Harrison’s failure to overtake costs her at Silverstone

The race is the first of eight which make up the East Midlands Grand Prix Series and attracted almost 1,000 competitors.

The first Leamington runner home was Sue Harrison in 37th place in 36min 6sec.

Always involved at the head of the ladies’ race, Harrison missed out on the top spot by just 13 seconds to Olney Runners’ Juliette Minter.

Next home for Leamington was Nick Tawney, who after a short lay-off took 72nd in 37.44 and fourth place in the M50 category.

Monica Williamson followed closely behind in 38.08 to gain first place in the W50 age group, knocking more than a minute off the previous course record for her category.

Other notable Leamington performances came from Zara Blower, who knocked 91 seconds off her personal best to finish in 40:19 and Bob Emmerson, who took second place in the over-75 age group (61:59) in his first race since a replacement hip operation.

Other Leamington C&AC finishers: Alex Montgomery (39:39, 3rd M55); Graham Garlick (40:09); Chris Donovans (43:44, 4th M60); David Blower (49:06).

The Kenilworth contingent were led home by chairman Pete Bryan, who recorded a new personal best of 36:18 to take second in the over-45 category.

For Spa Striders, Trevor Wilkinson finished in 38:13, with Kate Evans coming home in 47:32.

Kenilworth finishers: Mark Hall (41:15, PB); John Dagnan (41:23, 1st M60); Rod Goodwin (44:51, PB); Anton Raath (45:40, PB); Stephen Chalkley (46:34); Tom Dable (46:35); Martin Broomfield (49:33); Pauline Dable (53.45, 3rd F60).

Kenilworth Runners’ Richard Simkiss comfortably won the Shakespeare Half Marathon in Stratford in a time of 73min 5sec.

He was followed home by clubmate Phil Gould, who took second place with a new best of 75:38.

Pete Matthews also recorded a personal best to finish 27th in 1:26.10, closely followed by Luigi Frondella (1:26.47).

Other Kenilworth finishers: Jon Mettyear (1:28:06, PB) and Clive Pearce (1:28:25, PB); Richard Zanetti (1:38:12), Stu Martin (1:44:18), Ros Matthews (1:44:30), Phil Thomas (1:54:47), Laurence Copeland (2:10:14) and Mike Shally (2:13:48).

Another Kenilworth member, Dave Ramus, who was taken ill in the Brighton Marathon, utilised his training to good effect to complete the Shakespeare Marathon in 3:44.11.

Dewi Williams was the lone Strider in the marathon, finishing in 3:40.52, with Rich Merrell (1:26.29) and Barbara Gunter, (2:25.22) opting for the half distance.

A larger Spa Striders contingent crossed into Leicestershire for the Hinckley Half.

Trevor Wilkinson led them home in 1:26.28 followed by Tim Stooks (1:32.04), Nick Adams (1:32.44), Esther Wollaston (1:41.15), Nadine Fleckenstein (1:43.39), Richard King (1:49.39), Michelle Clements (1:54.37), Helen Tudge (1:59.26) and Rebecca Dutson (2:22.20).

Meanwhile, Bethan Gwynn got her triathlon season under way with a time of 2:44.05 in the New Forest Standard Distance (1.1k swim, 36k bike and 10k run).

Three Striders and two Kenilworth Runners took part in the third Leamington ParkRun, which attracted more than 80 entrants, while five runners from the Kenilworth club took part in the Coventry equivalent.

Leamington ParkRun (Spa Striders unless stated): Ivor Westmore (21:10); Jon Chambers (22:02); Colin Underhill (Kenilworth Runners, 22:59); Joanne Harrison (27:17), Liz Hegan (Kenilworth Runners, 29:25).

Coventry ParkRun: Phil Fusi (18:50); Mick Williams (19:56); Sigurd Assing (21:03); John McKenna (21.39); Martin Belcher (21:58).