THE 15th Harwich Parkrun saw 20 Harwich Runners on the start line in Cliff Park.

First home for the club and third overall out of 57 finishers was talented 14-year-old Archie Barrington, in 21 minutes and 15 seconds.

Ian Cannons was 29 seconds behind in fourth place.

The Harwich women continued their fine run of performances at the event by taking the top three podium positions.

Quickest for the second successive week was Claire Gooding-Matthews, 18th overall with a time of 24m 36s, followed by Claire Bransby (21st in 25m 35s) and Michelle Greenfield (26th in 26m 47s).

The windy conditions along the seafront meant there were few personal bests, although two club members did manage to achieve the feat.

Justin Cooper-Keeble (22m 33s) improved by 13 seconds, while continually-improving junior Alexander McCreadie (28m 57s) knocked a further 28s off his previous best.

Meanwhile, Harwich regular Amos Seddon opted for a change of venue and competed instead at the Ipswich Parkrun, in Christchurch Park, for the first time.

He demonstrated that age is no barrier in the sport by finishing 64th in 25m 38s and ahead of many runners several decades younger in the 210-strong field.

Richard Flutter returned to his favourite Great Cornard venue for his 146th Parkrun. Despite a recently-diagnosed illness, it came as no surprise to his fellow runners to see his great strength of character come through in completing the muddy course in 20m 24s for ninth out of 93 participants and first in the 45-49 age group.

Every year on Remembrance Sunday, the Stowmarket Scenic 7 is held and this year, after the traditional two-minute silence, 443 runners set off to tackle the rural route.

Harwich’s Rob Reason was involved at the very front of the race, eventually coming home in second place in a time of 39m 8s and within 20 seconds of the overall winner, Rob Chenery, of Ipswich.

Ian Cannons took on the always-popular Stebbing ten-mile event and the near 500 runners also included the vicar who had led the memorial service just before the race.

The countryside route included an off-road section and Cannons battled against the wind to finish in a decent time of 76m 39s to take 173rd.

This Sunday sees Harwich Runners host the second race in the 53-12 cross-country series, which takes place at Ramsey.