A new personal best and invaluable experience at a national championship was the reward for a fine performance from Amelia Gittens of Herts Phoenix Athletics Club.

She was racing in the 200m at the U15/U17 British Championships at Bedford and although she wasn't able to make the final, the first year U15 runner did post a time of 26.38 seconds.

Phoenix's vice chairman Richard Bloom followed up his age win in the Welwyn 10K by being first across the line in the MV70 category at the Hatfield 5K Series.

He dipped under the 22-minute mark in the first of three races hosted by Garden City Runners.

The home club were out in force too with the quartet of James Huish, Simon Bostock, Adam Wadley and Jack Tann taking third place in the Herts County Senior Championships.

Emma McGrath was the first lady GCR home while Veronica Shadbolt claimed third place in the FV55 age group.

This wasn't the only event to attract big numbers from the club with the St Albans Stampede as popular a destination as ever.

The 12-hour endurance race involves completing as many laps as possible of a four-mile undulating trail circuit around Heartwood Forest between the hours of 9am and 9pm.

It can be run solo or in teams of two, four or eight people.

Jane Molloy called the event "fantastically well organised and catered" and her team consisting of herself, Alex Yates, Elaine Giles and Justin Kean managing 17 laps.

Becca Hayden and Rebecca Barden were one half of a team that completed 21 laps to finish in eighth place, with one lap of Hayden earning her the fastest female lap prize.

Also in the four-person category were Tim Cooke, Debbie Morris, Stuart Whitford and guest runner Jamie Cecil who managed 20 laps for 10th place, one spot ahead of Ryan and July Kean, Helen Paine and Nikki Cowen.

Katy Healy and husband James joined with Sam Males and Yvanne Enever to finish in 25th place with 14 laps covered.

Rebecca Lewis was the star of the solo event, with the new GCR running an incredible 32 miles in 10 hours 42 minutes 29 seconds.

Also competing as singles were Jonathan and Rachel Hickey and Kath and Mike Evans who all managed 10 laps each.