Andrew Mason and Laura Graham, of the Springfield Striders Club, became club half marathon champions at the Brentwood Half on Sunday.

Brentwood is always popular, as it falls a month before the London Marathon and provides a guide to how everyone's training has gone.

The race may be popular, but the weather certainly wasn't with rain, hail and strong winds hampering the thousand-strong field.

The course has a fast opening few miles, but a number of undulations make the finish fairly tough.

Other Springfield Striders to be on course for good times at London were Dave Milton, Ken Edwards, Tony Husband, Cathy Ross, Helen Husband and Jean Driscoll.

Most Striders will be taking a break from racing this week, as it is the club's dinner and presentation evening on Saturday.

However, no doubt a few hardy souls will be attempting the Great Bromley trail race on Sunday.

Laura Graham, who ran well at Brentwood.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.