THE London Marathon is probably the most high-profile event in the race calendar and a record entry - including five Harwich Runners - lined up for the start on Sunday.

After months of hard training through some seriously cold weather, the runners had to contend with conditions which made this year’s race the hottest since it started in 1981.

While elite athletes can train and prepare in heat and altitude, the rest don’t get that opportunity and the heat had an effect on the results, particularly in the second half of the event.

Nevertheless, the Harwich Runners who completed the race all did well to finish with good times.

Rob Reason is the club record holder for the distance (two hours and 34 minutes) and, after missing last year’s race through injury, he was keen to make amends in his sixth London Marathon.

With over 40,000 runners starting the race, Reason completed the 26.2-mile distance in an excellent 2h 49m 15s and in 398th place.

Simon Day had realistic hopes of also finishing inside three hours, having managed that at Brighton last year.

However, in the conditions, he couldn’t quite achieve that feat, still finishing well in 3h 15m 2s.

Mark Higgs was lucky enough to get a place through the ballot at his first attempt.

Raising money for two charities (ARK and MAZE Harwich), Higgs paced his run sensibly well to finish in 3h 51m 37s.

There was a debut marathon for Nicola Flatt, who helped the Brain Research UK charity with a very healthy amount.

She battled through the heat to finish in 5h 4m 55s.

Also in her first marathon, Katherine Pleace showed a terrific amount of courage and determination to complete the course in 6h 54m.

Pleace was running for the miscarriage association and raised significantly more than the £1,500 she set out to achieve.

Elsewhere, Matt Doran decided to travel to Vienna for his 13th marathon.

In a field of 4,258, Doran ran a really well-paced 4h 11m 47s to finish inside the top half of all the finishers.

Meanwhile, Mike Ball tackled the first of the Maldon 5km series.

He showed his continued improvement with a time of 21m 34s.

At the local Parkrun on Saturday, club members occupied most of the top places.

Graeme Knott was first (17m 58s) and Simon Harrison second (18m 48s).

The first lady was Claudine Benstead (20m 49s) and the third lady Karen Stapleton (22m 24s).

Michael Knowles was second junior in 20m 39s and Eddison Barker third in 21m 36s.

Both achieved a new personal best (PB).

Other club members to record new PBs this week were Jules Lawrence (21m 48s), Andy Carter (22m 39s) and Jo Higgon (28m 8s).