Members of Dereham Runners AC took part in several middle-distance road races over the past fortnight.

At the Bure Valley 10 miler held on Sunday at near Aylsham, nine DRAC runners negotiated a picturesque rural circuit which took in the villages of Banningham, Colby and Suffield.

First Dereham finisher was Stephen Lee in 1.11.55, placing him 47th out of 292 entrants. Carol Devlin crossed the line soon afterwards, in 1.13.05, placing her first in the F50-54 category.

Other Dereham runners were: Sally Lee (1.27.14), Keith Moore (1.30.30, Janice Moore (1.30.30), Helen Harrison (1.31.05), James Nice (1.34.41), Philip Websdale (1.35.02) and Paula Olley (1.39.59).

A week earlier Keith and Janice Moore also competed in a 10k race around the former RAF base at Coltishall, a dead flat course popular with runners hunting down a new pb.

The husband and wife duo both finished in 54.02, with the Dereham contingent completed by Andrew Rowles (46.36) and Stuart Lusher (51.05).

Further afield, Amanda Baker completed the Loch Ness Marathon and finished in 5.39.21, a new marathon pb for her by 15 minutes.

'It was a great course with fantastic scenery and a wonderful atmosphere,' she enthused,

David Kellaway took part in the inaugural Great East Run, a half marathon event staged in Ipswich, crossing the line in 1.43.37, placing him 379th out of 2,500 finishers.

At the Bure Valley race there was a fantastic performance from one of North Norfolk Beach Runners' fastest runners as Neil Adams shot round the lanes in under an hour for a terrific second place finish in a time of 59 minutes and 22 seconds.

Second home for Beach Runners was Ed Rawlings in a highly creditable time of 1:15:53 for 73rd place. Gary Hobart was the third club to cross the line, closely followed by the fast-improving Zoe Parish, who will certainly take a lot off her time 1:23:36 in subsequent seasons.

Two minutes further back Stephen Roe and Katherine Roe could only be separated by two tenths of a second, with Liz Harris a further two minutes back in 166th spot.

The club's second prize winner of the day was Lesley Winston who continued her excellent season with second place in her age category with an excellent time of 1:31:11.