The 2016 Cornwall Grand Prix Series reached its half way point at Tricky's Redruth last week when Cornwall Athletic Club hosted the 17th Summer Turkey Trot, round seven of the Cornwall Grand Prix Series, sponsored by Cornwall Glass and Glazing.

A betting man, glancing at the start line, would have got short odds on a winning double from an in form Colin Snook and returning to form Emma Stepto, who dominated their respective races, as the Cornwall AC pair both won their fourth Grand Prix races of the year.

Snook didn’t have things all his own way in the early stages, with the ‘young pretender’ twenty two year old Steven Sims (East Cornwall Harriers), running shoulder to shoulder with the pre-race favourite. A determined Sims shadowed Snook until half way, when the Cornwall AC man slowly moved into the lead, winning by twenty eight seconds. Sims is clearly one to look out for over the next few years, comfortably held on to the runners up position, running twenty seconds faster than in 2015.

At the one mile mark the leading pair were well ahead of Tony Wright (Newquay Road Runners), who in turn had already opened a gap over the chasing pack. Could Wright hold on to a podium position or would be getting his tactics wrong? The second half of the race provided the answer, as he began to lose ground, with Justin Thomas (Cornwall AC) leading a group of four past the fading Newquay Road Runner. A sensible tactical race eased Thomas into third place at the finish, with team mate Paul Whear (Helston) moving through from even further back to cross the line in fourth position.

Conditions favoured fast running with eight of the top ten men setting personal best times on this course. Men’s road running certainly is on the up and up on the local scene, with five of the top ten based in the Falmouth, Penryn and Helston area. Sixth finisher Aaron Benney (Mile High, Penryn) showed the biggest improvement of this elite group, running sixty three seconds faster than in 2015. Falmouth’s Paul Smith (Cornwall AC) finished eighth improving his 2104 time by three seconds and Tom Carthey (Falmouth Road Runners) crossed the line in ninth place, running eighteen seconds quicker than last year.

It’s not only the Men who are making a name for themselves at present because in the Under 20 male category three Falmouth area youngsters made it a clean sweep of the prizes. Falmouth based Tom Slattery (Cornwall AC), who attends Helston Ciollege and has only recently returned to competition after his summer exams, stormed to victory and also crept into the club’s winning ‘A’ ream. Penryn College student Floyd Ratcliffe (Hayle Runners)was second, with another Penryn College youngster, Sam Goodchild (Cornwall AC) third.

Stepto, Wendy Chapman (Truro Running Club) and Zelah Morrall (Cornwall AC) refused to let anyone else on to the Ladies podium, occupying the top three places in the third consecutive Grand Prix race. Emma Paul (Hayle Runners) is suffering most, finishing fifth at Cubert and fourth at Sticker and in the Turkey Trot. The Cornwall AC Ladies team captain was a clear winner finishing twentieth overall and saying with a smile after the race, “Very pleased to race pain free at last and around the time I thought was possible. I felt much stronger on the steep hill after one mile and now have more confidence to keep building my fitness with a lot of hard work still to do.” In the two previous five mile Grand Prix races at Cubert and Sticker, Chapman finished twenty four and twenty eight seconds ahead of her ultra distance rival but a couple of weeks later, over four miles, it was a much closer race, as they entered the finishing straight close together, with Chapman sprinting home two seconds and one place ahead of Morrall. Perhaps Morrall had not fully recovered from winning the mum’s race at the Ludgvan Primary School’s Sports Day earlier in the afternoon!

A collection of no less than eight age group prizes were scooped up by the local athletes, with Falmouth’s Kathran Dorrmer, Aaron Benney and Paul Whear winning their respective 65-69, 35-39 and 45-49 categories. There were second place finishes for Falmouth’s Jackie Cope (60-64) and Carn Runner Peter Drew (65-69) and third position awards for Tom Carthey (Under 35) and the Cornwall AC pair Paul Smith (40-44) and Jason Webb (45-49).

It was fitting that Cornwall AC chose their home race to produce dominating team performances in both the Men’s and Ladies races. In the Men’s event the club’s ‘A’ team were first, ‘B’ team second and ‘C’ team fifth, with only third placed Hayle Runners and fourth finish Truro Running Club getting amongst the yellow and green vests. The Cornwall AC Ladies were also easy winners, with the ‘B’ team second, sandwiching the Ladies from Hayle Runners, who went one better than their Men’s team, collecting the second place prize. Falmouth’s Ladies got the better of their male counterparts finishing seventh, whilst the Men could only manage ninth.

