THIRTY-THREE Witham Running Club members turned out for the final race in the Essex County Road Running Championships.

There were series medals on the line in the five-mile event at Wix.

With a fast and mostly flat course and near perfect conditions, it was no surprise to see seven Witham runners break the 30-minute mark and 15 club members set new personal bests (PBs).

Mark Finbow was first back as second claim for Witham, but running under first claim club South London Harriers.

He ran a fine race to come fourth overall in a new PB of 26 minutes and 40 seconds.

First home in Witham colours was James Crisp, with an impressive return to racing, setting a new PB of 28m 24s.

He missed out on the Vet 40 bronze medal by a few seconds.

It was no surprise that the first lady for Witham was Rachel Sweatt, who took the ladies' five-mile gold medal in a time of 28m 53s.

Having secured a gold medal in the ten-mile and half-marathon county championships, this third victory meant she was crowned the Ladies' Essex Road Running Champion for the series, earning a call-up to represent the county in Brighton next month.

Witham's ladies also ended the season with a team silver medal for the series and the men’s team narrowly missed out on the bronze medal.

Full results: Mark Finbow 26m 40s (PB), James Crisp 28m 24s (PB), Heydon Mizon 28m 33s (PB), David Hunt 28m 47s (PB), Rachel Sweatt 28m 53s (PB and first lady), Scott Darney 29m 14s (PB), Pete Rilley 29m 55s, Leo Cole 30m 10s, Owen Dare 30m 51s (PB), Giles Sowerby 31m 43s,

Mark Austin 31m 54s, Hayley Ellen 32m 55s (PB), Simon Scott 33m 1s (PB), Steven Watson 33m 4s, Bill Smythe 34m 37s, Mark Lynch 35m 54s, Liz Stuckey 35m 56s, Tanya Cregan 37m 1s (PB), Steve Hennings 38m 12s, Lee Blake 38m 25s (PB), David Grainger 40m 30s (PB), Carina Taylor 40m 44s, Colin Short 41m, James Montgomery 41m 12s, Anita Grainger 41m 18s, Sandy Karl 42m 25s, Becky Grimwood 44m 16s, Sasha Rush 46m (PB), Aimee Brinzer 47m 21s (PB), Jo Smythe 48m 41s, Martina Byrne 49m 37s, Natalie Lilley 52m 2s (PB), Jason Lilley 52m 3s.

Ross Silverton was at Leigh-on-Sea for the popular 10k race, finishing in 57m 13s.

Witham had three runners at the Chelmsford Marathon, with Sean Darney running this race for the third consecutive year, hoping to break three hours for the first time.

A perfect run ensured he comfortably achieved his goal with an excellent 2h 56m 36s, finishing 12th overall and knocking over ten minutes from his PB set on the same course last year.

Matt Jordan finished in a very respectable 3h 33m 39s, considering he ran Saltmarsh 75 a few weeks ago, and David Church returned from injury and finished in 3h 52m 35s.

David Stevens finished seventh in a time of 40m 2s at the Loch Kinord 10k trail race in Scotland.