In a thrilling finish to the National Road Relays, Bristol & West AC had the bronze medals snatched from their grasp by surprise package Norwich at Birmingham's Sutton Park.

Even though it was only a week after she led home the Great Britain team at the World Half Marathon Championships, Bristol couldn't have had a better last stage runner than Claire Hallissey.

A storming penultimate stage by Kate Goodhead saw Hallissey take off in third with a 12-second advantage over Norwich. But the Anglian team had kept their best to last with Beijing Olympic steeplechaser Barbara Parker setting off in hot pursuit.

Parker quickly hauled in Hallissey and, while the tough Bristol runner kept forcing the pace in a bid to break her opponent, the short, fast circuit suited the Norwich girl better and in the last 400 metres she used her superior track speed to sprint clear and grab the third spot by just two seconds with the fourth fastest time.

"Fourth is the worst position to finish but Claire couldn't have done any more, it was a terrific effort by her," said team manager Mike Down. "Overall, I can't fault the girls and it was a good performance, but ultimately so frustrating for them."

Westbury Harriers' didn't have medal ambitions but can be very encouraged by 18th place, a vast improvement on 2007 when they were a lowly 54th.

The men's race was one of the strongest for some time and the Bristol & West AC squad of Jon Wills, who gave the team a great start with second place on the opening stage, Richard Peters, Phil Wylie, Steve Mitchell, Tom Merson and Robbie Bugden had to settle for 13th spot.

"It was a tough competition and had we been just a minute quicker then we would have finished sixth," added Down.

Westbury's men improved considerably from the Midland Championships to finish 68th.

In his first marathon of the year, Nailsworth Olympian Dan Robinson shot to the top of the UK rankings with a personal best time of 2hrs 12mins 14secs in the Amsterdam marathon.

Lynette Porter, of Bitton Road Runners, won the veterans' over-45s prize in Sunday's Amsterdam marathon clocking a time of 3hrs 4mins 39secs. Top Bitton runner in the men's race was Matt Langdon (2:51.52) followed by Paul Sperrin (2:56.24) and Kevin Movat (3:21.55), while Ross Hale ran 1:29.00 in the half marathon.

Westbury Harriers' Sophie Voller ran a personal best of 1hr 24mins 38secs in the Cardiff half marathon. David Reynolds led home a 22-strong contingent from Bitton Road Runners in 1:23.24, while Jo Webb was first woman (1:37.48). There was also a PB of 1:33.01 for Steve Stacey.

The day after running the relays, Westbury's Emma D'Alton clocked a PB of 1:24.11 to win the Salisbury half marathon.

Phil and Anita Westlake, of Bitton Road Runners, completed the Beijing half marathon in 2:04.52, while clubmate Julian McCracken ran a personal best of 3:59.05 in the Abingdon marathon.

Great Western Runners' Jonathan Goodland finished third, and top veteran, in the Dartmoor Vale marathon in a time of 2hrs 55minis 24secs.

Westbury Harriers' Anthony Glover won the minor race at the 2nd Muggles Festival organised by Hogweed Trotters around Hawkesbury Upton. There were 135 finishers in the three races with Thornbury running Club's Jo Plumbley doing particularly well to finish second in the tough 15.9-mile event that included 1,310 feet of climbing.

Westbury Harriers' John Terry finished runner-up (2:04.29) in the Exmoor Stagger 16.1-mile race to the summit of Dunkery Beacon and back. Steve Adams was sixth (2.10.05) with Gareth Howard and Martin Thomson 38th and 40th in times of 2.29 and 2.30 respectively. In the women's race, Bristol and West's Nicky Bromhall was third.