Justin Thomas (Cornwall AC) and Eleanor Davis (Newquay Road Runners) completed their preparation in style for the London Marathon on Sunday week.

The pair stamped their authority on last Sunday’s An Res Hellys race, round four of the Cornwall Grand Prix Series sponsored by Cornwall Glass and Glazing, cruising around the ten mile multi terrain route in the Helston area,  recording comfortable victories in their respective men’s and ladies categories.

Thomas was content to run with a small group of runners for the opening mile, before preferring his own company, easing ahead  along the Penrose Walks.

By the two mile point approaching Loe Bar he had already built, barring accidents, an unassailable lead.  The Cornwall AC runner extended his advantage over the mid race multi terrain sections towards Gunwalloe and was able to relax on the flat fast final few miles around the perimeter of Culdrose airfield and back to the finish, adjacent to the Fairground car park in Helston.

After the finish a delighted winner added, “I needed a run like that before London.  I suffered with coughs and a cold mid way through my marathon training programme and didn’t run too well in the Reading and Falmouth Half Marathons but hopefully I can now put all that behind me and focus on London.”

The race for the runner’s up spot was also decided in the early stages, once Tony Dunn (Cornwall AC) had opened a gap over the persistent Mitch Weegman (Mile High), who stuck closely to the Cornwall AC man until the road section began just before Gunwallow.  Dunn finished ahead of a pair of Hayle Runners, Thomas Humphrey (3rd) and Jordan Morant (4th), with Weegman losing a little ground in the closing stages and finishing fifth.

Cornwall AC Men’s team returned to winning ways after their defeat in the previous Grand Prix race, the Falmouth Half Marathon, beating Hayle Runners by fifty points, with the Penryn based club Mile High narrowly failing to catch the men of Hayle, finishing third just five points adrift of the West Cornwall club.

Eleanor, the new ‘kid on the block’, was a comprehensive winner of her first Grand Prix title finishing one minute and thirty nine seconds ahead of Carol Randall (Mounts Bay Harriers), with another relative newcomer to the road racing scene, Emma Schuck (Hayle Runners) in third place.  The twenty five year old Newquay athlete showed a maturity beyond her age, pacing herself sensibly throughout, finishing strongly, with many looking forward with anticipation to her performance in London.

Hayle went one better than their men in the ladies team race, with an emphatic win, seventy one points ahead of their  Penwith rivals, Mounts Bay Harriers, who in turn just managed to hold off, by just four points, East Cornwall Harriers, whose third place was their Grand Prix highest team position so far this year.

A second place, a fourth place and last weekend a third place means that the Mile High Club remain strongly in contention for team honours in the 2014 Grand Prix Series and will be anxiously awaiting the return from injury of their number one runner, Tony Brewer.  Fifth place Weegman was joined in the scoring team by Richard Pascoe (8th), Aaran Benney (16th), Andrew Martin (18th), Nick Martin (22nd) and Ryan Moyle (40th).

The Falmouth Road Runners teams fared less well with the men finishing seventh and the ladies eleventh.  Emma Mossop was the club’s highest finisher in thirty fourth position, with Robin Watson (37th) in the Men’s event.

KEY FOR CLUBS

BWRC Bodmin Womens Running Club,  CAC Cornwall AC, CR Carn Runners, ECH East Cornwall Harriers,  HR Hayle Runners, LRR Launceston Road Runners, MBH Mounts Bay Harriers, MCTR Mud Crew Trail Runners, MH Mile High, NRR Newquay Road Runners, STA St Austell Running Club, TL Tri Logic, TRC Truro Running Club, U Unattached.

RESULTS

Men: 1 Justin Thomas CAC 57.15, 2 Tony Dunn CAC 59.08, 3 Thomas Humphrey HR 59.25, 4 Jordan Morant HR 59.39, 5 Mitch Weegman MH 59.50, 6 Alex Daniels NRR 1.00.02, 7 Paul Whear CR 1.00.08, 8 Richard Pascoe MH 1.01.04, 9 Ceri Whitmore CAC 1.01.09, 10 Adrian Ball CAC 1.01.51.  Age Categories:  Under 35: 1 Thomas Humphrey, 2 Jordan Morant, 3 Mitch Weegman.  35-39: 1 Ceri Whitmore, 2 Marc Bayly NRR 1.04.14, 3 Craig Hall CR 1.05.11.  40-44: 1 Justin Thomas, 2 Alex Daniels, 3 Phil Montgomery-Smith STA 1.02.06.  45-49: 1 Tony Dunn, 2 Paul Whear, 3 Adrian Ball.  50-54: 1 Steve Wherry CAC 1.03.11, 2 Nick Martin MH 1.03.59, 3 Mark Dorrell CR 1.05.28.  55-59: 1 Martin Davis NRR 1.04.23, 2 Laurie Lee STA 1.07.40, 3 Mark Andrews ECH 1.11.00. 60-64: 1 Malcolm Roberts STA 1.10.27, 2 Tom Polglase CR 1.11.19, 3 Mike Kestle NRR 1.17.26.  65-69: 1 Doug Alsop STA 1.12.32, 2 Peter Uren MBH 1.15.39, 3 Ian Ringer ECH 1.20.49. 70-74: 1 Norris Kington CAC 1.35.15, 2 Ron Shapland NRR 1.38.09, 3 Richard Saundry HR 1.56.20.  75+: 1 Peter Mander LRR 1.34.07.  Teams: 1 Cornwall AC 54 points, 2 Hayle Runners 104 points, 3 Mile High 109 points, 4 Carn Runners 182 points, 5 St Austell RC 187 points, 6 Newquay Road Runners 195 points.

Ladies: 1 Eleanor Davis NRR 1.06.17, 2 Carol Randall MBH 1.07.56, 3 Emma Schuck HR 1.08.35, 4 Faye Toms HR 1.10.23, 5 Revis Crowle ECH 1.10.54, 6 Nicky Taylor MCTR 1.11.01, 7 Kathryn Burgess CAC 1.11.22, 8 Anne Waller 1.11.44, 9 Emma Murray STA 1.11.50, 10 Wendy Chapman TRC 1.12.14.  Age Categories: Under 35: 1 Eleanor Davis, 2 Emma Schuck, 3 Janna Eyre CR 1.14.47.  35-39: 1 Faye Toms, 2 Nicky Taylor, 3 Kathryn Burgess.  40-44: 1 Carol Randall, 2 Anne Waller, 3 Charlotte Bennet t HR 1.14.08 .  45-49: 1 Emma Murray, 2 Sharon Daw ECH 1.14.34, 3 Karen Harrison CAC 1.15.25.  50-54: 1 Revis Crowle, 2 Lisa Player STA 1.20.08, 3 Lynn Counter NRR 1.22.05.  55-59: 1 Carol Penberthy TL 1.26.58, 2 Wendy Lowe BWRC 1.29.26, 3 Diane Warren HR 1.30.24.  60-64: 1 Susan Mellis STA 1.34.55, 2 Penny Uren MBH 1.39.03, 3 Sue Burges LRR 1.39.40.  65-69: 1 Mary Mullarkey ECH 1.31.47, 2 Carole Drew CR 1.52.23, 3 Jenny Osborne U 2.19.40.  70+: 1 Timothea Cardell HR 1.38.20, 2 Val Hawken NRR 2.06.29.  Teams: 1 Hayle Runners 89 points, 2 Mounts Bay Harriers 160 points, 3 East Cornwall Harriers 164, 4 St Austell RC 208, 5 Newquay Road Runners 215, 6 Truro Running Club 221.