BUNGAY Black Dog runner Ian Taylor enjoyed the Hastings Marathon so much last December that he returned to the East Sussex town on Sunday to compete in the Hastings Half.

BUNGAY Black Dog runner Ian Taylor enjoyed the Hastings Marathon so much last December that he returned to the East Sussex town on Sunday to compete in the Hastings Half.

Regarded by many as the best half-marathon in the UK, and with substantial cash prizes, the race attracts a huge field and fierce competition.

The opening five miles contained some hard climbs which gave way to a fairly flat section near the Conquest Hospital.

The course then descended by way of Hastings Old Town to the seafront for the final 2.5 miles along the promenade.

Sunshine, temperatures of 11 degrees and a light breeze provided almost perfect conditions and Taylor was pleased with his chip time of 1-27:48, being nine seconds faster than last year, which was good for such a demanding course, as shown by split times of 36:04 at five miles and 66:50 at 10 miles. This earned him 134th place out of 3,837 finishers.

Robbie James also travelled further afield to run in the Forest of Dean Half-Marathon, organised by the local Rotary Club.

A sunny and still day meant the scenic Gloucestershire woodlands could be enjoyed to the full. The course was mainly off-road with lots of hills on dirt and gravel paths.

Robbie had an excellent race, finishing in a time of 1-35:17, being 175th out of a field of 1393.

Meanwhile, locally, eight Black Dogs competed in a field of 300 runners in the Broadland Half-Marathon.

The undulating course starts and finishes at South Walsham and takes in Ranworth and Woodbastwick.

First Black Dog to finish was Chris Chorley in 1-34:37 in 55th position, beating Richard Dye who came 93rd in 1-41:03.

The first club female runner was Bobbie Sauerzapf in an excellent time of 1-48:36 (150th), closely followed by Neil Thomas in 1-49:11 (158th).

David Punt was under the two-hour mark in 1-56:32 (201st), but Colin Whale was just outside in 2-00:33 (217th).

Karen Gedge. who has not run competitively since last October due to injury, was very pleased to finish in

2-02:22 (230th). Bob Jack managed a time of 2-19:32 (272nd).