Happy Valentine's Day everyone. 

Just the day to bring you our report of the 26.2 Road Runners Club's promotion of their annual Valentine's Day 10K at Chessington on Sunday (12 February) – the nearest Sunday to Valentine's Day and a long-running love story in itself.

The 26.2 Road Runners Club started life in 1980 as a pipe dream of four enthusiastic runners who had travelled to spend a long weekend running the New York City Marathon. During a post-race celebration, fuelled by hot chillies and ale, they made a ‘management decision’ to start their own running club upon their return to the UK.

Now 26.2 RRC can look back on more than four decades of success, with a membership of around 200 and many events organised for the benefit of other like-minded runners. The club runs are on Monday and Wednesday evenings from Surbiton Racket and Fitness Club.

Valentine's Day 10K this year started at the less-than-romantic hour of 8:00am for safety reasons to avoid the busy traffic. Race HQ is at the spacious Chessington School, just a cupid's arrow away from the start in Barwell Business Park. The course is mainly flat, with just a few gradients – notably at 6K and between 8K and 9K.

All finishers receive a race T-shirt, banana, Kit Kat, and...some Love Hearts! Race sponsors Up and Running Surbiton had a wide range of running clothing on sale and the chip timing was provided by Sports Systems.

The leading men in this year's love story were Alex Reid (Tunbridge Wells Harriers, 32:17), Liam White (Tunbridge Wells Harriers, 32:40) and M50 Steve Winder (Epsom & Ewell Harriers, 33:42).

Sutton Striders' Gaby Reynolds (W40, 36:22) narrowly claimed the women's top prize from Eliza Hawthorn (The Stragglers, 36:54) with Imogen Parker-Elms (Ranelagh Harriers, 38:11) third.

There were 273 finishers in 1:25:22 and plenty of Love Hearts to go around.

Results and previous reports are at runABC South race listing here

Event logo courtesy 26.2 Road Runners Club Valentine's 10K website