There have been two big annual events for Garden City Runners to get their teeth into in recent weeks - which they did with gusto.

The first was the 2021 Round Norfolk Relay with the Welwyn Garden City athletes making their 16th appearance.

The 198-mile course mirrors the county boundary of Norfolk, providing a unique route with some challenging terrain, including sand, shingle fen and A roads.

It started at 6:30am up in King's Lynn with Richard Somerset taking the first leg, a 16-mile jaunt to Hunstanton.

Each runner had to pass on an actual baton but in order Johan Preis, Paul Guy, Neil Hume, Sharon Threlfall, Daniel Pudner, Brad Smith, Richard Sidlin, Tom Wackett, Peter Jasko, Tim Cooke, Behzaad Ghouse, Mike Grant, Helen Harrison, Sean Bowen, Chris McGurk and Rob Casserley brought it home at 9:25am the following morning, just under 27 hours later and 24th out of 53 teams.

Somerset was also in charge of the expedition for the first time but loved every minute of what is his "favourite event".

He said: "Everyone should have a go once in their running life. Who’s up for next year? Third week in September 2022.

"Thanks to Sean for advice and timing the first half of the race. and to John and Maureen Dickerson who did the timing for second half.

"Tim and Helen provided cycle support for the day stages while Richard and Brad drove the following car up to 10pm and then Rob Cartwright and Sue Fletcher did a massive turn in the following car from 10pm to 6:30am next morning.

"Johan did the bike support for stage 15 to the end and a special mention to Behzaad, Mike and Chris who stepped in at late notice when we had some dropouts."

For others the call was over a slightly shorter distance and closer to home, but it was no less enjoyable.

The Standalone 10k is a single circuit of Letchworth Garden City, starting and finishing at Standalone Farm.

The squad of Herbie Hopkins, Justin Hill, Peter Harvey and Chris Jones are still waiting for final confirmation but look to have claimed silver in the Herts Vets Team competition but there were some strong individual efforts too.

Harvey's run placed him first in the MV50 category while Martha Hall was second in her group and Dave Desborough third in his.