ON a glorious Sunday morning, the quiet villages of Reedham, Limpenhoe and Freethorpe were invaded by 268 runners, taking part in the second Humpty Dumpty 10K road race organised by Great Yarmouth and District Athletic Club.

ON a glorious Sunday morning, the quiet villages of Reedham, Limpenhoe and Freethorpe were invaded by 268 runners, taking part in the second Humpty Dumpty 10K road race organised by Great Yarmouth and District Athletic Club.

The number of entries had increased. Top class runners were attracted, as indicated by the results and the smashing of the course records.

The race was started by the Reedham Parish Council chairman Alan Goodchild. The men's race was won by Craig Hopkins, who lives in Hemsby but is registered to the Swansea Harriers AC due to university commitments. He beat last year's time of 34:15, finishing in 31:59.

Next to finish was last year's winner Carl Prewer of Lowestoft Road Runners, again beating his previous time to finish in 33:44, and third was Gavin Davies of Ipswich Jaffa and he again broke the record to finish in 34:12.

The club was pleased to have an international athlete compete. Helen Decker of Ipswich Jaffa has just been selected to represent Team England in the Scotiabank International Challenge at the Toronto Marathon in September.

Helen smashed the previous course record of 41:11 to finish in an incredible time of 35:59.

Both Craig and Helen received superb trophies along with a �50 Runners Centre voucher for the records.

Peter Downing again completed the course in his wheelchair in 47:27.

Norwich Road Runners won all four team prizes. All finishers received a Humpty Dumpty engraved tumbler, a Pettitts Animal Adventure Park voucher and a goody bag of water and cereal bars.

The sponsors Humpty Dumpty Brewery got the local village runners involved and they contributed a further 18 runners - all raising funds for the Freethorpe First Responders, the first three men and women all receiving a trophy.

Thanks went to all the runners who competed in the extreme heat, to all members, friends and family of GYDAC, to the SJAB who dealt very swiftly with an incident, to the Freethorpe Guides for their assistance, to MR Scaffolding for their help with transport, to the Reedham Village Hall committee for providing the refreshments and to the Humpty Dumpty Brewery for their sponsorship once again.

THE second of the Wroxham 5K road race series took place last Wednesday, with a total of 271 runners finishing the course.

Great Yarmouth and District Athletic Club had two of their younger runners taking part. The first to finish was Frankie Turner, in a pb time of 21:36 - and for her efforts she was awarded with the prize of second junior lady.

Not far behind and now becoming a regular on the roads was Andrew McNamara - again running in a pb time of 22:29. The last race in this series will be on Wednesday, August 26, which will also incorporate the Runners Centre Grand Prix and County Championships.

THE tenth Gorleston Cliffs 5k Park Run was also the tenth time of running by faithful regular Peter Smith. He came in seventh place in a very respectable time of 23:18. This a 100 per cent appearance record.

The winner this week, for the third time running, was Phil Quantrill in 18:31. First lady was Jo Long in 26:46. Paul Evans, third, recorded the best age-related performance at 71.8 percent.

Participants have stabilised at around 40 mark but there are now 150 registered on the Park Run website, which is bound to ensure a healthy turn-out each week.

The run, every Saturday morning at 9am, starts opposite Park Road, Gorleston and is for all abilities. Walkers, joggers and all young athletes are welcome as we try to promote fitness in the build-up to the 2012 Olympics.