The 2012 Cornwall Grand Prix Road Race Series got off to a flying start in Camborne last Sunday, with the almost inevitable record field of 546 runners lining up for the Storm Force 10 mile race, writes Alan Rowling.

Last year’s overall Grand Prix individual champions, Dan Alsop (St Austell Running Club) and Emma Stepto (Cornwall AC) laid down their markers and once again look to be the ones to beat in 2012, as both won their respective races by comfortable margins.

In the men’s race a fast starting Noel Kindon (Cornwall AC) led Alsop by ten metres past the two mile drink station. By five miles the Cornwall AC runner had extended his lead to fifty metres, with Alsop ominously appearing to be running well within himself and looking dangerous.

Adopting the same tactics as he did when winning the previous weekend's Westward Cross Country League, the St Austell running machine began eating into Kindon's narrow advantage, swallowing the Cornwall AC runner as he sped past at six miles and never looking back, digging deep over the final four miles and running very strongly to the finish, extending his margin of victory to well over one minute.

Kindon did lose ground in the closing stages but held off the challenge of Cornwall AC's Colin Snook, who had closed the gap to just twelve seconds on the line. Emma took the Ladies race by the scruff of the neck from the gun, not only establishing a clear lead by the two-mile point, but mixing it with the leading men in eighth place overall.

By half way little had changed as the Cornwall AC speedster had lost no ground. Maintaining her sub six minute mile pace to the finish, Emma crossed the line in a new personal best time of 58 minutes 46 seconds, still in eighth place overall. Team mate Naomi Tier, running very smoothly in second place from start to finish, also had a very isolated race as far as female opposition was concerned, finishing 13th overall, one minute clear the England Masters cross country international, Anne Luke (Tamar Trotters), who held off the faster finishing Isobel Wykes (Truro Running Club) by 15 seconds.

Locally the much improved Richard Pascoe (Mile High), was the star performer, finishing in an impressive fifth position in the men’s race, followed in thirteenth place by the Vetern's 45-49 age group winner, Nick Martin (Mile High).

Falmouth were able to field 52 runners. This is by far the largest number of runners from Falmouth to travel over to Camborne for the Storm Force 10.

Falmouth Road Runner's Richard Dalton was 17th. A third Mile High runner, Andrew Martin finished 18th, helping the Penryn-based club secure fifth place in the team competition.

Another Mile High runner, Beth Popperwell, was the top local finisher in the ladies race, coming home in seventh place overall and second in the Veteran's 35-39 category. Emily Cook led the Falmouth Road Runners’ ladies home, crossing the line in 17th position, with the Falmouth team finishing a respectable sixth. In 2011 Falmouth’s Terry Marshall finished third in the Grand Prix classification for the Veteran's 60-65 age group and it seems she certainly means business in 2012, winning this age group in the Storm Force race by over two minutes. There were also veteran prizes for two more Falmouth runners, Tessa Rabett (third 55-59) and Jason Longhorn (third 40-44).

