THE final race in the Friday five-mile series took place at Great Bentley.

The fast, flat course attracted 396 athletes – including 21 from Harwich Runners.

Claudine Tisbury recorded her fastest five-mile time since 2013, finishing in 34 minutes and one second to claim 100th overall and victory in her age category (FV55).

Another age category winner was Bill Haining, whose time of 32m 43s placed him 69th in the MV55 field.

Nick Beales was fifth in the same age group, in 34m 24s.

Two runners secured new personal best (PB) times in the favourable conditions.

Robin Brookes followed up his recent Lawford handicap time with a further improvement of five seconds to post 29m 39s.

This was a result that placed him 22nd overall and third in his age group (MV45).

Similarly, Will Roxby-Clarke sliced another 26 seconds off his time from the previous week to record a new PB of 35m 28s.

The fastest finisher on the night for Harwich was Mark Lloyd, whose time of 29m 6s was his fastest this year and placed him 16th overall and third in his age group (MV40).

Just two places and 14 seconds further back was Sam Gooding-Matthews, running well on his comeback from injury to record his best time in two years.

Simon Harrison (30m 29s) and Johnny Zeeuw (34m 9s) both ran their fastest five-mile times of the year, while Tom Stafford completed his first five-mile race for the club, showing much promise with a time of 34m 4s.

Other highlights for the club included a third-place age category place in the FV60 group for Ann Piercy, in a time of 41m 45.

Sharan Rider claimed fourth in her age group (FV50) in 37m 34, while Carla Holroyd was fifth in the FV55 category with 41m 2s.