Colchester Harriers' Allan Smalls made his England debut in a 100km road race in Cardiff, which incorporated the Anglo Celtic Plate.

Held over 25 laps of Bute Park, it is a tough race both mentally and physically.

Smalls kept clear of the initial fast pace to go through the halfway point at 50km in a fine three hours and 36 minutes.

With other athletes tiring, he strode through the field in the last marathon to clock an impressive 7h 49m 31s to finish fifth overall.

Even better news was that his efforts helped England to the team victory.

Smalls' time was only 12 minutes off club-mate Dave Lacy's record set in France in 1995 of 7h 37m.

Meanwhile, Sarah Stradling continued her rise up the road ranking list with another fine performance to shatter the Harriers 10km club record at the Manchester International.

In one of the finest fields of woman assembled for a road race in England, Stradling took the challenge full on to clock a superb 36m 19s.

It was a personal best time which shattered Lyn Higgs' club best by 18s - a record that had stood for 15 years.

With the promise of even better times to come, Stradling, who finished 34th in the London Marathon, is certainly benefiting from the tough regime set by coach Adrian Mussett.

Harriers were without most of their established stars at the Great Baddow ten-mile Essex Championships but, nonetheless, fielded a good team which included the up-and-coming Chris Sellens.

Coming home tenth, Sellens ran 58m 33s, with clubmates Andy Kearton 21st in 61m 54s and Rob Gibby 28th in 62m 47s.

Good performances from Harriers came in the second Harwich 5km Handicap event.

On a fine evening, a headwind was only a problem for the last two kilometres and times were excellent on the night.

Rachel Richardson-Wright led the team home in fourth spot, clocking 25m 08s, with returning athlete Glenn Doel pleased with his effort of 18m 15s to just make the top five.

Fran Norris shattered the over-45 club record in 21m 11s and showed her recent training is paying off at last.

Second-claimer Annette Oakman was second fastest lady on the night, knocking 17 seconds off her first race of the series to finish 76th in 19m 05s.

Sellens was flying in 16m 31s and held on to 86th place.

The final Harrier home was David Wright, who fought back from last position at 4km to finish 116th out of 123 in 18m 10s.

Harrier Stacey Wheat took part in the BMC Nike Elite and Grand Prix Series at Watford.

Competing against a high-class field of runners, Wheat - the only under-20 - took on the field of seniors with shear determination and purpose.

Clocking perfect lap timings, she crossed the line for fourth place from a field of 14 competitors, in four minutes and 37.87 seconds for a remarkable personal best and club record, bettering her 4m 43.5s club record the previous weekend at the Essex Championships.