DURING the summer, there are very few opportunities for 5k road races with top class opposition on fast, flat courses in the region.

One of these was at Capenhurst last Wednesday evening and five Denbigh Harriers lined up.

Mat Jones, possibly weighed down by his all-inclusive summer holiday, was first home in 20.15.

It was then no surprise that Emma Collins won the W55 category, but her time of 20.45 was excellent and ranks her 21st in the UK for her age group.

Only 30 seconds behind Emma was Melina Morris, finishing as the third W45 and a UK ranking of 121st in her age category.

One minute later was Fred Jones as the fourth M65, ranking him 93rd for his age.

Dawn Marshall (26.52) was doing her best to acclimatise herself for her weekend half-marathon in France.

However, over there on Sunday, she found it too hot to race and had to take solace in the wine-tasting!

Also running approximately 5k on Wednesday night on the Long Mynd, in the scenic Ragleth Inn Fell Race, was Duncan Jones.

He had 1,450 feet of climbing to cope with, but finished a good 70th in 43.15.

The Bank Holiday weekend saw several Harriers at various 5k parkruns, where the normal numbers were swollen by tourists from all over the UK.

Tony Benton excelled at Oswestry, finishing 18th in 22.54, while Bob Neale tackled the bigger Shrewsbury race, beating 15 other men aged over 65 in a remarkable 24.29.

Chris Baldwin was at Bala, finishing 48th in 25.46, but the prize for the furthest travelled parkrunner was John Llewelyn Thomas, who was 35th at Maesteg in 31.16.