PAUL Whear topped the veterans leaderboard at the annual Cornwall 10,000m Championship held at Par after finishing fifth overall.

The Cornwall Athletics Club member who lives in Helston clocked a time of 34.33.0 during a solid performance in the race, round two of the 2015 Duchy Athletic Network Summer Track Series, which was won by East Cornwall Harriers runner Dan Nash.

He completed the 25 laps in a personal best time 31.24.6, which is the tenth best time ever over the distance in Cornwall, as he led from the start after enjoying the company of pacemaker James Ansell in the early stages.

Cornwall AC's Colin Snook moved into second place about halfway into the race after starting cautiously and maintained a good pace to produce a strong finish, widening the gap between him and Devon's James Deene, who came third, by 100m.

In the women's race, Emma Stepto was prolific as ever with a time of 34.53.2 seeing her retain the county title, coming ahead of Amy Sole, of Mud Crew Trail Runners, who on her 10,000m debut achieved her target of running under 40 minutes by just over 31 seconds.

RESULTS

KEY FOR CLUBS

CAC Cornwall AC, ECH East Cornwall Harriers, HR Hayle Runners, I&I Istead & Ifield Harriers, MCTR Mud Crew Trail Runners, NP Newquay & Par AC, NRR Newquay Road Runners, STA St Austell Running Club, TRC Truro Running Club.

MEN RACE ONE: 1 Dan Nash ECH 31.24.6, 2 Colin Snook CAC 32.07.5, 3 James Deene Guest 32.24.2, 4 Dan Alsop STA 32.48.4, 5 Paul Whear CAC 34.33.0, 6 Stuart Nicholas STA 35.19.7, 7 Tony Wright NRR 35.21.5, 8 Alex Daniels NRR 35.50.2, 9 Mark Champion I&I (Guest) 37.19.8, 10 Paul Sole MCTR 38.49.3, 11 Dale Triggs CAC 39.43.8.

LADIES: 1 Emma Stepto CAC 34.53.2, 2 Amy Sole MCTR 39.28.9.

RACE 2: 1 Scott Abraham HR 37.51.1, 2 Andy Trudgian STA 37.52.8, 3 Russ Adams CAC 39.52.5, 4 Matt Grose STA 40.00.00, 5 Daniel Nicholls STA 40.17.5, 6 Trevor Heath MCTR 40.37.2, 7 Lynne Champion I&I (Guest) 41.20.3, 8 Paul Wright NRR 43.06.1, 9 Geoff Harris NRR 44.46.6, 10 John Horton NP 46.31.6, 11 Alf Mathiesen TA 47.38.3, 12 John Lillis NRR 49.55.5, 13 Sarah Bazeley STA 51.31.2, 14 Diane Boardman TRC 54.27.3.