Runners took a mini break after the exertions of the last few weeks - with only a few events tempting them out.

That's not to say the ones who did partake weren't testing themselves to the limit, with the case in point being Andy Grudzinski of North Herts Road Runners.

He headed to Romania for the Transylvanian Trail Ultra, advertised as a mountain ultra which traverses the Bucegi Mountains, north of Bucharest.

Starting in the shadow of Dracula's Castle in the village of Bran, he tackled the 50k option through the alpine scenery and mountain weather of rural Transylvania.

He crossed twisting single tracks, ancient forest trails, mountain plateaus, 50 per cent inclines on snowy paths and rock walls with fixed metal cables to assist if required.

A 20-minute hailstorm was also thrown in there for good measure but despite a twisted ankle from the halfway point, he descended back to the castle to finish in 14 hours.

Much closer to home was the Serpentine Last Friday of the month 5k which saw Stuart Overton race round Hyde Park in 16 minutes 58 seconds, finishing 16th.

The race had Fairlands Valley Spartans participation too, Jim Brown finishing in 27:24.

He also took on the Hatfield Broad Oak 10k on bank holiday Monday, clocking 55:43 while Penny Schenkel managed 59:05.

Stevenage Phoenix had five at the event.

Paul Smith was the first of them home in 45:17 while the first lady back was Emma Mead in 53:35.

Scott Crawford (56:10), Garry Wallace (1:01:55) and Louise Chancellor (1:03:30) completed the quintet.

Smith and Wallace set age category club records with their times.

The club also held their second handicap 5k race.

The 20 runners produced a set of great times with exciting finishes on what is proving to be a very fast circuit.

First home was new member Graham Eden in a time of 27:30, beating his target time by a massive eight-and-a-half minutes.

The next two runners were graduates of the clubs foundation programme, Sandra Laird clocking 30:03 followed by David Lloyd in 36:08. 

The fastest lady on the night was Jodie Kantas in 22:26 with Ian Harvey fastest man in 20:11.