The return of the Watford Half Marathon did not disappoint as more than a thousand runners took to the streets to raise money for charity.

Thankfully the overnight rain cleared up and people young and old ventured to Cassiobury Park for the town's biggest race of the calendar.

Sunday morning was kicked off by the 1.8 km family fun run with 10-year-old Leonardo Borrill taking victory followed by 12-year-old Mia Garner from St Helens School.

The Half Marathon, which took in the winding country lanes of Chandler's Cross and surrounding villages, was started by Watford mayor, Peter Taylor and footballing legend, Luther Blissett.

After completing a lap of the beautiful Cassiobury Park, a small group of runners formed at the front and could not shake either off re-emerging back in to the park 12 miles later for one of the closest finishes the race has ever seen.

After 72 minutes of running, only 5 seconds covered the top 3 finishers.

Sale Harriers’ Joe Vis finished in third, narrowly pipped by second place local runner, Matthew Cooper from St Albans Striders. The winner, with a late turn of speed was Mohammed Elbayan, of Dunstable Lions who finished in 1hour 12 minutes and 53 seconds.

The women’s race saw Rebecca Bunting of London Heathside finishing 2 minutes clear of her rivals in 1hr21min30secs. Second place went to Jen Armson of Queens Park Harriers and third to Annabel Arnold of London Heathside.

But it wasn’t all about the podium places as more than 1,100 runners took to the roads to complete the half-marathon for the first time since the Covid pandemic started, cheered on by spectators and musical entertainment on the way round.

The race was organised by Active Training World in conjunction with Watford Harriers and gave £7,000 to local running clubs and raised £1,700 for the nominated charities.

The Watford Half Marathon is scheduled to return on Sunday February 5 2023.

Take a look at a photo gallery at the top of the article or visit Active Training World's Facebook page for a full set of photos.