The May Day bank holiday proved a full one for Garden City Runners - and a fairly successful one too.

The big events were all in close proximity and the Welwyn Garden City club had winners in both Hitchin and Kimpton.

Peter Harvey took top honours at the Hitchin Town Centre 10k, the first of the MV50 athletes to finish, clocking a time of 38 minutes 37 seconds.

And there was another celebration at the race, which started and finished in Market Place before heading out through villages, as the ladies team won a silver medal.

They were led by Martha Hall in 41:30, and completed by Jess Timmins (43:34) and Zoe Stephens (44:16).

The race also incorporated the county championships with Hall's run good enough for bronze, while Timmins was eighth and Stephens ninth.

In total there were 795 finishers at Sunday's event, which was bathed in sunshine.

One day later though, the weather was not kind as the rain fell on Kimpton's May Festival 10k Fun Run.

However, Paul Guy did not have his spirits dampened and he stormed to victory in 40:39, almost a full minute clear of second place.

Harvey's exertions in Hitchin 24 hours earlier did not stop him from coming fourth in 43:15.

There were plenty of other GCRs at the event, including Richard Somerset, Barbara Kubis-Labiak, Roger Adey, Sophie Packman and Helen Stafford who had decided to cycle to the event, and stuck with that plan even through the rain.

Saturday, May 4, could not have passed without at least one Star Wars reference and it came in the form of the 'May the fourth be with you' run, organised by Phoenix Running.

Nadine and Aiden Dwyer were there for GCR, completing six laps of the Thames towpath for 32k, earning themselves some bespoke Star Wars medals.

Kath Evans meanwhile was on mainland Europe at the Prague Marathon, raising money for the WellChild charity in the process.

They provide specialist nurses for children who have complex needs.

Some "wicked cobbles" and a course that took the field across the Charles Bridge, helped enhance the event, leading to a time of 5:18.

Parkruns were still popular despite the other attractions of the weekend and there were 100 from the club at various ones.

Jacqui McCallum and Jane Molloy hopped on a plane to Europe too, competing in the Vejen Parkrun in Denmark.

At the same time, over in Germany, Peter Jasko was finishing 10th in Dreiländergarten.

But the overseas bragging rights were truly earned by Samantha Hastie who had run on the slopes of Mount Etna.

Chris Dungate and Ilona Peva almost took that prize until it was discovered that the California Country Parkrun is in fact in Wokingham.

Closer to home, Bruce Judge finished fourth in Stevenage in 19:23 while Richard Somerset also just broke the 20-minute barrier at Burgess, Camberwell.

At Panshanger, Joe Ansbro and Matt Baker were third and fourth and there was a PB for Justin Swallow, finishing in 24:49.

At Sherwood Pines, Nottinghamshire, Alex Newman-Smith ran to a creditable fourth place, while Jamie Rose finished 11th at Chalkwell Beach, Westcliff-on-Sea.