THE summer 5k road races came to an end at the Mid Cheshire event last Thursday.

A quintet of Denbigh Harriers were in attendance at the race.

Once again, Mat Jones (20.04), Emma Collins (20.29), Mel Morris (21.08) and Fred Jones (22.00) all improved their already very good recent 5k performances.

This time they were joined by Phil Hayes, who scored a personal best of 20.13.

Emma Collins kept this season's 100 per cent record of age category wins and she moved up to 14th on the W55 UK rankings.

Such speed promises well for the approaching cross country season.

At the weekend, other Harriers tackled some more difficult 5k courses at various parkruns.

At Bala, Tony Benton (eighth in 21.59) and John Llewelyn Thomas (30th in 29.52) were close to their best.

Sian Pritchard was 204th in 28.23 at the much bigger London event in Kingston.

Emma Collins hit the very hilly Wepre run, finishing 19th in 23.52, just ahead of Vic Belshaw (23.53).

The Conwy parkrun saw Ruth Crowther continue her progress, finishing 205th in 31.16.

This race also saw the very welcome return of Jeff Jones, who crossed the line 162nd in 28.46.

Coed y Brenin was a much more arduous course on Sunday, but Kate Wilson chose it for her return to serious racing after over a year on the injury list.

She finished in 67.23, followed by David Spencer (68.30) and Roger Snaith (70.06), both also returning after troubling injuries.