Fairlands Valley Spartans claimed a one-two at the Festive 5 around Welwyn Garden City.

Having seen a group of 22 compete at the Hatfield Five a week earlier, a smaller party of six were involved this time and Andrew Patterson won in 26 minutes 34 seconds.

Clubmate Simon Jackson finished runner-up in 28.26, while Hazel Smith ran a PB of 40.53 and Nick Kleanthous (42.13) shaved another six seconds off his previous best, set a week earlier.

Jim Brown was first over-70 male in 47.06, with Penny Schenkel recording the same time.

Mike Jeffs was third senior man and fourth overall at the Herts Santa Run over 10k in 44.37, while Jonathan Jones (29th, 37.20) and Dzenana Topic (30th, 37.21) ran the 5k, with the latter finishing third in her category.

Spartan John Harris was 'first reindeer' to finish at the North Herts Road Runners' Santa Canta in Letchworth, where he was joined by clubmates Tracy Pez and Yuko Gordon.

And Gordon won gold in the W70 category at the British Masters 5k Championships in London's Battersea Park on Sunday, where her winning time of 22.09 was faster than the W65 winner.

A very strong field saw an M40 runner clock the fastest time of the day in 15.01 and also included an over-85 athlete.

Grant Ramsay ran the Goodwood Marathon in 3:05.52 to improve on his times from Bedford (3:16) and Milton Keynes (3:22) as he aims to go below three hours and run over 50 marathons in 2023.

Meanwhile, some 218 runners took part in the 268th Stevenage parkrun on a chilly Saturday morning, with Sam Simmons leading the Spartans contingent in 23.44 and Gail Mackie (26.23) their fastest woman.

Members are now looking forward to the Minsden Chapel Run, a pre-Christmas off-road club run from Stevenage, on Sunday.

*Starter sessions are held on Monday evenings, with group runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays from Stevenage Hockey Club's Ditchmore Lane base and a track session on Saturday (9.30am).

The club is also experimenting with some Wednesday morning runs, with regular training free for all members.

Anyone interested in joining are asked to bring bright coloured clothing and lights for the evening runs.