What a marvellous afternoon down at our beach trail time trial!

A low tide made for easier running conditions, runners (and a dog named Tyson) wore blue to mark World Autism Awareness Day, Andry Vanga celebrated her birthday, Chris Moss smashed the 8km record and his 6-year-old son William stole everyone’s hearts by running the 5km race all on his own.

While the turnout was affected by numerous other sporting events, the enthusiasm of the intrepid band of runners who did turn up injected a joyfulness into the event, which was topped off with chocolate cake and a rather croaky singing of happy birthday to Andry.

Sporting highlights of the day were Chris’s charge along the beach to knock a full 6 minutes 11 seconds off the 8km record, the sight of little William out alone pounding down the beach, and 10-year-old Jasmine Fowler’s enormous sense of achievement after completing the 5km for the first time without dad Paul by her side.

Most runners clipped several minutes off their best times, while James Mackay posted exactly the same time as his last outing on the 8km route, sparking his rather wry comment: “I was as fast as before but because the tide was out, in fact I was slower”.

While all runners were rewarded with their own personal achievements against the clock Chris Moss (for breaking the record) and three lucky runners whose numbers were drawn out of the bag, went home with meal vouchers generously donated by seafood and sushi chain of restaurants, Ocean Basket.

Our grateful thanks to Ocean Basket for their support.