Laura Thomas and Danny Rock both celebrated big personal best times on their way to individual victories at the annual Richard Bennett Felixstowe Coastal 10, which boasted a big total of 452 finishers on a sunny Sunday morning.
An in-form Rock, of host club Felixstowe Road Runners, led home the bumper field in a scorching 53mins 46secs, which hacked nearly three minutes off his previous best for 10 miles.
Coached by Nigel Powley, who used to dominate the road running scene in East Anglia during the 1990s, over-35 veteran Rock has had a good year - he won the Ipswich Twilight 10K in July (in 32:17) and the Wissey Half-Marathon (1:11:05) in Oxborough, Norfolk, two weeks ago. Both these were also PBs.
Club-mate Tony Gavin was a distant runner-up at Felixstowe, in a time of 57:44, while Ipswich JAFFA's Ben Turley ran well for third in a PB of 58:08.
JAFFA team-mate Laura Thomas, meanwhile, was an impressive winner of the ladies' title to continue her fine sequence of results during 2019.
The 26-year-old was eighth overall and first female in 60:44, slicing just over a minute off her previous best, which she had registered at the Beccles Turkey Trot (61:45) last December.
Just a fortnight ago, Stowmarket-based Thomas had also recorded a new PB over 10K, with a swift 36:00 at the Cardiff 10K.
"I have benefited from increased training this year, continuing on from my first marathon in London," explained Thomas, who posted an impressive 2:52:40 in London in April.
"I have carried on the higher mileage, which has been a good base for the shorter distances.
"I was hoping for around 60 minutes, or just under the hour at Felixstowe, and I was on course during the first half.
"I was running with John Glanfield, who has a similar pace to mine, but there are a few tough sections on the course, most notably at around seven miles when there's a lot of shingle and pebbles to negotiate.
"We were running under six-minute miles until that point, after which we were about 20 seconds per mile over six minutes.
"Looking ahead, I want to break the hour for 10 miles, but my next race is the Peterborough Half-Marathon (Great Eastern Run)," added Thomas, who is coached by Clive Sparkes at JAFFA.
Leading results from Richard Bennett Felixstowe Coastal 10:
Top 20 men: 1 D Rock (Felixstowe RR) 53:46; 2 T Gavin (Felixstowe RR) 57:44; 3 B Turley (Ipswich JAFFA) 58:08; 4 M Friend (Harwich Runners) 58:16; 5 A Howlett (Framlingham Flyers) 59:01; 6 S Williams (Stowmarlet Striders) 59:57; 7 J Glanfield (Felixstowe RR) 60:43; 8 A Coughlan (Vegan Runners) 60:53; 9 C Leek (fram/Fly) 61:08; 10 G Taylor (Felixstowe RR) 62:19.
11 J Bell (Leighton Buzzard) 62:27; 12 K Peirce (Ipswich Harriers) 62:46; 13 N Hardwick (Un) 63:29; 14 N Hammond (Fram/Fly) 63:37; 15 P Bulacz (Sudbury Joggers) 63:48; 16 S Buchan (Stowmarket) 64:18; 17 G Hammond (Un) 65:07; 18 H Fitzgerald (Un) 65:17; 19 M Payne (Un) 65:27; 20 D Summersgill (Un) 66:03.
Top 15 ladies: 1 L Thomas (JAFFA) 60:44; 2 K Parnell (Un) 70:02; 3 K Creak (Un) 70:37; 4 S West (JAFFA) 72:22; 5 H Taylor (Felixstowe RR) 74:59; 6 K Deasy (Un) 75:07; 7 S Spencer (JAFFA) 76:11; 8 A Calver (Un) 76:18; 9 C Green (Felixstowe RR) 76:25; 10 S Coleman (JAFFA) 76:40; 11 S Whymark (Un) 77:39; 12 T Green (JAFFA) 79:20; 13 M-A Tuli (Haverhill) 80:39; 14 M Komorowska (Gt Bentley) 81:14; 15 C Hughes (Un) 82:05.
Male veterans, over-40: 1 Leek. Over-45: 1 Howlett. Over-50: 1 Bell. Over-55: R MacKenzie (Fram/Fly) 68:52. Over-60: 1 S Mead (Stowmarket) 69:46.
Female veterans, over-35: 1 Creak. Over-40: 1 Deasy. Over-45: 1 Calver. Over-50: J Hann (Sudbury Joggers) 82:19. Over-55: 1 K Wood (Woodbridge Shufflers) 89:57.
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