HARWICH Runners staged and participated in a different type of event last weekend.

They invited runners to discover how many miles they could cover in a 24-hour period, either on their own or as part of a team.

The response was terrific, with 54 runners taking on the challenge as a solo runner and 53 teams of between two and eight people taking part.

Taking place on a 2.5-mile off-road course at Weeley, the event ran from noon on Saturday and was blessed with warm, dry conditions.

The solo runner who completed the furthest distance was Nate Filer.

His 46 laps equated to a colossal distance of 115 miles covered in the 24-hour period.

Four members of host club Harwich also entered as solo runners.

James Mann completed 67.5 miles while both Penny Barrington and Clair Block managed 50 miles each and Dean Splarn 22.5 miles.

The fastest lap of the day was recorded by in-form Harwich Runner Gavin Race, who sped round in 14 minutes and four seconds to help his social team.

Of the teams that entered, there was no surprise that the team which covered the most distance was one of the teams with the maximum number of eight members.

They were from Harwich and between them they completed an impressive 200 miles in the time.

Rob Reason, Steve Cooper and Simon Day all completed 30 miles each, with Robin Brookes, Graeme Knott, Kate Hodgkiss, Claudine Benstead and Justin Cooper-Keeble all adding valuable miles to the total.

Another team of eight from Harwich managed to clock up 132.5 miles between them.

Kris Dalby, Becky McCorquodale and Lian Meachen all ran 20 miles each, supported by David Pleace, Marcus Turner, Katherine Pleace, Jason Meachen and Jez Downs.

There were two teams of six comprised solely of Harwich runners.

The all-female team of Madeline Lewis, Nicola Flatt, Claire Bransby, Helen Benham, Anne Herbert and Ruth Benham all ran at least 25 miles each and completing 152.5 miles between them.

Sadly, Lewis missed out on an extra lap for the team, being timed out with mere metres of the lap to complete.

Managing 160 miles between them were Elspeth Knott, Matt Doran, Ian Cannons and Will Roxby-Clarke, who all ran 27.5 miles each, with a further 25 being added by Sarah Roxby-Clarke and Richard Newman.

Andrew Thorn was one half of a two-person team that completed an impressive 92.5 miles between them.

Finally, a team of four runners consisting of Jeff Higgon, Ann Piercy, Jo Higgon and Katie Holmes picked off a very good 117.5 miles in total.

On Sunday, Mike Ball tackled the Southend Half-Marathon.

Despite his knee giving him problems from nine miles, he finished in under two hours, recording a time of 1h 55m 44s.

Sarah Roxby-Clarke took part in one of the Race For Life series of races.

Her choice of venue was Nowton Park, in Bury St Edmunds, where she completed the 10k course in 68m 21s.