JAMES Watson represented England in his Masters vest to finish a tremendous fourth in the Chester Marathon.

He came home in a personal best time of 2hrs 28m 27s. 

Fellow Taunton Athletics Club member Phil Roberts also took part, coming home in 2.55.16 and Hannah Claydon completed the course in 2.56.29.

Kirstie Booth, Kate Drew, Kim Hill, Ellie Steer represented Taunton AC in the National final at Birmingham and did themselves and the club proud, finishing in 42nd place out of the 100 top teams in the country.

The boys finished 62nd out of 82.

Martin Bluemel took part in the Oxford Half Marathon and completed the course in 1.32.05.

This weekend is another busy one, with several Taunton AC members set to take on the Great West Run, a half marathon around the streets of Exeter on Sunday, while others are heading to the Killerton House Parkrun.

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ON Parkrun’s 13th birthday, last Saturday, Mark Foss managed an excellent PB of 18:37 (7th place from 370 runners), at Longrun Meadow.

He was followed by Andy White (19:53, 16th) and Michael James (23:47, 78th). 

Meanwhile, at Barking, Rowland Lyons became the first club member to reach the 250-run milestone, and pacing 23 mins, finished in 22:46.

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IT was a marathon weekend for a number of Running Forever members travelling to Yorkshire, Bournemouth and Chester to tackle the distance.

Iain Elliot was up in York for the Yorkshire Marathon which he ran with several members of his family, finishing in 3hrs 4mins.

Trevor Stow was in Chester and completed his run in a personal best 3.57.

Four members were in Bournemouth for their marathon with Sarah Hayes first home in 4.09, closely followed by Dave Porter (4.12), Jules Griffiths Jones (4.24) and Helen Needs (4.33).

New member Ed Loat tackled the 10k on the Saturday and came home in 61 minutes, while Ali Bisatt took to the hills (and mud) for the Mendip Muddle, finishing this 12-mile event in 1.45 and fourth place in his age category.

Goff and Cathie Welchman were at the Cotleigh Canter - another off-road event. Goff tackled the 10-mile course in 2.03, while Cathie took the seven-mile trail.

There was only one parkrun tourist this weekend, Peter Williams being at Trelissick.

Twenty-seven members helped the local Longrun Meadow celebrate its fourth birthday with a fruit-and-flower themed event.

Saturday also saw parkrun become a teenager – it was 13 years since the first one in Bushy Park, London.

A TOTAL of 370 runners turned out for Longrun Meadow Parkrun’s fourth birthday celebrations last Saturday.

Plenty of them embraced the fruit and flower theme, with many floral shorts and a veritable fruit bowl of outfits on display – bananas, watermelons and pineapples among them.

There were 25 first-timers and 66 personal bests recorded, including four of the first seven finishers on the day.

Jonathan Tipper (Kent AC) was first to cross the line in a time of 16.07, which put him well clear of the field.

Gary Standinger (17.14) placed second, with Jon Lee (18.05) third.
Hannah Taunton was first female and sixth overall in 18.30, with Samantha Wharton finishing in 21.42 and Molly Brown 22.45.