A wild and windy Cubert attracted a massive field of 696 runners to Cubert 5 mile road race, round seven of the Cornwall Grand Prix Series sponsored by Cornwall Glass and Glazing.

This race, sponsored by Tile World, St Austell reached its entry limit of 750 well before the closing date, making it currently one of the county’s top road races, with runners attracted by a reasonably fast two lap course, giving opportunities for personal best times.

The strong headwind, which runners had to battle against on each lap, obviously affected tactics, with no one keen to make a move on the opening lap, as a unusually large leading group of nine reached the top of the hill at the end of the first lap.

Turning into the second lap and with the strong following wind, the question was, who would be the first to make a move? The question was soon answered as Mile High’s Tony Brewer opened a five metre gap, with Colin Snook (Cornwall AC) being the first to react, followed by team mate Jordan Clay and another Mile High man, Aaron Benney. Little changed from mile three to mile four, with Brewer (26.43) leading into the wind in the final mile, extending his lead to the finish, with Clay (26.47) overtaking Snook (26.55) with the turn into the finish in sight, to claim the runner’s up prize, as fourth placed Benney (27.16) faded a little on the run in, missing out on a podium position.

After the race Brewer, who last won this race in 2013, commented, “I was very pleased with the win today. I ran the first two Grand Prix races at the beginning of the year, then was ill for a while, took a couple of months off, before returning to training.” The current Grand Prix overall champion, Snook, was also pleased adding, “I have had to cut back on my training recently, as I am waiting to go into hospital for an operation, so a top three finish is certainly a bonus.”

Consistent performer Andrew Martin (Mile High) produced another top ten performance in sixth position, outsprinting local rival, Falmouth’s Royal Navy man Paul Smith (Cornwall AC), by four seconds and two places. One to watch in the future will be Floyd Ratcliffe (Hayle Runners), who took time out from his GCSE studies at Penryn College. Sixteen year old Ratcliffe not only finished ninth overall but also won the Under 20 prize, beating another Penryn College sixteen year old, Sam Goodchild (Cornwall AC), who crossed the line in twenty first place overall.

Emma Stepto (Cornwall AC) certainly seems to enjoy the Cubert course, winning the Ladies race for the fifth successive year and feeling good about it saying, “I felt strong today despite the windy conditions and pleased to run close to twenty nine minutes.” Stepto’s time of 29.14 puts her into the top spot in the UK 5 mile rankings for the Veteran 45-49 age group, her third number one ranking this year, adding to the 5000 metres and Half Marathon.

Team mate and occasional training partner Heidi ‘the Young Pretender’ Tregenza produced another eye catching performance, dipping under thirty minutes (29.52), setting a new personal best for this distance, to add to her four track PB’s and a best time for 10K on the road, all set in 2017. Donna Raggett (31.43) completed a Cornwall AC clean sweep of the top awards in third place.

Brewer, Benney and Martin made it a clean sweep of the awards in the Veterans 35-39 category, with Snook and Whear winning the Veteran’s 40-44 and 45-49 age groups respectively. Smith finished second in the 40-44 section. Falmouth Road Runners were again represented at the prize presentation by Jackie Cope and Kathran Dormer. Cope continued on her winning ways in the 60-64 section, with Dormer finishing third in the 65-60 category. There was also a third place prize for Helston school teacher Karen Harrison (Cornwall AC) in the 45-49 age group.

History was close to being made in the Ladies team competition, with Cornwall AC runners not only filling the first three places but also had Rhiannon Strickland (4th), Kathryn Burgess (5th) and Naomi Tier (7th), missing out on the lowest possible team score of twenty one points by just one point. So who spoilt the party? One of Newquay Road Runners up and coming young runners, Megan Davis, had that ‘honour’, finishing sixth, two seconds behind Burgess and two seconds ahead of Tier. The host club, Newquay Road Runners, led by Davis, sneaked into second place, beating Hayle Runners by five points, with Cornwall AC’s ‘B’ team in fourth position.

Cornwall AC’s Men were not quite so dominant as their Ladies but still finished their six scoring runners in the top thirteen places, scoring 49 points, well clear the runners up Hayle Runners (112 points), with the Penryn based club Mile High (160 points) in third place, just thirteen points in front of the fourth team home, Newquay Road Runners.

