THERE was a large turnout from Halstead Road Runners at the Colchester Half Marathon.

Some were taking on the distance for the first time, including Anthony Denton and Phil Jeffries who both finished in two hours 12 minutes, while others secured new personal bests (PBs).

Jon Greenley knocked more than three and a half minutes off his previous time to finish in 1h 33m.

Not far behind him was Simon Humphrey in a new PB of 1h 35m, but the biggest PBs of the day went to Melanie Candler and Debbie Cook, who both blitzed nine minutes off their previous times.

Candler finished in 1h 46m and Cook in 2h 10m.

Stewart Ellis was the first runner home for Halstead in 1h 23m, which was his fastest half marathon in five years, while Tom Porter was third back for the club in 1h 28m.

Sam Wolton was on pacing duties for a friend and finished in 1h 55m and just a minute behind him was John Warne, who was also acting as a pacer with his son for a friend.

Carol Atkins finished in 2h 8m and Axel Voigt, who had previously pulled out of this event in 2015 due to injury, was pleased to get round in 2h 17m.

Meanwhile, the annual Essex Road Relays took place along the seafront in Harwich, with Halstead fielding just the one team this year in the female V45 category.

The first runner to cover the 5km course was Caroliena Cameron, who got the team off to a strong start finishing her leg in 23.05.

The baton was then handed to Sandi Robinson Miller, who ran a PB of 24.10, before Nicole Smith ran the anchor leg in 25.42 to take the team’s cumulative time to 1h 12m 58s for fifth place out of nine teams.

Elsewhere on the road, Gavin Allen did the Wymondham 20 in Norfolk.

It was his first race back in a Halstead vest and he finished in 2h 14m.

Off-road, Don Wilson organised a scenic hilly trail run from Lamarsh and taking in parts of the Stour Valley Path.

Rob Frost was the quickest for Halstead over the longer 9.75 mile distance in 1h 12m.

RESULTS: 9.75 miles: Mike Grealy 1h 37m, Caroliena Cameron 1h 43m, Bob Langley 1h1 hour 47m, Richard Tiller 1h 53m. Six miles: Lorraine Garnham and Nicole Smith 1h 6m.

Keith Thorogood and Andy Wilmot walked the Daffodil Dawdle, covering 26.6 miles in 7h 32m and 7h 17m respectively.