BUNGAY Black Dog runner Ian Taylor travelled to Luxembourg on May 23 to compete in the Europe Marathon. Billed as 'The Night Run', the race started at 6pm - which was a good thing as temperatures were still 25�c.

BUNGAY Black Dog runner Ian Taylor travelled to Luxembourg on May 23 to compete in the Europe Marathon.

Billed as 'The Night Run', the race started at 6pm - which was a good thing as temperatures were still 25�c.

The start was rather congested as marathon runners mingled with many thousands attempting the half-marathon and 250-plus team marathon relay runners.

Support from the spectators was marvellous as the course snaked its way through the central business district, various city parks, housing estates, industrial areas and over three bridges across the gorge (Le Grund) which cuts through Luxembourg City.

It was not a particularly fast course for a big city marathon, as indicated by the winning time of 2-19:15 by elite Kenyan athlete John Ngeno.

Taylor performed well despite the humidity and once the routes of the two races diverged he had long stretches of road to himself and could maintain a steady pace of 4:34 per kilometre.

Soon after the 30km marker he overtook, and finished ahead of, elite female Ethiopian athlete Solomet Abate-Woldeab. This is the first time he has got anywhere near an elite runner in a race.

His chip time of 3-12:50 earned him 40th place out of 998 males and 45th place out of 1,185 finishers overall. He completed the course in daylight despite the race name.

On the same weekend a group of Bungay Black Dog Running Club members and friends travelled to Canterbury to compete in the half marathon.

Seven hundred and seventy seven runners completed this testing course, being many less than those who had commenced the race. Starting on the edge of the town, the route went uphill for the first mile and then continued to follow a hilly route through the picturesque Kent countryside.

The residents of the few small villages were out in force to spur on the runners. The heat had an effect upon the performances, but thankfully some of the little lanes were shaded by hedges.

The sting in the tail was a mile long hill of one in 10 between miles 10 and 11 which resulted in many competitors actually walking quicker than those attempting to run up it.

Club captain John Wharton, who also organised the trip, was first Black Dog to cross the line in a time of 1-43:17 in 128th place. Andrew Smith was next home in 1-50:24 (243rd) with Nigel Gilham less than two minutes later in 1-52:14 (280th).

Next Black Dog to finish was Neil Thomas in 1-56:24 (338th). The first Black Dog female was Judy Potter in 2-01:13 (409th) closely followed by Karen Gedge in 2-01:42 (416th).

Colin Whale who has run in Snowdonia and on Everest found the course to his liking and came in on 2-06:35 (477th).

Robin Farrar, not a lover of heat and hills, finished in 2-14:13 (592nd) and Steve Cant, nursing cracked ribs from a recent car accident, was merely pleased to finish with a time of 2-26:29 (693rd).

Bob Jack, running a short distance for a change, managed 2-32:00 (727th) and finally, David Cook, the club's oldest runner finished in 2-46:04 (762nd).