Many of Cornwall’s road runners prefer a change of scenery and they certainly got that on Wednesday evening when 182 of them lined up at Truro Rugby Club for Truro Running Club’s Meet Your Max event, round eight of the Cornwall Multi Terrain Series.

The 10K course around the Pencalenick Estate and Park Farm at St Clement is truly multi terrain, challenging the runners with steep climbs, plenty of slippery downhill slopes, woodland tracks, a stoney riverside path, plenty of fields with the occasional stile and hardly a hint of tarmac.

The tough course and varied terrain certainly seemed to suit two of the county’s most improved runners in recent months, Tom Carthey (Falmouth Road Runners) and Wendy Chapman (Truro Running Club), who won their respective races by wide margins.

In the Men’s event, Ross Farrer, who is based in Truro but does his club running in the colours of Plymouth Harriers, led the way for the first two miles, with Jacob Dobson (Falmouth Road Runners) in second spot, just ahead of Carthey. By three miles the Falmouth pair had moved ahead of Farrer and the half way point was the signal for Carthey to ease into the lead, which he extended to one minute eighteen seconds by the finish.

Dobson held on to the runner’s up position, with Farrer third. “I quite enjoyed that,” said the winner, “it was definitely a hard course but the increased mileage I have been doing over the past few months for the London Marathon (2.49.54) and the Edinburgh Marathon (2.44.21) is still in the legs and paying dividends.”

With first and second individual places secured and team mates Jason Longhorn (5th) and James Barnet (9th), there was no doubt that the team trophy would be winging its way to Falmouth (17 points) with the host club, Truro Running Club (68 points) a distant second, just four points ahead of third placed Carn Runners from Camborne.

The in form Chapman has also been putting in the miles over the past few months and it has certainly improved her performance, storming home last week and winning comfortably by two minutes sixteen seconds, with Cornwall AC’s Amy Sole in runners up position, also well clear of Kensa Southerland (U), who was next home four minutes later. Chapman commented after her exertions: “I am more than pleased today after finishing third in the 44 mile Classic Quarter, along the coastal path between the Lizard and Land’s End just eleven days ago. I am training for The Plague in August, a 64 mile jaunt, also along the coastal path, this time from Porthpean to St Anthony Head and back, so the extra training mileage certainly seems to be paying off.”

Good packing from the Ladies team from East Cornwall Harriers (30 points) secured a well deserved team victory, twenty two points clear of Cornwall AC ,with the Ladies of Carn Runners repeating the performance of their Men’s team occupying third place.

There was a sprinkling of just four age group prizes for the local runners, with Beth Popperwell (Mile High) being the only lady, claiming third place in the 40-44 category. Fifth finisher overall Longhorn led a trio of podium places for Falmouth Road Runners , finishing second in the 40-44 section, with Callum Deveney also second, this time in the 45-49 age group, Robin Watson third in the 50-54 category.

KEY FOR CLUBS

AAC Aberystwyth AC, BRR Bodmin Road Runners, CAC Cornwall AC, CR Carn Runners, ECH East Cornwall Harriers, FRR Falmouth Road Runners, HR Hayle Runners, MBH Mounts Bay Harriers, MH Mile High, NRR Newquay Road Runners, PH Plymouth Harriers, STA St Austell Running Club,TRC Truro Running Club, U Unattached.

RESULTS

Men: 1Tom Carthey FRR 44.18, 2 Jacob Dobson FRR 45.36, 3 Ross Farrer PH 46.11, 4 Alex Daniels NRR 47.41, 5 Jason Longhorn FRR 47.54, 6 Gary Wyn-Davies AAC 49.04, 7 Simon Knowles HR 49.07, 8 Paul Sole CAC 49.11, 9 James Barnet FRR 49.31, 10 Mike Dowrick CAC 50.26. Age Categories: Under 35: 1 Tom Carthey, 2 Jacob Dobson, 3 Ross Farrer. 35-39: 1 Paul Sole, 2 Tomasz Jedrysiak U 54.47, 3 Ian Littlewood ECH 55.13. 40-44: 1 Alex Daniels, 2 Jason Longhorn, 3 Simon Knowles. 45-49: 1 Paul Sawford CR 50.55, 2 Callum Deveney FRR 52.41, 3 Gary Richards CR 52.46. 50-54: 1 Duncan Oakes STA 53.40, 2 Peter Kearney CR 54.35, 3 Robin Watson FRR 55.24. 55-59: 1 Barrie Cardew CR 55.48, 2 Jeremy Sharp TRC 58.32, 3 Michael Penberthy HR 58.41. 60-64: 1 Robert Pick ECH 1.02.48, 2 Robert Burrows MBH 1.09.55, 3 Kevin Burnett NRR 1.11.01. 65-69: 1 Pat Lockett NRR 1.05.18, 2 Doug Alsop STA 1.06.02, 3 Barry Drew CR 1.09.41. 70+: 1 Pete Sargent NRR 1.05.00, 2 Norris Kington (75+) CAC 1.26.38. Teams: 1 Falmouth Road Runners 17 points, 2 Truro Running Club 68 points, 3 Carn Runners 72 points.

Ladies: 1 Wendy Chapman TRC 51.53, 2 Amy Sole CAC 54.09, 3 Kensa Southerland U 58.08, 4 Revis Crowle ECH 58.11, 5 Donna Raggett CAC 58.58, 6 Megan Davis NRR 58.18, 7 Helen Morse ECH 59.49, 8 Sharon Daw ECH 1.0042, 9 Lucy Williams TRC 1.01.10, 10 Laura Rogers CAC 1.01.18. Age Categories: Under 35: 1 Amy Sole, 2 Megan Davis, 3 Helen Morse. 35-39: 1 Ceri Harvey CR 1.02.10, 2 Jo Staves TRC 1.03.37, 3 Sarah Newing HR 1.08.09. 40-44: 1 Wendy Chapman, 2 Kensa Southerland, 3 Beth Popperwell MH 1.06.13. 45-49: 1 Donna Raggett, 2 Louise Littlewood ECH 1.01.53, 3 Jackie Brydon BRR 1.05.34. 50-54: 1 Revis Crowle, 2 Sharon Daw, 3 Debbie Nugent CR 1.02.35. 55-59: 1 Carol Penberthy CR 1.07.52, 2 Jackie Morse MBH 1.15.43, 3 Fran Long HR 1.17.56. Teams: 1 East Cornwall Harriers 30 points, 2 Cornwall AC 52 points, 3 Carn Runners 61 points