Personal bests were smashed as a total of 30 St Albans Striders travelled to the West Midlands for a half marathon at the Great Birmingham Run.

Leading the charge for the club was Steve Buckle with a new PB of one hour 15 minutes 20 seconds, enough to earn him 27th overall.

He was followed by Alex Astley in 1:25:07, Jim King 1:25:42 and Ian Hirth who knocked three minutes of his previous PB with a time of 1:26:25.

Claire Sharp was the club’s first female across the line, with a PB of 1:40:56, and fifth in the FV50 age category.

Deirdre Heydecker won the FV60 age category with a time of 1:41:03 and both Rose McGuiness (1:53:11) and Kate Webb (2:01:46) set PBs.

Also running half marathons were Tim Searle and Richard Willcox in Manchester. Searle achieved a new personal best of 1:30 while Willcox came in four minutes quicker.

Paul Cremins completed the Amsterdam Half Marathon.

In ultramarathon running, Conrad Wild successfully cracked the 24-hour mark for 100 miles.

He finished in the top 100 in the Centurion Autumn 100 from Goring-on-Thames in a time of 23 hours and 49 minutes.

Nick Day represented Great Britain at the World Obstacle Course Running Championships in Canada. He was third overall in 1:54.

Judy Willitts was second lady at the Stopsley five mile race near Luton. Jenna Pickering followed in 55:30. Kate Tettmar ran her 100th parkrun, in Verulamium Park, St Albans, on Saturday morning.

In Oxford on Saturday, Striders began defence of their fourth position in the first division at the start of the new season of the Chiltern Cross Country League.

In the Senior Ladies race, first Strider across the finish line was Hannah Darcey in 12th followed by Wendy Walsh in 23rd.

A further four female Striders took part.

In the men’s race, James McMurray was first Strider to finish an impressive third overall.

Ben Clarke was 13th and a further 21 male Striders also finished.