Runners from Woodford Green with Essex Ladies produced some brave performances at the South of England Masters Championships at the weekend.

In the event, held at Claybury, the team took home silver medals in the M50 category.

Matt Flannelly led the way, finishing seventh, while Dave Cox (11th) and Tony Pamphilon (13th) were not far behind.

Richard Holland (31st), Paul Stockings (68th) and Tom Spanyol (76th) also ran well in the field of 100.

The team scored 31 points which was enough to finish second, just one point behind champions Crawley and two ahead of third-placed South London Harriers.

Cox also won a bronze medal in the M55 category.

In the M40 category, the team of Matt Molloy (25th), Steve Lambert (49th) and Martin Mack (52th) came seventh overall.

Sarah Bird, running for Suffolk, came an excellent 15th in the South of England Women’s Inter-Counties Championships, held at the same venue, Georgie-Lou Sales was only four spots behind in 19th and Kat Gundersen crossed the line in 34th in the field of 59.

Sales was also part of the four-woman Essex team which picked up bronze medals.

There were some excellent performances by other WGEL athletes in various races.

In the Under-17 women, Amelia Barrett came 13th, Isabella Hoy finished sixth in the Under-13 girls and in the W40 class Linda Jackson came home in sixth place.

n East London Runners were thankful for some milder conditions at the weekend which allowed them to produce some excellent results.

Thomas Grimes finished first in the Wanstead Flats 5km in a time of 19.14, with Patrick Brown just behind in second place in 19.15.

Gavin Stebbing crossed the line in fifth in 20.30, while other notable performances included Derek Wright (ninth), Regis Martin (tenth) and Lee Woolaston (16th).

Amadeus Furlong also produced a superb display to finish third with a time of 18.47 in the Valentines Park 5km race.

The runners also celebrated their Annual awards, with Jimmy Hartwell winning the Ultra runner of the year. Other winners saw John Atkinson crowned Marathon Runner of the Year, Dan Spinks and Katherine Harris awarded Most Improved Male and Female runners of the year respectively, Ninette Fernandes win Female Runner of the Year, Patrick Brown claim Male Runner of the Year and the Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Jim Bird.