All four male athletes from Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies returned from the Reading Half Marathon, having set new personal bests on Sunday.

Martyn Cryer was first of the group home in 1.08.31, which earned him 41st place overall in a field of thousands.

Cryer's time was just three seconds quicker than he ran in the same event last year.

Next in, Gavin Lewis clocked 1.10.00 for 57th place. For Lewis, traditionally a 800m or 1,500m runner, it was unbridled joy as he achieved his target. 

Harold Wyber was next across the line, finishing in 79th place. Wyber clocked 1.11.44, chipping around one minute off his previous best, set in Amsterdam in 2012.

The last of the quartet was Simon Beedell, who has only been running for a few years and until 2013 was stagnating at around the 80-minute mark for this distance. Twelve months ago he had improved that 76 minutes and in December he got into the 74s.

On Sunday he went one better, clocking a fine 1.13.39 as he continues his London Marathon training build-up.