Highgate Harriers’ Chris Rainsford smashed his personal best when winning the Robin Hood half marathon on Sunday.

Rainsford, who had previously covered the 13.1mile distance in 68 minutes and 29 seconds in 2017, came home in 67.54 this time around.

And that also saw him claim the England title, held in conjunction with the event in Nottingham, as Notts AC’s Alistair Watson finished second in 69.28.

Rainsford will run the second leg for Highgate at the National Road Relays this Saturday.

Clubmate Alex Davidson, 56, ran a fine 35.35 at the Middlesex Open 10k road race on Sunday to finish 47th out of 325 in mild weather in Victoria Park.

And that time is expected to put him within the top half dozen in the over-55 category in the country.

Daniel Brewer finished 27th in 34.21 as Hillingdon’s Abdishkur Abdulle won in 30.54.

Over-45 Nick Gold clocked 35.44 for 52nd, as over-50 Martin Black recorded a time of 50.52 ahead of the Met Cross-Country League season opener at Claybury.

*Highgate’s Hannah Viner will be competing for England under-23s at the Rennes International 10k on Sunday week (October 14).

Viner received her call-up for the event, which sees teams from all over Europe competing for honours, after running so well at the South of England Road Relay Championships at Crystal Palace last month to help Highgate claim silver behind Guernsey.

Emma Burgess, Yasmin Goater and Ashley Scott-Wilson were also in the Highgate team on the day.

*Highgate Harriers Masters finished 14th out of 27 starting teams at the Southern Veterans Four Stage Road Relay Championships.

Over-55 runner Alex Davidson led them off on the first leg and clocked 20.39, before Damian Lane took up the chase and recorded a time of 21.08.

Andrea Spaccatrosi ran the third leg in 22.23 and over-50 athlete John O’Shea completed the anchor leg in 24.28 as Highgate crossed the line in 1:28.38. Kent AC won the event in 1:17.38.