A slight dusting of snow, minus 4.5C, a damp, grey misty morning.

Time to throw a pillow over the alarm clock and snuggle back down under the duvet? Not a bit of it for the near 100 runners who turned up at 9am for this week’s Wimbledon Common 5k park run.

Can’t imagine what possessed the number of plucky first timers to make their debuts on this of all days but hope they felt rewarded by running in such exhilarating conditions. The cold conditions failed to prevent another 19 PBs being set. Top-10 finishers Dave Huck, John EC Paton and Dominic Berner all broke their PBs by more than 20 secs.

Michael Eustace smashed his by 86 secs and Carl Warland made a mockery of his first run by coming home nearly 10 minutes quicker.

Perhaps he went the scenic route last time or stopped for a picnic.

Among the women, Ruth Bickerton and Georgina Stubbs both lowered their PBs by 96 secs, Elisabeth Tapp improved by 32 secs and Tamsin Cargill went 22 secs quicker.

And many thanks to the volunteers – Carol McCormack, Julie Piper, Anna Garnier, Clive Wickham, Pete Mulholland, Peter Brannen and Adam Fenton – who were the real stars of the day, coping with such freezing conditions.

In his 10th appearance, Jon Fairs (SM30-34) of Serpentine RC won for the third time in a time of 17:46.

Dave Huck (VM45-49) representing Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow AC took second place by eight seconds recording 17:54.

Rob Walker, (SM25-29) of Abbey Runners Leeds was placed third in a time of 18:17.

In her 19th appearance, Charlotte East (SW30-34) of Wimbledon Windmilers won in a time of 20:52 for the third time.

She beat unattached runner Zoe Phillips (VW40-44) by 11 seconds.

Michaela Knespl, (JW15-19) of Hercules Wimbledon AC was placed third in a time of 21:17.

In the age-graded competition, Dave Huck recorded a performance of 81.10 per cent.

In the points competition Ian Higgins and Charles Lawrie share the lead in the men's section. Carol McCormack heads the women's competition.

1 Jon FAIRS 17:46, Serpentine RC; 2 Dave HUCK 17:54, Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow AC; 3 Rob WALKER 18:17, Abbey Runners Leeds; 4 Andrew K DAVIES 18:18, Serpentine RC; 5 John E.C. PATON 18:32; 6 Ian HIGGINS 19:09, Thames Hare & Hounds; 7 Baoming LUO 19:21; 8 Dominic BERNER 19:38; 9 Lindsay WILLIAMS 19:44, Thames Turbo Triathlon; 10 Unknown ATHLETE 19:56; 11 James BALL 20:34; 12 Craig NOTTINGHAM 20:37; 13 Charlotte EAST 20:52, Wimbledon Windmilers; 14 Tom GIBSON 20:57; 15 Yuzo SAITO 20:58, Thames Turbo Triathlon; 16 Zoe PHILLIPS 21:03; 17 Mark BOHAN 21:09, Hercules Wimbledon AC; 18 Colin HARRIS 21:10, Wimbledon Windmilers; 19 Mike BREWER 21:15; 20 Michaela KNESPL 21:17, Hercules Wimbledon AC; 21 Grantley BRIDGE 21:27; 22 Bryan TURNER 21:34; 23 Tamsin CARGILL 21:36; 24 Christopher COPPER 21:38; 25 Nick CROCKFORD 22:00; 26 Oliver LEE 22:04; 27 Gary ROWLANDS-MACKENZIE 22:09; 28 Daniel CRUICKSHANK 22:11; 29 Rob FAIRS 22:12; 30 Geraldine HELLINGS 22:13; 31 Andrew FICKLING 22:20; 32 Martin HOATHER 22:31; 33 Dennis WILLIAMS 22:34, Hercules Wimbledon AC; 34 Trevor STACEY 22:37; 35 Charles LAWRIE 22:39; 36 James RUNNICLES 22:45; 37 Jim DOWSETT 22:46; 38 Colin MUIR 22:51; 39 David LANFRANCHI 23:00; 40 Andrew CORONEO 23:05; 41 Unknown ATHLETE 23:25; 42 Simon WHITTINGTON 23:25; 43 Anna WIECKOWSKA 23:29; 44 Stephen JACK 23:37; 45 Unknown ATHLETE 23:41; 46 Annelize DU PLESSIS 23:42, Thames Turbo Triathlon; 47 Kevin LANGFORD 23:48; 48 Andrew RUSSELL 23:57; 49 Joanna MILLAR 24:01; 50 Guy EASTAUGH 24:03; 51 Michael EUSTACE 24:07; 52 Richard MILNE 24:08; 53 Chris LOGAN 24:09; 54 Conor CAHALANE 24:16; 55 Baydon MERRY 24:19; 56 Kerstin MERCER 24:20; 57 Aidan HAYES 24:27; 58 John Philip CARTER 24:38; 59 Carl WARLAND 24:44; 60 Steve Michael PUTT 24:50; 61 Unknown ATHLETE 24:52; 62 Scott TAYLOR MOORE 25:01; 63 Elizabeth TAPP 25:09, Serpentine RC; 64 Richard HOOK 25:12; 65 Duncan BOYD 25:18; 66 Unknown ATHLETE 25:20; 67 Lisa MARTIN 25:34; 68 Ruth BICKERTON 25:52; 69 Claire JOYCE 25:57; 70 Robert BEEBY 26:08; 71 Michael LAMBERT 26:12; 72 Jody WRIGHT 26:17; 73 Georgina STUBBS 26:40; 74 Jeoffrey GORDON 26:47; 75 Unknown ATHLETE 26:54; 76 Unknown ATHLETE 26:54; 77 Lisa BARRATT 27:24; 78 Philip TOSH 27:45; 79 Nicola EL KADIRI 27:47; 80 Caroline HENDERSON 27:50, Thames Turbo Triathlon; 81 Diane Sue HAYNE 27:51; 82 Kay WHITCROFT 28:00, Brighton & Hove Running Sisters; 83 Eoin KERR 28:16; 84 Francesca CARTER 28:51; 85 Jeremy KEMPTON 29:02; 86 Liza Anne Frances MAIR 29:08; 87 Peter ASHWORTH 30:02; 88 Victoria FERRIER 30:32; 89 Unknown ATHLETE 30:35; 90 Brian ARNOLD 30:50; 91 Jonathan LEWIS 31:05; 92 Bridget PEACOCK 31:41, Victoria Park Harriers & Tower Hamlets AC; 93 Helen BEEBY 33:23; 94 Joshua WILLIAMS 36:20; 95 Unknown ATHLETE 36:51; 96 Unknown ATHLETE 36:51.