Havens Hospices provide palliative nursing and supportive care to adults and children living with complex or incurable conditions in Essex. The charity supports them and their families throughout illness, death and bereavement, enabling them to retain independence in the comfort of their own homes and through support groups in the community.

The charity promotes the annual Chelmsford Marathon and Half Marathon with specialist race management by Nice Work and the latest fundraiser was held on Sunday (16th October) with almost 1,000 runners evenly split between the two distances. This was the 8th running of the event that finishes in Chelmsford's Central Park beside the River Can. 

The top 25 men beat three hours in the marathon – impressive running on an undulating route from Shire Hall, through the city centre and along winding country roads before a spectacular finish through an avenue of trees in their autumn splendour. Check out Martin Cotton (Bentley Running Club) as he hammers down the finishing straight – already looking towards next year judging by his race number!

The top three men in the full marathon were Dan Kyne (unattached, 2:46:27), Tom Heslop (Kent AC, 2:46:54) and Thomas Blunt (unattached, 2:47:59). The leading ladies were Heidi Hogan-Steele (Colchester Harriers, 3:04:17), Anna Lees (Springfield Striders, 3:23:00) and W40 Vicky Hunt (Witham RC, 3:26:50).

In the half marathon, the first three finishers were Ram Osman (Colchester Harriers, 1:13:28) and the unattached Gareth Carey (1:16:40) and Andrea Piscopo (1:16:51). The women's champion was Springfield Striders' Jackie Stretton (W35, 1:25:32) from Leisha Wegg (City of Norwich, 1:28:05) and Charlotte Barnard (Springfield Striders, 1:33:46) as 23 athletes beat 90 minutes. 

Previous reports and race results at runABC South race listing here

Image courtesy Nice Work Run on Facebook