CHARD Road Runners took on the heat of Dorchester Half and Full Marathon this weekend.

First off to take on the road marathon were Stuart McLean, Helen Baxter and Paul Masters.

Heading off from the Dorchester Showground and then up through the town centre it was Masters and McLean who set the pace for CRR’s.

With the hill out of the way Baxter found her pace in the pack of over 600 runners and heading out into the countryside Stuart started to press ahead.

With roads closed the shortest point A to B was the order of the day and by 10 miles in the sun was heating the race up, heading through the woods was a joy and Baxter took advantage of the shade to re-focus on tied legs after her 50 mile epic two weeks ago.

McLean was heading into Tolpuddle keeping focus and Masters, struggling with the heat, was motivated by the crowds.

There was a new lease of life as music from a live band to set the pace, all CRR’s were buoyed by this injection of high spirits.

The pace slowed in the closing stages but locals came to runners aid with hosepipes sprinkling water over them.

McLean led for CRR’s by quite some margin as he burst across the line in 3h 48m 26s (73/607), next to run in was Paul Masters in 4h 39m 09s (273/607), Helen Baxter kept the legs going and crossed in 6h 20m 21s (560/607).

Next to take on the Dorchester Half was Lizzie Smith, CRR’s only entrant.

Taking the same start route up through the cheering centre of Dorchester, Smith was soaking it all up and being able to relax into the race.

As the race headed out into the countryside it was now all about Smith keeping good focus as the heat and humidity was starting to take its toll on pace.

Heading through the halfway mark and back towards Dorchester, Smith was inspired by the crowds lining the streets of Puddletown and, with her focus now truly on the finish line, crossed in 3h 19m 13s (917/1019).