denise Ricot (1:12:35) completed the Phoenix crew.
Elsewhere Amy Whitby completed the 5k version of the Herts 10k at the showground in Redbourn, finishing in 37:51.
He said: "It's held in the Wadi Rum desert, a protected area in the south of Jordan, close to the Saudi Arabia border.
"Also known as the Valley of the Moon, this desert is home to various wildlife such as scorpions, snakes, spiders, wild dogs, camels and many other species of insects and birds.
"Day one saw 40km and 232m in elevation. Everyone is eager to get started, you could sense the excitement on the start line.
"The game plan was to keep it incredibly steady, placement and finishing time meant nothing to me here, just go checkpoint by checkpoint and make sure each daily finish line came round.
"Tuesday came and went with success, I was feeling good after the 39km and 548m elevation.
"However by evening, I had a bit of a turn, it could’ve been heat stroke or a stomach bug but I felt ill. I couldn’t hold food down for the rest of the week. I was getting by on energy gels and Pepsi.
"Wednesday, the long day, a 2am alarm clock for a 4am start.
"I was struggling. I’ve decided to hike the remaining distance because of my stomach, which meant as soon as the temperature picks up, I’m out in the heat all day. Temperatures were consistently around 35 degrees all week.
"I was so happy to clear this stage of 56km and 883 elevation in 14 hours 6 mins, crawling in last place.
"Thursday, people in camp are suffering but buzzing. We’ve broke the back of this beast. Another 11 hours and 27 out on course for me, in the 47km/468m elevation stage.
"I had my big low before getting to checkpoint six, I was done, ready to quit.
"I sat in the sand against a rock, staring at a vast open space. The guy in last place behind me, Yousef, stopped and chatted with me for a bit, we agreed to help each other to the next CP.
"Things got better from there.
"Then we get to Friday, 8 hrs 3 mins to do 35km. Not bad considering I hadn’t had a meal over two days, vomiting and hobbling around cos my feet were swollen.
"I was in higher spirits on Friday, thinking all day, how shall I celebrate crossing the line.
"To sum up the week -it was the most incredible and most challenging adventure of a lifetime."
Helen Moye took her parkrun tourism all the way to Glasgow while Russ Andrews and Ken Marshall were at Kettering.
Moye also took part in the Glasgow Half, the Great Scottish Run, completing it in 1:54:32.
Head coach Chrissie Thomas is on to half marathon number 77 after completing the Dorney Lakes Half in 2:38:00.
Marc Hagland got another great themed medal, completing the Phoenix Thunder Pants Half in 2:25.
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