As temperatures soared above the seasonal norm over the Easter weekend, a number of Herne Hill Harriers athletes were out in road racing action in a variety of locations.

At the Maidenhead 10 Mile Road race Ben Paviour finished eighth and was third M40 in a good time of 55.23. Jonathan Ratcliffe continued his purple patch with another PB time as he placed 26th overall and was the first M50 finisher in 58.45 and now looks for a good performance in the upcoming London Marathon. Another M40 Matt Munro was only just outside the hour with his 60.07 in 34th and was backed up by Eriç Dol clocking 61.15 for 43rd place.

New member Arlo Ludewick was racing for his Manchester University team at the annual Isle of Man running festival and returned two good PBs in three days. On Good Friday he ran 33.22 for 22nd place in the 10km race, on Saturday competed well in the hill race and then raced even better in the 5km on Easter Sunday, in which his 15.48 for 14th position illustrates what a good new find he is.

In parkrun action Nick Bester ran 15.48 for a 42 seconds PB in Dulwich, placing sixth in a strong line up on a fast course and like Ratcliffe is rounding into good form for the London Marathon. Bryn Reynolds placed tenth in Dulwich Park in a time of 16.14, M50 Derek Lee ran 18.51 and under 15 Sophia Sahai recorded a big PB with 19.28.

Further afield Andrew Clarke (16.49) and Fiona de Mauny (19.03) were both winners of their respective parkruns in Northallerton and Cirencester respectively. Neither should read much into their times as Clarke was a clear two minutes ahead of second place and de Mauny was seventh overall in her run, a little behind her husband Chris who was sixth in 18.28. Simon Coombes was second in the Bournemouth parkrun in 16.21, while closer to home on Tooting Common David Abergel (17.55), Gavern Newsum (18.00) and Duane Matthews (18.03) occupied fifth, sixth and seventh positions.

Competitors in this Sunday’s London Marathon will be hoping for slightly cooler conditions, as a good number of Herne Hill Harriers athletes will be taking to the streets in their red and black colours looking for strong performances off the back of a hard few months of training.