The Cornwall Glass and Glazing sponsored Cornwall Grand Prix Road Running Series celebrated yet another successful year when the 2016 annual presentation event was held recently at The Falmouth Hotel.

The awards were again presented by Angus Herdman Sales Director of Cornwall Glass and Glazing and the company’s Marketing Manager Kati Bawden and the good news is that this company will continue to sponsor the 2017 Cornwall Grand Prix Series.

There were no surprises when the 2016 individual champions were announced, with Godolphin School’s England masters international Colin Snook (Cornwall AC) retaining the men’s title and another Cornwall AC athlete Emma Stepto winning the Ladies title for the eighth time, after missing out in 2015 due to injury. Snook finished twelve points ahead of team mate Justin Thomas, a three times previous winner, with the 2015 runner up, Helston’s Paul Whear slipping to third place. Whear had a battle with the Under 35 champion Jordan Morant, especially in the last few races of the year, piping the Hayle runner to a podium place by just one point.

Stepto, with eight outright victories once again finished the year with a maximum points score, twelve points clear of team mate Zelah Morrall, with both Ladies also claiming first and second prizes in the Veterans 45-49 category. Emma Paull, another Under 35 winner for Hayle Runners, also returned to the top three after an injury hit year in 2015, with the rapidly improving Wendy Chapman (Truro Running Club) close on her heels.

In 2015 Helston School student Tom Slattery (Cornwall AC) shared the Under 20 mini Grand Prix title, comprising six races of 10K or less. In 2016 Slattery won the title outright, finishing ahead of two up and coming fifteen year old Penryn College youngsters, second placed Floyd Ratcliffe (Hayle Runners) and Cornwall AC’s Sam Goodchild, who was one point behind his school buddy in third. One point was also enough to give Jessica George (Launceston Road Runners) the Ladies title, with another Hayle runner, Emily Bennett, filling the runner’s up spot, three points clear of Sophie Talling (Newquay Road Runners).

A popular aspect of competition in the Grand Prix Series includes awards in seventeen Veteran age groups, giving a wide range of Men and Ladies the opportunity to run against those of similar age and gender, where competition for prizes is equally keen. In nine of the age groups the winners proved to be unbeatable, scoring maximum points. In the Men’s age groups three athletes retained their category titles, with a one hundred per cent record, the overall runner up Paul Whear (Vet 45-49), St Austell Running Club’s Malcolm Roberts (Vet 60-64) and the Launceston Road Runner Brian Wiles (Vet 65-69). The overall champion, Colin Snook, the 35-39 winner in 2015, won the 40-44 section this year. Pete Sargent (Newquay Road Runners) completed the men’s maximum points scorers in the 70-74 category.

There was a third place for the Carn Runner Peter Drew (Helston) in the 65-69 age group, with two local men just missing on a category prize. Jason Webb (Cornwall AC), who lives at Releath near Helston, was fourth in the 45-49 section, just three points behind third position and Andrew Laurie (Falmouth Road Runners) suffering a similar fate in the 50-54 age group.

Not to be outdone four of the Ladies category champions also won with a maximum points tally, led by the overall champion, Stepto in the Veteran 45-49 section. Emma Murray (Vet 50-54) was a second winner from St Austell Running Club and Jeanette Duncan (Vet 55-59) was Newquay’s second age group winner. Sue Taylor (Mount’s Bay Harriers) flew the flag for the West Cornwall club, beating last year’s 60-64 winner Diane Warren (Hayle Runners), on her way to the maximum score of 800 points.

Two of Falmouth’s more experienced Ladies, Kathran Dormer and Jackie Cope both received awards in their respective 65-69 and 60-64 categories. Dormer finished in second place and Cope was third. Unfortunately Falmouth teammate, Wiebke Lammers suffered in the same way as two of her male colleague with a fourth place in the 35-39 age group.

Competition for the honour of being crowned the Most Improved Runner of the Year is always a much sought after and coveted award and this year is no exception. There were seven nominations in the Ladies section and after much agonising by the panel of judges, the Cliff Temple Shield was awarded to one of the county’s top female runners, who finished fourth in the overall Grand Prix standings, Wendy Chapman (Truro Running Club), with the very high score of 39 points out of a maximum of 40 points. A worthy runner up was Anna Pascoe (Carn Runners) with 35 points, with the Hayle runner Amy Jose in third place (30 points).

There were eight nominations in the Men’s section for the St Austell Trophy Shield and once again the winner, Tom Carthey (Falmouth Road Runners) came from the top ten 2016 Grand Prix performers, finishing fifth in the overall classification. Carthy was also an almost unanimous choice of the judges, scoring 39 points, four points ahead of the England Masters Cross Country International, Tony Wright (Newquay Road Runners), with the popular Hayle runner Scott Abraham in third (34 points).

The Masters Shield again found it way to the home of 78 year old Norris Kington (Cornwall AC), the winner of the 75+ age category.

One person who deserves special mention is Tim Adams from St Austell Running Club. At the end of 2015 Adams and Hayle’s Scott Abraham had both completed 103 consecutive Grand Prix races. Would this run continue into 2016? Well yes, for Adams, who completed yet another maximum, adding fourteen more to his already amazing total, which has now reached 117. Who knows where this feat of endurance will end?

It was a familiar story in the team competitions with Cornwall AC scooping the male and female prizes, scoring a maximum of 800 points in their respective categories.

