East London Runners Zoila Gilham-Fernandez finished fourth at the Essex 5,000m Championships in Chelmsford recently.

Six races with up to 18 athletes in each started every 25-30 minutes from 6.45pm and Gilham-Fernandez finished in a personal best 19 minutes 43 seconds.

Clubmate Paul Quinton was fifth in the men’s B race and third male vet 40 in an equally impressive time of 16.56.

Caroline Frith was second female in the half-marathon trail race at Chiltern Ridge in Wendover, Buckinghamshire in 1:56.30.

Ilford Recorder: East London Runners Caroline Frith at Chiltern RidgeEast London Runners Caroline Frith at Chiltern Ridge (Image: ELR)

A tough course at its steepest had an assent of 1,800 feet but Frith’s hill training at Epping Forest held her in good stead.

The first mile took competitors up Coombe Hill then dropped down the ridgeway into the country estate at Chequers, before a three-mile uphill finish.

Frith came in almost four minutes ahead of her predicted time of two hours and was one of only two females to beat that mark, planning to return next year with more clubmates in tow.

Meanwhile, Andrew Baxter (2:30.25), Fiona Critchley (3:11.59), Jonathan Wooldridge (3:12) and Stuart Barton (3:34) completed the Lundy Island half marathon, another incredibly tough off-road course.

Ilford Recorder: East London Runners Fiona Critchley, Stuart Barton, Andrew Baxter and Jonathan Wooldridge at the Lundy Island half marathonEast London Runners Fiona Critchley, Stuart Barton, Andrew Baxter and Jonathan Wooldridge at the Lundy Island half marathon (Image: ELR)