EVERGREEN Allen Smalls was Colchester Harriers' leading runner at the London Marathon.

The 49-year-old continues to produce great marathon runs, finishing 249th overall in two hours 38 minutes 17 seconds.

Ged Mcmillan ran a personal best (PB) of 2h 43m 49s, with Mark Harrod also running a best-ever time of 2h 53m 11s.

Marie Shirley continues to totter on the edge of the magic three-hour mark, clocking 3h 06m 24s this time around while a superb and huge PB came from Laura Shewbridge (3h 08m 50s).

Other Harriers finishers: Paul Rodgers 3h 06m 13s, Jamie Nelson 3h 23m 18s, Craig Mitchell 3h 37m 39s, Jenny Richardson 3h 45m 24s, Rachel Rodgers 5h 44m 42s.

Jerry Walder ran his first marathon at Blackpool and clocked an excellent 3h 32m.

Wayne Cook's form gets even better after he won the Breckland Trail half marathon in 1h 32m.

The Maldon evening 5km road series in the Promenade Park got under way in quite dark conditions.

A total of 23 Harriers went to the line, boasting 11 of the first 12 runners home.

The Green Vests also supplied the first two ladies to finish, with Helen Bloomfield 19m 47s and Rebecca Cooke 20m 13s enjoying a one-two.

The men's winner was Anthony Barraclough in 17m 04s after he just squeezed out team-mate Chris Sellens (17m 05s) and third-placed Danny Millward (17m 19s).

Other Harriers finishers: 4th Paul Rodgers 17-30, 5th Jon Nears 17-32 and 6th Paul Preston 17-55, 7 Doug McGill 17-58, 9 Aaron Marley 18-08, 10 Fergus Crouch 18-18, 11 Paul Spowage 18-19, 12 Andy Raynor 18-20, 16 Joseph Boden 18-52, 19 Richard Boden 18-52, 21 David Wright 19-22, 22 Richard Millward 19-37, 25 Chris Manby 20-10, 30 Simon Morgan 20-21, 35 Jason Bilton 20-55, 36 Chris Panton 21-09, 49 Fran Norris 23-02, 101 Rachel Richardson-Wright 31-20.

Colchester Harriers enjoyed great success in the park runs.

A huge field of 437 went to the line at Colchester Castle, with the Green Vests' Max Caulfield winning in 17-31.

Jon Nears was third in 18m 02s, followed by fourth-placed Ian Haw (18m 15s), Fergus Crouch (18m 22s) who was fifth and John Fryer who clocked 18m 40s to finish sixth.

Harriers also supplied the first three ladies home, with Elspeth Bisson (20m 09s), Milly Presland and Elizabeth Woods all running well.

Sarah Ivory was victorious at Great Cornard in 20m 59s, with Wayne Cook runner-up for the men in 17m 44s.

At Mersea Island, Ziggy Lambton won in 18m 20s with Andrew Jobling second in 18m 24s and Simon Smith finishing fourth.