North Norfolk Beach Runners have been travelling far and wide in search of new challenges, none more so than Malcolm Ball.Last week he travelled to Cresswell Hall in County Durham for the British Masters Veteran Championships 10k where he put in a brilliant run to win the Over-75 age group in 48:52 to become British Champion for his age.

North Norfolk Beach Runners have been travelling far and wide in search of new challenges, none more so than Malcolm Ball.

Last week he travelled to Cresswell Hall in County Durham for the British Masters Veteran Championships 10k where he put in a brilliant run to win the Over-75 age group in 48:52 to become British Champion for his age.

The evergreen Beach Runner traversed England to win his category in the Stratford-upon-Avon Summer Six with a time of 47:32, the fastest70-plus runner on the day.

The Cromer club's reigning Over-45 World Half-Marathon Champion, Dena Parfitt, entered the new Great Yarmouth race - the Humpty Dumpty 10k. Despite taking the summer to unwind after her tough spring racing programme, she won the ladies' race with a sound time of 41:11 in the blustery conditions, finishing 23rd overall.

The Beach Runners' Rob Emery also had a good run, clocking 49:20 to finish just inside the top 100.

Jeremy Bolam ran well at the Ryston Runners Midsummer 5. His 31:37 brought him in as second Over-45, while Geoff Hayward finished strongly in 88th place at 38:17.

The only Beach Runner to take on the extremely fast field at the Norwich Lord Mayor's 5k was Andy Kett. However, he was not at his best and will no doubt run much faster than his time of 18:10 in the future.

Steve Jones ran a fantastic race at the British 10K in London on July 6 finishing 17th in a field of 25,000 runners. Jones, who is based in North Walsham, found the hardest part of the race strategy was getting to the start as he was hemmed in at Hyde Park corner by 6,000 other runners.

The elite athletes quickly began to pull away with Jones following closely behind. “I was running with athletes from all over the world and was obviously pleased to be representing the club in an event being televised live across the globe.”

Jones slipped two positions in the last kilometre before crossing the line in 34:23.