Luke Harrison of Stamford Striders wins the Rutland Spring Half Marathon
Stamford Strider Luke Harrison set a new course best to claim victory in the Rutland Spring Half Marathon on Sunday.
Harrison completed the course at Rutland Water in 1hr 17mins 30secs to beat the previous best time for the race by more than two minutes.
Although it wasn't an individual personal best performance by the Stamford runner, he still finished more than four minutes ahead of George Fear in second place.
Steve Glencross completed the top three after finishing ahead of Matthew Mustard and Ben Wall in fourth and fifth respectively.
Emma Batten was the leading lady after completing the course in 1.35.27 to narrowly pip Rebecca Graves who was just 23 seconds and one place behind.
The race attracted nearly 300 runners who observed strict Covid protocols to ensure the safe staging of the event.
Race director Paul Cowling was delighted with how the event went and was full of praise for everyone involved.
He said: "I would like to say a massive thank you to all of our runners and walkers that attended the Rutland Spring Half Marathon this weekend.
"Everyone followed our strict guidelines and social distancing rules so well and this ensured everything went to plan and ran smoothly.
"After a year of no events and so much disappointment we were elated to share the huge achievements with everyone.
"We saw so much joy and happiness on the course which was truly heart warming.
"Another huge thank you goes to our event partners and incredible marshals who have all been by our side throughout and we couldn't have held this event without them.
"The energy and enthusiasm that the marshals have shown this weekend has blown us away.
"This weekend was a huge step forward for us but we recognise and understand that this events was far from normal and we certainly missed the crowds, event buzz and spectators.
"As we move forward and ease back towards normality we believe we will appreciate these little things even more."
Top 30 finishers: 1 Luke Harrison 01:17:30, 2 George Fear 01:21:47, 3 Steve Glencross 01:23:16, 4 Matthew Mustard 01:24:50, 5 Ben Wall 01:25:50, 6 Duane Tomaselli 01:26:06, 7 Michael Peace 01:29:13, 8 Ben Hewitt 01:31:47, 9 Alessandro Ferrari 01:32:03, 10 Ben Stevens 01:32:36, 11 Andrew Williams 01:33:25, 12 Ben Watson 01:33:36, 13 Benjamin Gibbs 01:34:02, 14 Anthony Sharp 01:34:43, 15 Nick Sale 01:34:44, 16 William Vipond 01:34:59, 17 Paul Trevor 01:35:07, 18 Lee Kenton 01:35:19, 19 Emma Batten 01:35:27, 20 Rebecca Graves 01:35:50, 21 Jonathan Gaydon 01:35:56, 22 James Gaydon 01:35:57, 23 Thomas Savill 01:37:05, 24 Jono Greenwood 01:37:29, 25 Sarah Fraser 01:37:36, 26 Richard Garnett 01:37:49, 27 Chris Jeal 01:38:02, 28 Saya Sheridan 01:38:16, 29 Richard Anderson 01:38:35, 30 James Radford 01:39:43.
