THE WINNER of the first Petersfield Heath 5k, Harry Ellis, returned to win this year’s race and slashed nearly four minutes off his previous time.

The fourth edition of this annual event took place on Sunday with 93 runners taking part across four categories: men, women, under-16s (senior children) and under-12s (junior children).

The race is organised by the Runnyhoneys and it is a family-friendly fundraiser for the Stroke Association and forms part of its Make May Purple campaign.

All of the proceeds are donated to the Stroke Association, split equally between the national charity and the local group, in Petersfield.

The Petersfield group has funded speech therapy from donations in previous years and many representatives of the charity were at the race, taking blood pressures, running, supporting runners or manning the stall in a sea of purple.

The men’s race was hard-fought, with the first four runners in close contention for the first lap and the loop around the back of Music Hill. Ellis crossed the line first in a time of 18min 17secs. Harrison Notter finished second in 18min 35secs and Toby Clay was third in 18min 46secs.

The women’s race had the largest entry with 59 runners. This race had a clear leader from the first lap with Liss Runners’ Naomi Ward finishing more than two minutes clear in a time of 20min 53secs. The Runnyhoneys claimed second and third, with Slaney Hopkins finishing second in 23min 15secs and Sophie Llewelyn-Williams timed third in 23min 50secs.

This year was Jake Cleasby’s first in the senior children’s category, which meant that he was running his own race and not being accompanied by an adult.

Twelve-year-old Jake hit good speed from the start and kept it up to win the race in 21min 50secs.

Fifteen-year-old Oscar Hares finished second in a time of 22min 30secs and Rachel Wright finished third in 24min 38secs.

The junior children’s race sees children under 12 years old running with an adult. Finlay Stafferton crossed the line first in 24min 6secs, but was chased hard by Victoria Band who was second in 24min 7secs. Isaac Harley paced himself well to finish third in 25min 8secs.