THE day dawned deceptively bright and sunny for the Great Bentley Runnning Club athletes who were taking part in Harwich Runners’ leg of the 53-12 cross country series.

Despite the dry day, the course had been well and truly saturated over the previous few weeks, leaving it ankle deep in clay mud, making this race possibly the most challenging yet as runners struggled to stay upright.

This year’s new course also added a couple of hills in to further test runners.

The results of this race leave the Blue Vests lying fifth in the league, with the men finishing the race in fourth place and the ladies in fifth.

The Scorers were Joe Alexander (6th), Russ Sharp (25th), Ben Ficken (27th), Dave Goldsmith (35th), Charlie Keitch (51st), Michael Simmons (56th), Rodger Alexander (74th) and John Booty (81st).

The women’s team consisted of Vicky Presland (11th), Sophie Apps (30th), Anna Mills (32nd) and Tricia Stacey (51st).

Other runners were: Paul Carlisle, Martin Owen, Phil Presland, Mark Ross, Matthew Knowles, John Bush, Malcolm Jarvis, Frank Gardiner, Scott Young, Adrian Cherry, Patrick Reynolds, Keiron Hayes, Lex Carlisle, Marion Simmons, Rebecca Cook, Lynsey Apps, Sue Sorrell, Sue Thomas, Claudia Keitch, Rachel Giles and Davina Swindell.

Junior runners included Milly Presland, who won the under-11 age group, on her first outing of the season, and sister Katie who was third under-15.

Other runners were Hallie Booty, Emily Cook, Eve Cook and Emily Apps.

The team finished eighth for the race and remained in eighth place overall.

Sinead Burgoyne ran a new personal best of 26 minutes 30 seconds at the Colchester Parkrun on Saturday.