Mist and fog shrouded the record field of 376 runners, who lined up last Friday evening in the St Levan 10K, round 12 of the Cornwall Grand Prix Series, writes Alan Rowling.

This race tours the country lanes of the St Levan Parish between Trethewey and Polgigga, just a few miles from Land’s End and can claim to be England’s most westerly road race.

A confident Tony Brewer (Mile High, Penryn), with four Grand Prix wins under his belt since June, clearly decided to set off at a faster pace than usual, rather than holding back in the early stages, a tactic which surprised his closest rivals, with only teammate Aaron Benney and Jordan Morant (Hayle Runners) trying to stay with the leader, as Colin Snook (Cornwall AC) was content to settle into fourth position.

Benney attacked on the steep hill out of Bottoms Hill at the one mile mark and perhaps this early effort proved his undoing, with first Snook (Cornwall AC) catching and passing Benney at the half way point and then Morant, realising the Mile High man was tiring in the last half mile, summoned all his energy to accelerate past Benney to claim third place. Brewer eventually emerged from the fog in the St Levan Playing Field, beating Snook by 14 seconds, with Morant extending his advantage over Benney to twenty seconds.

The procession of local runners making the top ten continues unabated, with the Under 20 Grand Prix champion, Floyd Ratcliffe, (Hayle Runners) finishing seventh and Helston’s Paul Whear (Cornwall AC) in eighth place.

Ratcliffe maintained his one hundred per cent record in the Under 20 category, to clinch the title, winning his fourth consecutive race for a maximum possible score. Theodore Fleming making his debut for Mile High, finished second in this age group, ahead of Cornwall AC’s third place finisher Connor Trerise.

Cornwall AC’s Ladies team captain Emma Stepto has been a less frequent winner of this race compared to most of her Grand Prix conquests over the last few years, winning for only the second time last Friday evening, since the race achieved Grand Prix status in 2014. Stepto led a Cornwall AC procession in the individual standings, followed home by the ‘young pretender’ Heidi Tregenza, with Amy Sole, returning to Grand Prix action after missing the last two races, in third place and long serving team stalwart, Kathryn Burgess in fourth position.

In the female Under 20 category the first three finishers at St Levan confirmed their positions as the top three in this year’s overall standings. Ella Waters (Launceston Road Runners) secured the 2017 title, with Newquay Road Runners Sophie Talling in second place, ahead of another Newquay Road Runner Leigh Spencer.

With the first four finishers home and strong back up coming from Karen Harrison (10th) and Jayne Angilley (15th), nothing was going to stop Cornwall AC Ladies (35 points) registering their tenth team win of the year.

A plucky Hayle Runners team (128 points) finished second, with the emerging ladies from Looe Pioneers (116 points) rewarded for their long journey to the western extremities of the county in third place.

In the Men’s team competition the recently crowned team champions, Cornwall AC, notched up their ninth victory of the year but the real scrap is for second place, with Mile High, securing another runner’s up placing at St Levan, currently two points ahead of Hayle Runners. With three races remaining, the Treggy 7, Truro Half Marathon and Cornish Marathon, both teams will be keeping a close eye on each other, as the battle will surely go down to the wire.

You would get very short odds betting on the finishing positions in the men’s age categories with Brewer, Benney and Martin once again occupying the top three positions in the 35-39 age group and the Cornwall AC pair, Godolphin School’s Snook and Whear both leading their rivals home in their respective 40-44 and 45-49 age categories. Mile High’s Jamie Stephenson picked up a prize in the 35-39 age group, finishing third and the Cornwall AC runner, Justin Day from Treluswell was second in the 45-49 section.

Helston’s Karen Harrison (Cornwall AC) continued her run of good form this year with another trophy in the 45-49 category, this time finishing third, with Falmouth Road Runner’s sole representative in the prizes once again being Jackie Cope, who was second in the 60-64 age group.

KEY FOR CLUBS

CAC Cornwall AC, CR Carn Runners, FRR Falmouth Road Runners, HR Hayle Runners, LP Looe Pioneers, LR Ludlow Runners, LRR Launceston Road Runners, MBH Mounts Bay Harriers, MDAC Market Drayton AC, MH Mile High, NRR Newquay Road Runners, STA St Austell Running Club, TRC Truro Running Club, TT Tamar Trotters, U Unattached.

