Beach Runners tackle half marathon

North Norfolk Beach Runners have a regular August fixture, the Great Yarmouth Half Marathon which is often a test of the runners' ability to cope with extreme heat.

North Norfolk Beach Runners have a regular August fixture, the Great Yarmouth Half Marathon which is often a test of the runners' ability to cope with extreme heat.

Not so this year. With the summer disappearing rapidly into autumn, nearly 300 runners took to the lanes west of Yarmouth and had nothing more difficult to contend with than a stiff northerly breeze.

Twelve North Norfolk Beach Runners completed the course.

First across the line was Andy Kett, finishing 20th in a time of 1-25:12 with Phil Quantrill just two places behind him.

Richard Blake, previously a Great Yarmouth Road Runner but now sporting the Beach Runners' blue and yellow vest, put in another winning performance to take the over 60 first prize in 1-28:27.

With Jim Hayes coming in five minutes later in 52nd place, it was a notable one-two for the Cromer Club.

Colin Stark, perhaps exhausted from this year's marathon exploits, was slightly off his best but still clocked a creditable 1-31:13 for 46th place, and Phil Rowland also ran well but missed out on breaking 90 minutes.

Further back, Dave Spooner finished just outside the top 100 in 1-43 dead whilst Rob Osborne continued his steady improvement with a time of 1-55:41 for 174th place, 10 places ahead of Lindsay Kitchen.

More significantly for bragging rights in the Osborne household, Rob crossed the line 12 minutes ahead of wife Andi.

Making up the dozen for the Beach Runners were Barney's Mike Marshall and Katrine Middleton, who will have enjoyed the relatively cool conditions and the fine views of Somerleyton Hall near the

halfway point.