THE Harwich Parkrun returned to the two-lap course, which some people prefer, last Saturday morning.

And the performances just get better and better.

Of the 85 runners who left the starting line, 32 crossed the finishing post with a new personal best (PB).

This included the first three fastest men.

All came home in under 20 minutes.

Sam Gooding-Matthews clocked 18 minutes and one second – his fourth time as first-finisher.

Warren Byrd (19m 29s) and Matt Durrant (19m 43s) continue to spur each other on to ever better times and both Gooding-Matthews and Durrant are members of Harwich Runners.

The first lady home was Abigail Morgan, a Parkrun tourist all the way from Canterbury, in a time of 24m 13s.

Claire Bransby was second lady in 25m 36s and Ann Piercy was close behind in 25m 48s.

Both are also Harwich members.

A total of 25 club members took part this week and Anne Herbert, having recently completed the Paris Marathon, ran her first Parkrun in 27m 7s, while Emma Barr achieved a new PB of 27m 7s.

Non-club members who deserve a mention include Norman Gooch.

He enjoyed a top-10 finish this week and since his first Parkrun after the New Year, he hasn’t missed a Saturday.

Starting at nearly 33m for a 5km in his first visit, he is now sub-22 minutes.

Sally Teatheredge managed her fifth consecutive PB and managed to cross the finishing line in under 28 minutes.

With this level of improvement, lots of the faster ladies will be looking over their shoulders some time soon.

Steve Hirst completed his fastest run to date and smashed the 40-minute barrier for the first time.

He has gone from non-runner to super-fast walker/jogger in a few short months.

Next week the plan is to run the one-lap course that uses the full length of the promenade.

Away from Harwich, three Harwich Runners took part in Parkruns.

At Colchester, Rob Warner clocked 22m and, returning from injury, Steve Hewes finished 16th in 20m 18s.

A week before running the London Marathon, Richard Flutter had a win at the Great Cornard event.

He finished in 19m 15s, just two seconds ahead of second place.

With the London Marathon taking place on Sunday, this was a traditionally quiet week for races.

At Bungay, the Festival of Running now includes races over the 10km, half-marathon and full marathon distances.

Harwich Runners had one representative in the half-marathon and it was a successful day for in-form John Francis.

In good conditions, Francis beat his Colchester time from 2015 by exactly one minute to post a new personal best time of 1h 27m 54s.

This time placed him 24th overall in the field of 517 runners and fifth in the MV50 age group.

Bill Haining joined 374 runners in the Skyline 120 Braintree five-mile race.

Finishing 45th in 33m 29s, he produced a season’s best which placed him second in his age category (V60).

In a much bigger field of 10,000 runners, Tracey George completed her first marathon in Harwich colours, finishing the Brighton course in 6h 17m 31s.