ATHLETICS

WOODFORD Green Athletic Club with Essex Ladies runners put in brilliant performances in appalling conditions at the Victoria Park Open Five in Hackney.

Simon Plummer finished in an outstanding fourth place in the high-class 202-strong field in a time of 25mins 25secs.

Craig Berg made an excellent impression further back, clocking a time of 27mins 1sec for 14th place, and second in theU20 age group.

In the women's race - competed by 79 runners - Woodford's Diana Kennedy finished in second place in 30mins 36secs, two minutes shy of winner Roman Gessesse from Ethiopia.

Top three places were also gained by vet Dave Cox, who won the over 50s age group, and Vic Wilson who came second in the over 60s category.

Meanwhile, Diana Kennedy was back in action the day after, this time running and swimming in the Deal Aquathlon.

She finished in an excellent second place, despite being over a minute down after her swim.

Alex Chklar also took second place in the men's race after leading in the swim.