It was the fifteenth consecutive year that Cornwall AC’s Men have claimed the Tweedie Shield, with Hayle Runners once again finishing in the runner’s up spot seven points adrift and comfortably ahead of third placed Newquay Road Runners. With Truro Running Club fourth and St Austell Running Club fifth, the positions on the top five remained the same as 2015. The men from Falmouth Road Runners could claim the prize of the most improved club in this category, moving into the top six for the fist time since 2013.

In the Ladies competition Cornwall AC won the Julia Fox Shield for the ninth successive year, with Hayle Runners finishing second five points behind the champions. Hayle have now occupied the runner’s up spot in eight of the last nine years, missing out in 2010 when they were fourth. The St Austell Ladies enjoyed their best season, finishing third, with Carn Runner (4th), Mount’s Bay Harriers (5th) and Newquay Road Runners surprisingly relegated to sixth, having occupied third place for the past four years. The Falmouth Ladies were eighth.

KEY FOR CLUBS

CAC Cornwall AC, CR Carn Runners, ECH East Cornwall Harriers, FRR Falmouth Road Runners, HR Hayle Runners, LP Looe Pioneers, LRR Launceston Road Runners, MBH Mounts Bay Harriers, NRR Newquay Road Runners, STA St Austell Running Club, TRC Truro Running Club.

OVERALL RESULTS (All figures relate to the annual points totals for the runners’ best 8 races)

Men: 1 Colin Snook CAC 2398, 2 Justin Thomas CAC 2386, 3 Paul Whear CAC 2380, 4 Jordan Morant HR 2379, 5 Tom Carthey FRR 2355, 6 Alex Daniels NRR 2326, 7 John McWilliams MBH 2324, 8 Scott Abraham HR 2318, 9 Marc Smerdon ECH 2299, 10 Jamie Masters STA 2282. Age Categories: Under 20: 1 Tom Slattery CAC 298, 2 Floyd Ratcliffe HR 297, 3 Sam Goodchild CAC 296. Under 35: 1 Jordan Morant 793, 2 Tom Carthey 780, 3 John McWilliams 760. 35-39: 1 Paul Sole CAC 793, 2 Wayne Sara TRC 788, 3 Gregg Hooper NRR 773. 40-44: 1 Colin Snook 800, 2 Justin Thomas 793, 3 Alex Daniels 783. 45-49: 1 Paul Whear 800, 2 Tim Adams STA 774, 3 Steve Rendle NRR 770. 50-54: 1 Rich Savage HR 795, 2 Glynn Davis CR 785, 3 Brian Abbott STA 762. 55-59: 1 Barrie Cardew CR 799, 2 Laurie Lee STA 795, 3 Michael Wilson TRC 785. 60-64: 1 Malcolm Roberts STA 800, 2 Neville Witham CAC 795, 3 Chris Ramsey TRC 783. 65-69: 1 Brian Wiles LRR 800, 2 Pat Lockett NRR 796, 3 Peter Drew CR 787. 70-74: 1 Pete Sargent NRR 800, 2 John Lillis NRR 796, 3 Peter Heywood LP 790. Over 75: 1 Norris Kington CAC 799. Teams: 1 Cornwall AC 800, 2 Hayle Runners 793, 3 Newquay Road Runners 785, 4 Truro Running Club 781, 5 St Austell Running Club 772, 6 Falmouth Road Runners 766, 7 Carn Runners 764, 8 Mounts Bay Harriers 759, 9 East Cornwall Harriers 758, 10 Launceston Road Runners 743.

Ladies: 1 Emma Stepto CAC 2400, 2 Zelah Morrall CAC 2389, 3 Emma Paull HR 2386, 4 Wendy Chapman TRC 2383, 5 Jessica Buscombe STA 2373, 6 Jeanette Johnson LRR 2365, 7 Emma Murray STA 2361, 8 Donna Raggett CAC 2347, 9 Revis Crowle ECH 2341, 10 Anne Waller MBH 2334. Age Categories: Under 20: 1 Jessic Goldberg LRR 296, 2 Emily Bennett HR 295, 3 Sophie Talling NRR 292. Under 35: 1 Emma Paull 797, 2 Jessica Buscombe 793, 3 Amy Jose HR 775. 35-39: 1 Wendy Chapman TRC 798, 2 Helen Rule HR 752, 3 Louise Werran LRR 750. 40-44: 1 Anne Waller MBH 797, 2 Charlotte Bennett HR 792, 3 Faye Savage HR 788. 45-49: 1 Emma Stepto 800, 2 Zelah Morrall 794, 3 Jeanette Johnson 790. 50-54: 1 Emma Murray 800, 2 Revis Crowle 795, 3 Debbie Nugent CR 789. 55-59: 1 Jeanette Duncan NRR 800, 2 Fran Long HR 791, 3 Judy Jameson CR 781. 60-64: 1 Sue Taylor 800, 2 Diane Warren HR 791, 3 Jackie Cope FRR 788. 65-69: 1 Jackie Jenkin CAC 796, 2 Kathran Dormer FRR 791, 3 Liz Easterbrook MBH 790. Teams: 1 Cornwall AC 800, 2 Hayle Runners 795, 3 St Austell Running Club 780, 4 Carn Runners 777, 5 Mounts Bay Harriers 775, 6 Newquay Road Runners 773, 7 Launceston Road Runners 771, 8 Falmouth Road Runners 763.

Most Improved Runner : Men: 1 Tom Carthey FRR 39, 2 TonyWright NRR 35, 3 Scott Abraham 34. Ladies: 1 Wendy Chapman TRC 39, 2 Anna Pascoe CR 35, 3 Amy Jose HR 30.

Masters Shield: Norris Kington CAC.