This 4 mile jaunt, the shortest race on the Grand Prix circuit, was again generously sponsored by Trickys, At Your Pace, the specialist running shop in Helston and the Scorrier based Communications specialists, Gould Electronics and the success of this race is very much down to the support provided by these Cornwall AC partners.

KEY FOR CLUBS

CAC Cornwall AC, CR Carn Runners, CoS City of Sheffield AC, ECH East Cornwall Harriers, FRR Falmouth Road Runners,HR Hayle Runners, LRR Launceston Road Runners, MBH Mounts Bay Harriers, MH Mile High, NRR Newquay Road Runners, STA St Austell Running Club, TRC Truro Running Club, U Unattached.

RESULTS

Men: 1 Colin Snook CAC 20.47, 2 Steven Sims ECH 21.51, 3 Justin Thomas CAC 21.50, 4 Paul Whear CAC 21.59, 5 Jordan Morant HR 22.07, 6 Aaron Benney MH 22.08, 7 Tony Wright NRR 22.11, 8 Paul Smith CAC 22.18, 9 Tom Carthey FRR 22.21, 10 Craig Salamone CAC 22.31. Age Categories: Under 20: 1 Tom Slattery CAC 22.39, 2 Floyd Ratcliffe HR 23.25, 3 Sam Goodchild CAC 23.53. Under 35: 1 Steven Sims, 2 Jordan Morant, 3 Tom Carthey. 35-39: 1 Aaron Benney, 2 Paul Sole CAC 23.38, 3 Wayne Sara TRC 24.21. 40-44: 1 Colin Snook, 2 Justin Thomas, 3 Paul Smith. 45-49: 1 Paul Whear, 2 Paul Sawford CR 23.57, 3 Jason Webb CAC 25.05. 50-54: 1 Tony Wright, 2 Chris Harry CAC 22.54, 3 Steve Wherry CAC 23.45. 55-59: 1 Laurie Lee STA 25.27, 2 Barrie Cardew CR 25.42, 3 Michael Wilson TRC 26.39. 60-64: 1 Simon Webber ECH 26.59, 2 Malcolm Roberts STA 27.11, 3 Iain Walker U 27.46. 65-69: 1 Pat Lockett NRR 25.59, 2 Peter Drew CR 32.06, 3 Allan Loveday NRR 32.28. 70-74: 1 Pete Sargent NRR 30.38, 2 John Lillis NRR 31.32, 3 Stewart Townend HR 32.32. Teams: 1 Cornwall AC ‘A’ 37 points, 2 Cornwall AC ‘B’ 114 points, 3 Hayle Runners 121 points, 4 Truro Running Club 220 points, 5 Cornwall AC ‘C’ 237 points, 6 Newquay Road Runners 243 points.

Ladies: 1 Emma Stepto CAC 23.23, 2 Wendy Chapman TRC 24.52, 3 Zelah Morrall CAC 24.54, 4 Emma Paull HR 25.24, 5 Donna Raggett CAC 25.38, 6 Evie Brailsford CoS 25.53, 7 Nicola Smith STA 26.13, 8 Jo Herd NRR 26.22, 9 Kathryn Burgess CAC 26.36, 10 Sharon Daw ECH 27.37. Age Categories: Under 20: 1 Daisy Phillips U 33.26, 2 Jessica Goldberg LRR 33.33, 3 Emily Bennett HR 33.46. Under 35: 1 Emma Paull, 2 Evie Brailsford, 3 Nicola Smith. 35-39: 1 Kathryn Burgess, 2 Natalie Maguire CAC 30.23, 3 Ellen Goldring U 30.50. 40-44: 1 Wendy Chapman, 2 Jo Herd, 3 Charlotte Bennett HR 27.48. 45-49: 1 Emma Stepto, 2 Zelah Morrall, 3 Donna Raggett. 50-54: 1 Sharon Daw, 2 Debbie Nugent CR 28.12, 3 Caroline Chesterfield CAC 29.52. 55-59: 1 Jeanette Duncan NRR 31.45, 2 Fran Long HR 34.53, 3 Judy Jameson CR 36.00. 60-64: 1 Sue Taylor MBH 33.20, 2 Jackie Cope FRR 33.31, 3 Sue Johns MBH 36.23. 65-69: 1 Kathran Dormer FRR 39.37, 2 Jackie Jenkin CAC 40.34, 3 Liz Easterbrook MBH 46.08. 70+: 1 Val Hawken NRR 50-54. Teams: 1 Cornwall AC ‘A’ 46 points, 2 Hayle Runners 128 points, 3 Cornwall AC ‘B’ 153 points, 4 Newquay Road Runners 186 points, 5 Mounts Bay Harriers 226 points, 6 Carn Runners 239 points.