Colchester and Tendring Athletic Club’s ladies took up the challenge of the Friday five-mile road race at Ipswich and came away with four trophies.

Although not fully recovered from a recent summer cold, Danielle Tatum still produced an excellent performance to finish second in her section with a useful time of 32 minutes three seconds.

Becky Adams was also in fine form, coming through strongly to finish sixthth woman in an impressive 33m 33s and 17-year-old Laura Hillyard gave a good account of herself, helping the team to victory with a time of 35m 16s.

Coach John Hyland said: “It is good for the under-24 age group to get involved in competing in these races.

“It will help them develop into better athletes and keep their interest high as many athletles are lost to the sport in this age group.”

Other good efforts came from Vet50 Shirley Hillyard with 48m 54s, Vet45 Sally Sharpe in 49m 28s and Vet60 Mike Ryall had a good race with 37m. 23s.

In the junior one-mile race, Joe Gibbon returned to form with a sparkling effort to take second place.