St Albans Striders swapped their trainers for high-vis vests as they took over the volunteer roster for the St Albans Parkrun.

The event is completely run by volunteers and with fields inside Verulamium Park often reaching 600, organisation is key to the event’s success.

Among the duties required were marshalling, setting up, timing, scanning and counting tokens.

Richard Sved, co-event director for St Albans said: “We are always looking for volunteers to help our event run smoothly and to craft the best experience for all those taking part.

"Having so many St Albans Striders at the helm last week was a great help and created a real atmosphere.

"It’s so important that each St Albans parkrun participant feels welcomed and appreciated and having a selection of very keen runners to help support them was greatly appreciated."

For those still running, the Manchester Marathon on Sunday was the key event and 10 Striders took part, three beating the three-hour mark.

George Booth clocked two hours 51 minutes 39 seconds, Chris Dennell managed 2:53:39 and Carl Stevenson 2:58:41, all good enough to qualify them for the Boston Marathon.

Gwynfor Tyley (3:20:50) and Eleanor Lambert (3:25:37) also ran Boston qualifying times.

Across the Atlantic already, Patrick Hayes came first in his age category in the San Diego Beach Half Marathon.

The start of the track & field season took St Albans Athletics Club to Norfolk with races from hurdles to 1500m, as well as jumps and throws, in the U13 to U17 age groups.

The best middle distance performance saw Conor Treloar break five minutes in the 1500m with a PB of 4:57 while Amelia Drane won the girls' race.

Edward Goodwin took the win in the boys' 800m while Eliza Nightingale also ran the distance in her first even as an U17.

Sophie Jacobs set a new 3000m PB in Loughborough on Saturday.

Oliver Poulain took on the Surrey Hills Ultra Challenge finishing in an impressive fifth place while there were debutants over the half-marathon distance.

James Alison was one in the Northstowe Half, finishing in 1:31, while Euan Turner managed 1:20 at Reading in his first half.

Also at Reading were Megan Steer (1:29), Deborah Steer (1:39) and Phoebe Steer (1:57).