England call for Darragh and a run in the sun for Yaxley athletes

Yaxley runners in Valencia, from the left, Craig Bradley, Darren Hillier, Mike Branston, Carl Baron, Sam Petitt, Darren Wells & Joe Bennett.

Ballard enjoyed a hugely successful summer, and is ranked UK number one in the under 17 age group for both the T20 800m and 1500m.

The Hunts AC member links up with his older brother Brandon who is on the Senior T20 Programme, and has the prospect of competing in international races soon.

VALENCIA

Ten Yaxley runners swapped the Peterborough rain for the warmth of Spain to run in Sunday's Valencia Half Marathon.

Five of the Yaxley men finished inside the 90-minute mark on a course which has a reputation for producing fast times.

In addition to the speedy performances, a highlight of the weekend was the goody bags all of which contained tenderstem broccoli. This was perhaps the healthiest goody bag offering received by local runners since the year the London Marathon bags included dried prunes amongst the goodies.

Craig Bradley was the quickest member of the party, with a finishing time of 1:24.29 which placed him 1,812th out of nearly 20,000 finishers. Bradley's position was quite a contrast to the previous Sunday when he completed in the Great Eastern Run placing 122nd with a time one minute inside his Valencia clocking.

The next three Yaxley men were all just outside the top 2,000, and finished within a minute of each other.

Darren Hillier placed 2,032nd with a 1:26.00 clocking with Darren Wells 30 seconds further back in 2,129th Wells was taking it easy having run his first ever sub 80 minute half in Peterborough the previous weekend.

Carl Baron came home in 2,187th place with a time of 1:26.52.

Michael Branston dipped under 90 minutes with a 1:29.58 finishing time which earned him 2,898th place. Joe Bennett clocked 1:30.51 for 3,062nd spot.

Sam Pettitt was also inside the top 4,000 placing 3,455th in 1:32.36.

The remaining three Yaxley athletes all finished comfortably within the first half of the field with Will Siddle clocking 1:43.35, Will Sach 1:43.41 and Darren Ellis 1:49.45

Stephen and Petra Ellen of Eye Community Runners were both in action in Valencia recording times of 2:01 35 and 2:22.22 respectively.