Witham Running Club's Kev Harper continued his good form at the Tilty Hilly Five.

The race name describes the course well as there are plenty of steep ups and downs and the last mile is particularly testing.

Harper was the first Witham runner home in 30 minutes and 25 seconds, securing tenth place overall.

Supervet Frank McKeown gave some of the younger runners a run for their money as he followed Harper over the line in an impressive 32m 05s.

Four Witham runners finished in quick succession - Alex Stuckey (34m 32s), Phil Martin (35m 00s), Mat Pearsons (35m 12s) and Pete Gold (35m 50s).

A blanket finish was led by the first Witham lady home, Liz Stuckey in 37m 32s, followed by James Montgomery in 37m 37s, Rachel O'Connor in 37m 46s and Colin Short in 37m 58s.

Debbie Lewis crossed the line in 41m 26s and Theresa Montgomery, making a welcome return to racing after injury, finished in 58m 47s.

John Roberts was Witham's only representative in the Essex PB Five at Basildon.

The race was run over a fast, flat, traffic-free course designed to help runners achieve a personal best.

Despite concentrating on marathon distances of late, Roberts maintained his running form to finish in 161st place in 42m 55s.

Witham had eight competitors at the first running of Born2Tri's Braintree District Triathlon at Halstead.

The event started with a 400 metres pool swim at Halstead Leisure Centre, followed by a 20.12 kilometre one-lap undulating bike course on local roads and a challenging on and off-road 5K run.

Alan Pilgrim started this year's tri season as he finished last year's, securing 36th position after completing the event in one hour 9m 21s.

Trevor Johnson was not far behind in 39th (1h 9m 57s), while Tony Wallen had a strong, consistent race (1h 19m 10s).

Emily Mayo's first venture into the world of triathlon saw her secure an overall time of 1h 21m 37s and 126th place.

Darren Smith was another Witham member making his triathlon debut - he finished in 1h 22m 22s and 132nd position.

Looking at their swim and bike times, Dave Andrews and Dave Payne seem to have been equally matched until Andrews put in a quick run to give him a finish time of 1h 28m 22s (164th), just in front of Payne's 1h 30m 31s (170th).

Yvonne Mortimer, who has recently recovered from injury, should be pleased with her finish time of 1h 34m 45s (181st).