YOUNG Luke Allen of City of Norwich AC and the East Norfolk Sixth Form College made it two wins out of two in this year's highly successful Great Yarmouth Road Runners Five Mile Series, which finished last week.

YOUNG Luke Allen of City of Norwich AC and the East Norfolk Sixth Form College made it two wins out of two in this year's highly successful Great Yarmouth Road Runners Five Mile Series, which finished last week.

In September he begins his degree course in Sports Science at the prestigious St Mary's College in Twickenham - and he was highly appreciative of his coaches and of the PE and Enrichment staff at the college who have helped him so much in achieving his goals.

He did not have things entirely his own way, however, in the most recent race, as Robert Chenery, of Ipswich Jaffa, pressed him all the way to the line, with Andrew Bunn of Norwich Road Runners nearly a minute behind in third place. Chenery and fourth-placed Richard Moore did, however, have the consolation of series' prizes in their respective age divisions, having completed all three races.

Other age division winners for the men were Robert Cheverton, of Waveney Valley AC and Jim Hayes, of North Norfolk Beach Runners.

The ladies race had a familiar ring to it with Emma Coombs, Eleanor Matthews and Lynn Emmett once again claiming the top three places as they have done throughout the series - indeed all three were highly placed in the race as a whole, with Emma Coombs also winning her age division for the overall series, along with Emma Potter-Campbell of Dereham Runners, Carol Maycock of Bungay Black Dog and Pauline Norman of Lowestoft Road Runners.

Cleaning up on the team prizes for the night were Norwich Road Runners in the Senior Men, Waveney Valley in the Veteran Men and City of Norwich in the Ladies' Division.

Race director Rod Shulver was more than pleased with the turnout, with the spectator support along the route and with the help he got from the many marshals, recorders and timekeepers, and the St John Ambulance Brigade, the latter having assisted at the event for many years now. Many casual observers were more than impressed with the range of runners taking part, the young and the old, male and female, fast and not so fast.

Several expressed an interest in coming along to see what it is all about. If you fall into that category, summer training is now taking place from Cliff Park Middle School each Tuesday and Thursday from 6.45pm onwards and all are welcome. So why not give it a try?

Marshalling and other activities meant that local participation in the race was limited, but those who did take part from the local club acquitted themselves well - none more so than Andrew Manning, who was 10th overall in a quality field.

Shawn Mason and Antony Croucher battled it out for much of the race, the former prevailing eventually by a margin of 39 seconds; Paul Evans took a number of scalps despite his exertions at Dereham the previous Sunday; and John Hills, Nicole Anderson and triathlete Neil Coleman all ran comfortably and enjoyed the race. Many are even anticipating eagerly next year's series.