North Norfolk Beach RunnersA STIFF southerly wind blowing up the promenade left a large field at Wednesday's Great Yarmouth five-mile race shaking their heads in dismay at some disappointing finish times.

North Norfolk Beach Runners

A STIFF southerly wind blowing up the promenade left a large field at Wednesday's Great Yarmouth

five-mile race shaking their heads in dismay at some disappointing finish times.

Seventeen North Norfolk Beach Runners completed two laps of the seaside course and it was North Walsham policeman Steve Jones who crossed the line first for the club in 14th place with a time of 28:57.

Next home was Chris Merrylees missing out by just six seconds on breaking the 30-minute barrier.

Darren Neale, Quinton Brown and Dena Parfitt all ran excellent races but were all some way off their times from the first race in the five-mile series a fortnight ago whilst Jeremy Bolam, more often seen on a bike this summer, struggled round in 34:05 for 70th place.

Chris Wade and Simon Page both had top 100 finishes with Chris's father, Ian, and Charlotte Neale just missing out as the strong headwind up the finishing mile held them back.

The ever-present Ian Jarvis and the seldom-present Noel Spruce crossed the line together in 39:16 for 135th and 135th places whilst further back Shelley Burton and John Christopher also ran in side by side as did Emma Dennis and Paul Muffett.

Jonathan Folkard made up the large contingent of beach runners enjoying an evening out at the seaside.

The Great East Anglia 10k is fast becoming a major feature in the spring racing calendar and once again nearly 1,500 took to the streets of King's Lynn for a Sunday morning run. The stand-out performance from a Beach Runner was Andy Kett's remarkable 18th place in a personal best time of 35:21.

No other member of the Cromer club could get within five minutes of the flying Kett but Phil Rowland put in a sterling effort for a top 100 finish in 40:50 with Jim Hayes running one of his best 10k times for a while to clock 41:37 yet still missed out on being first over 60.

Ryan Callaby ran a powerful race to record an excellent 42:51 with Tony Heath and Ian Jarvis the only other Beach Runners able to break 50 minutes.

Malcolm Ball, at the age of 77, is still fast enough to easily make the top half of the field and so it was no surprise to see him finish in 556th place, just two places behind Michael O'Connor and a good minute or so ahead of Lindsay Kitchen and Mike Marshall.

For the ladies Sandra Powles, Alison Swanson and Virginia Borman all battled with a strong and chilly northerly wind blowing off the sea to record excellent finishes.