Birmingham and Budapest were the unlikely twin venues for two Bungay Black Dog Running Club couples last weekend.

Husband and wife running team Sarah and Simon Sparkes were in the Midlands for the Birmingham International Marathon.

It was Simon’s first race over the distance and he finished in four hours, seven minutes and 32 seconds, Sarah, in her second outing over the 26.2 miles achieved a personal best 4:38.15 — nine minutes quicker than in London.

“It was a very hilly course,” she said. “Very hot and varying between blazing sun and some shade. There was good crowd support and we both enjoyed the race.”

The family were also able to celebrate daughter Jessica’s achievement in being chosen to represent East Norfolk College at cross country where she came eighth and was part of the first-placed girls’ team. She now goes forward to Association of Colleges Sport National Championships in April next year.

Another husband and wife duo were in Budapest where Christine Ashe took on a hilly 10k course, finishing in 56.02. Husband Robin, along with clubmate Karen Gedge, ran the marathon in 4:25 and 5:19 respectively.

Robin reported, “The course was flat and we saw all the sights in this incredible city but we all suffered in the heat as the temperature quickly rose to 26C.”

At Oulton Park in Cheshire, Chris Hall and Roly Shaw competed at the English Standard Duathlon championships. Chris bagged himself a bronze medal by gaining third place in his age category while Roly was seventh in his.

Closer to home, BBDRC were out in force in Yarmouth for the East Coast 10k.

Jo Andrews was second lady overall and won her age group, Andrew Manning also won his age category while Darren Honour was third in his. The ladies’ team of Jo Andrews, Jo Cox and Sam Ismail-Epps were second home.

Full Black Dog results: 17 Jo Andrews 38.23, 20 Andrew Manning 38.43, 22 Darren Honour 39.10, 23 David Sparshott 39.11, 108 Samantha Ismail-Epps 44.49, 138 Jo Cox 46.14, 165 Richard Dye 47.44, 215 Rob Hall 49.40, 239 Stu Young 50.16, 278 Hugh Roberts 51,43, 300 Bob Paul 52.31, 315 Ian Gardner 53.28, 343 Kevin Copeman-Lamoureux 54.43, 345 Bobbie Sauerzapf 54.54, 369 Nigel Gilham 56.08, 371 Graham Sampson 56.10, 400 Rosemarie Ball 57.01, 416 Faye Ellis 58.10, 451 Robin Farrar 59.31, 467 Linda Hunt 59.47, 486 Lily Capps-Jenner 60.40, 487 Jayne Capps-Jenner 60.41, 548 Alice Kirk 65.19, 550 Hanna Dean 65.26, 562 Annette Copeman-Lamoureux 66.47, 569 Rachel Allen 67.47, 603 Tracey Haylock 70.32, 619 Michael Ball 71.12, 621 Sean Symonds 71.21, 627 Bob Jack 71.41, 636 Emma Youngman 73.40, 673 Jennie Craig 78.37, 673 Jennie Craig 78.37, 674 Toby Craig 78.37, 681 Elizabeth Allen 82.58, 689 Paul Bird 86.26.