KEY FOR CLUBS

BRR Bodmin Road Runners, 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, MH Mile High, NRR Newquay Road Runners, STA St Austell Running Club, TRC Truro Running Club, U Unattached.

RESULTS

Men: 1 Tony Brewer MH 26.43, 2 Jordan Clay CAC 26.47, 3 Colin Snook CAC 26.55, 4 Aaron Benney MH 27.16, 5 Jordan Morant HR 27.30, 6 Andrew Martin MH 27.33, 7 Tony Wright NRR 27.33, 8 Paul Smith CAC 27.36, 9 Floyd Ratcliffe HR 27.42, 10 Dave Bartlett NRR 27.51. Age Categories: Under 20: 1 Floyd Ratcliffe, 2 Sam Goodchild CAC 29.11, 3 Tom Luton NRR 29.25. Under 35: 1 Jordan Clay, 2 Jordan Morant, 3 Dave Bartlett. 35-39: 1 Tony Brewer, 2 Aaron Benney, 3 Andrew Martin. 40-44: 1 Colin Snook, 2 Paul Smith, 3 Simon Williams STA 28.51. 45-49: 1 Paul Whear CAC 27.59, 2 Scott Abraham HR 29.28, 3 Tim Adams STA 30.39. 50-54: 1 Tony Wright, 2 Steve Wherry HR 28.55, 3 Peter Sowerby TRC 29.04. 55-59: 1 Ian Crowle ECH 35.03, 2 Sean Pulley HR 35.10, 3 Derek Smith HR 36.37. 60-64: 1 Iain Walker STA 33.02, 2 Simon Webber ECH 33.31, 3 Peter Allen NRR 34.53. 65-69: 1 Geoff Letchford MBH 32.04, 2 Tom Polglase CR 35.25, 3 John Gossan LP 37.58. 70-74: 1 Brian Wiles LRR 34.51, 2 Pete Sargent NRR 38.56, 3 Stewart Townend HR 39.33. 75-79: 1 Howard Haynes HR 48.05, 2 Norris Kington CAC 53.05. 80+: 1 Tony Berry TRC 46.51. Teams: 1 Cornwall AC ‘A’ 49 points, 2 Hayle Runners 112 points, 3 Mile High 160 points, 4 Newquay Road Runners 173 points, 5 Cornwall AC ‘B’ 215 points, 6 St Austell Running Club 224 points.

Ladies: 1 Emma Stepto CAC 29.14, 2 Heidi Tregenza CAC 29.52, 3 Donna Raggett CAC 31.43, 4 Rhiannon Strickland CAC 32.05, 5 Kathryn Burgess CAC 31.11, 6 Megan Davis NRR 32.13, 7 Naomi Tier CAC 32.15, 8 Ruby Orchard TRC 33.06, 9 Lucy Goodway TRC 33.47, 10 Faye Savage HR 33.56. Age Categories: Under 20: 1 Ella Waters LRR 35.25, 2 Sophie Talling NRR 36.41, 3 Leigh Spencer NRR 36.57. Under 35: 1 Heidi Tregenza, 2 Rhiannon Strickland, 3 Megan Davis. 35-39: 1 Ruby Orchard, 2 Kirsty Medlock HR 35.16, 3 Nikki Davies NRR 36.36. 40-44: 1 Kathryn Burgess, 2 Faye Savage, 3 Jo Herd NRR 33.59. 45-49: 1 Emma Stepto, 2 Donna Raggett, 3 Karen Harrison CAC 34.44. 50-54: 1 Sarah Myford NRR 36.23, 2 Sharon Daw ECH 36.39, 3 Julia Burns HR 36.50. 55-59: 1 Revis Crowle ECH 34.14, 2 Pam Solomon BRR 36.51, 3 Debbie Bullen U 38.52. 60-64: 1 Jackie Cope FRR 41.12, 2 Eleanor Ellison NRR 41.28, 3 Ann Senior HR 42.03. 65-69: 1 Jackie Jenkin CAC 46.06, 2 Lynn Harvey NRR 46.23, 3 Kathran Dormer FRR 51.37. Teams: 1 Cornwall AC ‘A’ 22 points, 2 Newquay Road Runners 127 points, 3 Hayle Runners 132 points, 4 Cornwall AC ‘B’ 174 points, 5 Bodmin Road Runners 260 points, 6 Newquay Road Runners ‘B’ 285 points.