The Watford Half Marathon was the big running event in the area at the weekend and Garden City Runners were right in the thick of it.

They had a strong contingent tackling what is considered an undulating course, starting and finishing in Cassiobury Park and then heading out towards Sarratt and Langleybury.

Rob Casserley was the first GCR to finish, coming home in one hour 22 minutes and one second, good enough for second in his MV50 age group.

Paul Guy was next in 1:22:44 while Peter Harvey was fourth behind Casserley in 1:23:08.

Richard Taylor was the next GCR in 1:26:06 and it allowed the men's team to finish fourth in that competition.

The women' team though went one step better and won bronze.

Jess Timmins finished in 1:45:36, Rebecca Barden, who was also third in her age category, clocked 1:48:42, and Clare Wildey Grover ran a 10-minute half marathon PB of 1:50:03.

There was also a PB for Sam Males, continuing her excellent run of form to finish in 1:49:20.

The race also included the Herts Senior Championships for the distance.

Casserley was an age group winner here too with Harvey in second.

Barden also took silver in her category.

A few weeks earlier, four GCRs headed to Morocco for the Marrakesh half and full marathon.

Anna Lillie and Thippi Rashleigh tackled the 26-mile distance while Samantha Hastie and Willow Gibson ran the half.

 

Gibson said: "Everyone did very well, running in heat of 27 degrees.

"There were challenges but overall it was an amazing experience, including seeing camels on the route."

Two of the club's athletes took on ultra challenges this weekend.

Kath Evans took on the Pilgrim’s Challenge, a trail run across the North Downs that started in Farnham and covered 33 miles to Redhill.

An overnight stop was followed by the return to Farnham.

Barbara Kubis-Labiak meanwhile ran the Brecon to Cardiff Ultra, a 70km event.

She said: "The first 40k were marked by wind and rain, all the way. It brightened up later which made a massive difference.

"I then took a wrong turn, adding 2.5k to my overall distance.

 

"It was another adventure, for the body and the mind and I loved the views and the trails.”

 

Rob Hughes recorded his 100th parkrun location when he went to Ipswich.

They haven't all been in this country, with visits to San Francisco, Sydney, Singapore and Seattle among others.

The club themselves were involved a takeover of the Panshanger Parkrun, providing marshals, pacers and collecting donations to support Hertford & District Food Bank.

Among those running for GCR was winner Dan Pudner and Bruce Judge who was seventh.

James Huish, who was a the 20-minute pacer, also got himself into ninth overall.

Katherine Lees was the third female finisher with Jess Timmins one place behind.

GCRs continued their takeover in aid of the foodbank at Beehive Junior parkrun on Sunday.

Further afield, Chris Baylis won at Letchworth and Sharon Threlfall was second female at Zegerplas in the Netherlands.

Jamie Rose was eighth overall at Cheltenham and Alex Faulkner ninth lady while at Keswick, Chris Eland finished sixth.