BLESSED with a hot and sunny Bank Holiday, Witham Running Club hosted its first race of the year.

Previously the race took the form of the May Day Five, following the same route as the annual Boxing Day five-mile race, however this year saw the inaugural May Day ten-mile race hosted by the club, which started and finished at Witham Rugby Club.

A total of 300 runners braved the hot conditions and contributed to a highly-successful day.

Paul Whittaker of Road Runners Club and a four-time winner of the Boxing Day 5, continued his winning form in the town to take first place overall in 53 minutes 11 seconds.

Springfield Striders rounded of the podium with Chris Burgoyne in second and Alex Manton in third place with 57:40 and 59:06 respectively.

Jackie Stretton, also of Springfield Striders, took the ladies' title in 62:36 ahead of second-placed Helen Armitage of Witham Running Club in 69:22 and Laura Cornish in 74:41.

There were 17 members of the host club who took on the heat and humidity, with David Church ninth male.

RESULTS: David Church 01:03:25 (9th man), Helen Armitage 01:09:20 (2nd lady), Stuart Mills 01:11:43, Kevin Harper 01:15:48, Steve Watson 01:15:48, Rebecca Booty 01:25:59, Vicki Riley 01:25:59, David Mason 01:27:38, Colin Short 01:30:06, Graham Eyre 01:32:46, Nick Inns 01:33:43, Karen Flowers 01:42:19, Ross Silverton 01:45:43, Dawn Shilling 01:45:28, Vicky Levine 01:47:00, Sylivie Bullen Bell 01:54:58, Ben Miller 01:56:31.

As well as the ten-mile road race for adults, Witham also hosted a one-mile fun run around the rugby field for children to participate in.

Meanwhile, Witham also hosted the first of the summer series five kilometre races from the Angel in Kelvedon.

First home was Chris Martin in an impressive time of 17:39, closely followed by Pete Riley in second with 18:39 and Paul English in third with 20:21.

Liz Stuckey returned to winning ways as the first lady home in 20:51, with Charlotte Elms in second with 21:40 and Tanya Cregan in third with 23:00.

Elsewhere, Louise Pascoe and Haydeh Safavi continued Witham's marathon presence around the globe by competing in the Prague Marathon in the Czech Republic.

Pascoe finished in 4:38:42 and Safavi finished in 5:24:42.

The Great Peace Run 21K in Ypres in Belgium was a new event commemorating 100 years since the end of the World War I and saw three Witham members travelling to compete.

Chris Wager ran 2:24:05, Christine Wager was back in 2:24:07 and Leah Roby Smith ran 2:51:59.

Julia Bacon was in Hertfordshire for the Gaddesdon Gallop 10k Trail and finished in a commendable 1:09.

Witham Triathlete of the Year for 2017/18, Andy Notley, kicked off the triathlon season in Stratford Upon Avon.

The event consisted of a 400 metre pool swim, a 18km bike and a 5km run, with Notley putting in a solid performance to come home in 1:01:42, for 24th overall out of 341 male finishers.