CONDITIONS were conducive to fast times at the popular Great Bentley half-marathon.

Harwich Runners were well represented, with 23 runners among the 724-strong field.

The race was won by Colchester’s Chris Sellens, with Rob Reason first across the line for Harwich.

He took an excellent eighth spot in a time of one hour, 16 minutes and 17 seconds.

In an extremely rare outing over this distance, Sam Gooding-Matthews was 34th and recorded a very swift 1h 21m 58s.