RESULTS

Men: 1 Tony Brewer MH 33.33, 2 Colin Snook CAC 33.47, 3 Jordan Morant HR 33.08, 4 Aaron Benney MH 44.28, 5 Andrew Martin MH 34.58, 6 Justin Thomas CAC 35.01, 7 Floyd Ratcliffe HR 35.36, 8 Paul Whear CAC 35.40, 9 Joe Argall CAC 36.06, 10 Tony Wright NRR 36.07. Age Categories: Under 20: 1 Floyd Ratcliffe, 2 Theodore Fleming HR 37.34, 3 Connor Trerise CAC 42.35. Under 35: 1 Jordan Morant, 2 Joe Argall, 3 Jamie Stephenson MH 36.25. 35-39: 1 Tony Brewer, 2 Aaron Benney, 3 Andrew Martin. 40-44: 1 Colin Snook, 2 Justin Thomas, 3 Simon Knowles HR 38.18. 45-49: 1 Paul Whear, 2 Justin Day CAC 37.24, 3 Scott Abraham HR 37.36. 50-54: 1 Tony Wright, 2 Jurgen Clemme U 37.39, 3 Neill Cookson HR 37.52. 55-59: 1 Barrie Cardew CR 43.38, 2 Nigel Argall U 45.07, 3 Mick Riley MDAC 46.41. 60-64: 1 Steve Baker TT 41.32, 2 John Doyle U 41.58, 3 Iain Walker STA 42.22. 65-69: 1 Geoff Letchford MBH 42.5, 2 Tom Polglase CR 45.27, 3 Colin Martin NRR 49.55. 70-74: 1 John Lillis NRR 49.02, 2 Pete Sargent NRR 49.11, 3 Stewart Townend HR 52.51. 75-79: 1 Norris Kington CAC 1.13.37. 80+: 1 Tony Berry TRC 1.01.42. Teams: 1 Cornwall AC ‘A’ 50 points, 2 Mile High 70 points, 3 Hayle Runners 87 points, 4 Cornwall AC ‘B’ 248 points, 5 Mounts Bay Harriers 261 points, 6 Newquay Road Runners 306 points.

Ladies: 1 Emma Stepto CAC 36.51, 2 Heidi Tregenza CAC 38.22, 3 Amy Sole CAC 39.56, 4 Kathryn Burgess CAC 41.18, 5 Megan Willis U 43.13, 6 Ella Waters LRR 43.15, 7 Anne Waller MBH 44.06, 8 Joanne Robinson LP 44.49, 9 Faye Savage HR 44.54, 10 Amy Jose HR 45.24. Age Categories: Under 20: 1 Ella Waters LRR 43.15, 2 Sophie Talling NRR 45.58, 3 Leigh Spencer NRR 45.58. Under 35: 1 Heidi Tregenza, 2 Amy Sole, 3 Amy Jose. 35-39: 1 Joanne Watson LR 46.11, 2 Kirsty Medlock HR 47.02, 3 Katie Gummow LP 48.49. 40-44: 1 Kathryn Burgess, 2 Joanne Robinson, 3 Faye Savage. 45-49: 1 Emma Stepto, 2 Anne Waller, 3 Karen Harrison CAC 45.35. 50-54: 1 Janet Haynes MBH 46.46, 2 Debbie Nugent CAC 48.02, 3 Caroline Chesterfield HR 48.33. 55-59:1 Jayne Angilley CAC 46.55, 2 Liz Tregenza CAC 50.47, 3 Jackie Scarfe STA 55.20. 60-64: 1 Andrea Simmons U 51.41, 2 Jackie Cope FRR 57.17, 3 Diane Warren HR 52.31. 65-69: 1 Sandy Jamieson CR 58.24, 2 Margaret Wade CR 1.01.57, 3 Lyn Jones U 1.08.35. 70-74: 1 Jackie Jenkin CAC 1.00.14. Teams: 1 Cornwall AC ‘A’ 35 points, 2 Hayle Runners 128 points, 3 Looe Pioneers 166 points, 4 Mounts Bay Harriers 173 points, 5 Newquay Road Runners 282 points, 6 Cornwall AC ‘B’ 303 points.