COLCHESTER Harriers' most successful marathon runner Allen Smalls was in fine form at this year's London Marathon.

He produced the best second-half loss of time, taking just six minutes longer to run the last 13.1 miles.

He finished in fifth position in the over-50 category in two hours 47 minutes 49 seconds.

Daz Farrugi also ran well, losing under eight minutes on the final half to clock 2h 49m 27s.

Nathan Filer did not have the best of runs and would be disappointed with 2h 56m 56s, taking 34 extra minutes on the last 13.1 miles.

Ged McMillan would not be happy with 2h 58m 13s, as his second half was much slower.

Sean Ketteridge just missed out on a sub three-hour passing the line in 3h 00m 47s, while over-55 Colin Ridley finished 14th in his category in 3h 05m 29s.

Richard Flutter kept going for 3h 22m 45s, while Keith Marley again lost time on the second half to go under the clock in 3h 27m 57s.

Richard Millward dropped his pace and finished in 3h 38m 50s.

Mellissa Dowell did well in 3h 59m 22s, Clive Thomas suffered in the heat in 4h 26m 05s, while Cheryl Appleby and Jackie Macllanen jogged along for 4h 32m 16s.

Craig Fookes finished in 4h 11m 43s and Natasha Rice 5h 57m 54s.

At the first evening Maldon promenade 5km series race, a good turnout of Green Vests competed in the field of 154.

The Harriers men filled the first six places home while the ladies also ran very well, filling three of the first four places. Second claim runner Jordan Middlemist led the men home after winning the race in a superb 16m 09s, while Aiko Henington was second lady in 19m 14s in her first race for three months after injury.

Colchester Harriers finishers: 1. Jordan Middlemist 16-07, 2. Andy Jobling 16-39, 3. Michael Major 16-47, 4. Doug McGillvinney 16-51, 5. Tom Cresswell 17-03, 6. Danny Millward 17-12, 9. Max Caulfield 17-37, 10 Gavin Scanlon 17-40, 12. Michael Smith 17-46, 13 Paul Rodgers 17-50, 14 Paul Preston 18-02, 16 Fergus Crouch 18-02, 18 Joseph Boden 18-47, 19 Richard Boden 18-47, 22 Chris Manby 19-10, 24 Aiko Henington 19-14, 25 Simon Ford 19-16, 28 Andrea James 19-27, 29 Andy Raynor 19-30, 30 Dominic Niciejewski 19-35, 31 Rebecca Cooke 19-45, 38 Ellie Cumner 20-21, 39 Heidi Steele 20-22, 45 Simon Morgan 20-50, 51 David Wright 21-36, 56 Pat Marsh 21-59, 57 Dave Gayer 22-02, 67 Lee Caulfield 22-59, 80 Keiron Callaghan 24-41, 104 Stephan Hogan 26-41, 110 Louise Yates 27-29.

The Colchester Castle park run saw 433 runners take to the line.

Danny Millward was runner-up in 18m 11s over the toughest of the park courses.

Chris Sellens was third in 18m 15s, ahead of Jon Nears (sixth, 18m 35s), Fergus Crouch (eighth, 19m 08s) and John Fryer (ninth, 19m 51s).

The Mersea Park Run saw a one-two-three for the ladies with Sarah Stradling (19m 08s), Helen Taczynski (21m 29s) and Debbie Cattermole (21m 47s) performing well.

Paul Rodgers was the men's winner in 17m 53s, with Ziggy Lampon runner up in 18m 49s while Chris Smith had a good run in sixth spot (20m 09s).

The Great Cornard Park Run saw David Hilson third (19m 40s) while at Great Cornard, Tim Ballard was fifth in 19m 28s.