HARWICH Runners raced to a string of great performances at the Great Bentley Half-Marathon on Sunday.

In cold but windless conditions, 24 Black and White-vested members were among 900 runners on the start-line.

Matthew Knowles set a lightning pace on a last-minute dash to the start.

Last over the start-line, he still led the Harwich athletes over the finish-line.

Quickly into his stride, Knowles soon closed the gap on those in front of him.

A strong finish saw him home in 81 minutes, slicing a massive chunk from his personal best.

Newcomers Richard Newman (88m) and Neil Watts (89m) achieved their sub-90 minute target in good style and showed promise for the year ahead.

Club coach Peter Clarke was 23 seconds the wrong side of the barrier, just holding off fast-finishing Nigel Buxton.

Becky McCorquodale had shown fine recent form.

A recurring problem with a stitch saw her dig deep for a time of 91m.

McCorquodale’s valiant effort was rewarded with a bronze age category medal in the Essex Championship, incorporated in the race.

Mark Doyle (91m) and Gary Donoghue (95m) ran well to exceed their expectation.

Inspired performances came from Kate Hodgkiss and Sarah Fossberg, both finishing in 97m.

Triathlete Dennis Warner showed improving running form for a time of 99m, finishing one minute in front of the experienced Kate Thomas.

There were a number of encouraging debut runs over the 13-mile distance.

Jeff Higgon (1h 44m) and Tim Warner (1h 48m) led the way.

Ann Piercey (1h 55m), Ineke Swallow (2h 10m) and Anna Anderson (2h 16m) impressed and showed future marathon potential.

Miranda Rayner, who is among a host of Harwich Runners who will be contesting the London Marathon in two months’ time, was delighted with a new best of 1h 58m.

Fittingly it was Elspeth Knott, one Harwich Runners’ founder members, who came up with one of the runs of the morning.

A time of 1h 44m was an inspiration to those new to distance running and earned a county medal.

Other Harwich times were Julian Cordwell 1h 53m, Roly Knott 2h 10m and Anna Leeds 2h 23m.