AN important milestone was passed at the Harwich Parkrun last Saturday – over 100 runners.

The organisers were expecting low numbers, as it was Easter and the area had bad weather warnings.

However, they were happy to be proved wrong.

As the strength of the wind increased, so did the numbers congregating at the start and a total of 101 crossed the finish line – people all ages and abilities, some with pushchairs and others with their dogs.

Runners came from as far as Cambridge, Southend, Barnstable and Kingston, to mention but a few, as well as a large number of first-timers.

Despite the weather conditions, 13 achieved personal bests (PBs).

Coming home first for the men was Harwich Runner Mark Rutter, in a time of 19 minutes and 43 seconds.

The first lady was Nicola Pyle, of Springfield Striders, in 24m 46s.

The Harwich club had two more men in the top five.

Aaron Rudkin was third, in 20m 25s, and new signing Matthew Durrant fifth, in 20m 31s.

Harwich Runners’ Angela Walton had another PB, this time of 28m 32s, and was the eighth lady finisher.

The Harwich ladies had seven in the first ten.

Claire Bransby was second, in 25m 47s, Vicky McCrea third, in 26m 31s, Emma Barr fifth, Ann Piercy sixth, Michelle Greenfield seventh and Alice Cole tenth.

At Colchester, the Parkrun had 338 finishers and five of them were Harwich Runners.

They were led home by Mark Lloyd, who finished third in 18m 24s.

Of the 348 finishers at the Ipswich event, Becky McCorquodale was the only Harwich member.

McCorquodale, who has been out injured for many months, finished second in 22m 29s – a welcome return to competition.

Good Friday saw the always popular running of the Sudbury five-mile race and 429 runners completed the undulating course, of which five were Harwich Runners.

Lloyd sped round in a time of 29m 34s to take tenth place overall and second in the MV40 age category.

Next to finish was Richard Flutter, who matched his time on the same course last year to be the second finisher in 32m 24s, finishing 29th overall.

Ian Cannons took advantage of the fast-finish section to slice five minutes off last year’s time here, finishing in 38m 3s.

It was good to see Francis Mills running again after injury problems.

He clocked 39m 23s to show he is back on track, while Kieran Callaghan continued his busy schedule, posting 41m 13s to place 149th.