NORTH Norfolk Beach Runners had a morning to remember at the Wissey Half Marathon, with the Cromer club taking home three county gold medals. Chris Merrylees produced an outstanding performance to finish seventh overall in a personal best of 1-19:57.

NORTH Norfolk Beach Runners had a morning to remember at the Wissey Half Marathon, with the Cromer club taking home three county gold medals. Chris Merrylees produced an outstanding performance to finish seventh overall in a personal best of 1-19:57. As the first Norfolk runner home, Chris took a memorable gold for winning the County Championship.

There were strong runs from John Christopher, second over 45 in 1-24:22 and Richard Blake, third over 55 in a superb time of 1-26:01.

For the umpteenth time this year, Jim Hayes and Brenda Kinch triumphed in the 60 plus age group. Jim was 39th in an excellent 1-29:30 whilst Brenda pulled away from her main rival at the first water station and made light work of a strong headwind mid-race to demolish her previous pb by nearly a minute.

Also running well were the fast-improving John Leach and Geoff Hayward, who took a county bronze in the over 60s with an excellent 1-45:14.

Pictured above are Jim, Brenda, Geoff and Chris.

Four other Beach Runners turned out to enjoy the pleasant conditions at Oxburgh Hall. Mike Marshall, Louise Tiplady, Margaret Ison and Lesley Hennessey all had excellent runs. Slightly further afield Malcolm Ball ran in the Lincolnshire Wolds Hilly 10 mile race. Malcolm won the over 75s by around 28 minutes.