A score of Bungay Black Dog Running Club members ran the Ipswich half marathon, newly christened The Great East Run, last Sunday.

In warm conditions on a course with lots of hills and inclines Rachel Hirst achieved a personal best while Julian and Nikki Holland-Gladwish and Gary West completed their first half marathons.

The Black Dog results among the race’s 2,416 finishers were: 35 Chris Witmore 1:25.06, 176 Chris Chorley 1:36.20, 385 Andy Bailey 1:43.57, 618 Mik Carr 1:49.50, 847 Jo Walker 1:54.19, 902 Bobbie Sauerzapf 1:55.42, 1,050 Gary West 1:58.30, 1,112 Nikki Holland-Gladwish 1:59.51, 1,191 Barry Rogers 2:01.58, 1,514 Rose Ball 2:10.28, 1,575 Graham Sampson 2:12.01, 1,660 Laura Button 2:14.25, 1,667 Jayne Capps-Jenner 2:14.36, 1,681 Julian Holland-Gladwish 2:15.06, 1,705 Rachel Hirst 2:15.55, 1,815 Clare West 2:19.16, 1,887 Garrick Fox 2:22.02, 2,084 Tim Hirst 2:31.32, 2,205 Michael Ball 2:39.52 and 2,316 Paul Bird 2:51.50.

Further afield, in Germany, Mitzy Bond was the lone Black Dog running in the Berlin Marathon.

She reported a fast and flat course, great support, perfect drizzly running weather and was delighted with her new personal best time of 5:05.41 after a six month break from running earlier this year.

Also on overseas duty was club triathlon ace Roly Shaw. He was taking part in the Age Group World Championships in Rotterdam, finishing 31st from 81 entries in his age group in 2:29 and reporting that “I raced to my potential — the nine Brits in front of me usually are ahead. The nine behind me are usually trailing me too.”

At the Berlin Marathon, Waveney Valley AC’s Matt Jeffries took almost four and ahalf minutes off his previous best time, which he achieved at last year’s Bungay Marathon. Running in aid of the Get Kids Going charity, he finished in 2:35.04 in 194th place. Competing as part of his 2017 10-race marathon challenge for Prostate Cancer UK was Mark Smith who ran a time of 4:04.

In the Ipswich Half Marathon Liam Nudd finished 73rd in 1:29.14, Alan Richardson 793rd in 1:53.25, Patricia Tuttle 1,403rd in 2:07.14, Lisa Wilson 1,404th in 2:07.14, Michaela Gooch 1,583rd in a big PB time of 2:12.05 and Chris Hulme 2,382nd in his first half marathon, in 3:05.22.