Results: Men: 1 Dan Alsop STA 54.21, 2 Noel Kindon CAC 55.35, 3 Colin Snook CAC 55.47, 4 Justin Thomas CAC 56.58, 5 Richard Pascoe MH 57.35, 6 Tom Lapthorn PH 58.03, 7 Dan Rodgers LRR 58.18, 8 Shane Ohly CAC 58.55, 9 Ceri Whitmore CAC 58.56, 10 Adrian Ball CAC 58.58. Age Categories: Under 40: 1 Dan Alsop, 2 Noel Kindon, 3 Colin Snook. 40-44: 1 Adrian Ball, 2 Scott Abraham HR 1.01.10, 3 Jason Longhorn FRR 1.02.02. 45-49: 1 Nick Martin MH 59.48, 2 Steve Wherry CAC 58.52, 3 Peter Sowerby TRC 1.00.19. 50-54: 1 Chris Hodge CR 1.01.28, 2 Martin Davies NRR 1.03.00, 3 Gary Pascoe TRC 1.04.19. 55-59: 1 Mark Andrews ECH 1.05.38, 2 Neville Witham CAC 1.06.34, 3 Alec McLaren BID 1.10.30. 60-64: 1 Geoff Letchford MBH 1.06.11, 2 Doug Alsop STA 1.10.06, 3 Pat Lockett NRR 1.12.17. 65-69: 1 Brian Wiles LRR 1.12.37, 2 Stewart Townend HR 1.18.22, 3 David Austin MBH 1.20.33. 70-74: 1 Norris Kington CAC 1.28.19, 2 Peter Mander LRR 1.30.52, 3 Roy Willbond-Smith NAC 1.34.20. 75+: 1 Tony Berry TRC 1.14.54. Teams: 1 Cornwall AC 36 points, 2 Newquay Road Runners 151 points, 3 St Austell Running Club 153 points, 4 Hayle Runners 187 points, 5 Mile High 192 points, 6 Falmouth Road Runners 225 points.

Ladies: 1 Emma Stepto CAC 58.46, 2 Naomi Tier CAC 1.02.10, 3 Anne Luke TT 1.03.14, 4 Isobel Wykes TRC 1.03.29, 5 Suzy Bosustow CAC 1.07.01, 6 Revis Crowle ECH 1.07.16, 7 Beth Popperwell MH 1.08.41, 8 Jenny Almey CAC 1.10.08, 9 Joanna Wallis NRR 1.10.19, 10 Karen Harrison CAC 1.10.25. Age Categories: Under 35: 1 Naomi Tier, 2 Isobel Wykes, 3 Jenny Almey. 35-39: 1 Suzy Bosustow, 2 Beth Popperwell, 3 Joanna Wallis. 40-44: 1 Emma Stepto, 2 Karen Harrison, 3 Zelah Morrall CAC 1.10.56. 45-49: 1 Revis Crowle, 2 Fiona Ruetsch HR 1.11.00, 3 Emma Murray STA 1.13.04. 50-54: 1 Anne Luke, 2 Jane Bremner TT 1.13.58, 3 Lisa Player STA 1.19.25. 55-59: 1 Sue Taylor MBH 1.21.29, 2 Sandy Jamieson CR 1.34.20, 3 Tessa Rabett FRR 1.36.09. 60-64: 1 Terry Marshall FRR 1.37.09, 2 Cynthia Richings TT 1.39.11, 3 Margaret Wade CR 1.40.53. 65-69: 1 Marilyn Mitchell STA 1.35.02, 2 Lisa Wright NRR 1.37.57. 70+: 1 Timothea Cardell HR 1.31.14, 2 Val Hawken NRR 1.55.25. Teams: 1 Cornwall AC 38 points, 2 Hayle Runners 141 points, 3 St Austell Running Club 183 points, 4 Mounts Bay Harriers 222 points, 5 Newquay Road Runners 250 points, 6 Truro Running Club 256 points.

Falmouth Road Runners results: 17, 1.00.09, Richard Dalton; 28, 1.02.02 Jason Longhorn; 38, 1.03.47, Richard Keefe; 43, 1.04.39, Nick Hayden; 57, 1.06.16, Paul Gwynne; 60, 1.06.46 Steve Strachen; 78, 1.08.14, Chris Beirne; 86, 1.08.54, Luke Gibson; 89, 1.09.14 Robin Watson; 142, 1.12.44, Emily Cook; 171; 1.14.55, Andy Pye; 180, 1.15.54 Neil Greenhill; 186, 1.16.30 Al Jordan; 203,1.18.18, Max Burrows; 206, 1.18.27 Phillip Gill; 208, 1.18.33, Jacki George; 220, 1.19.17, Tammy Jenkin; 230, 1.20.20 Roger Brown; 231, 1.20.26, Kim Hemsworth; 250, 1.21.19, Scott Mccormack; 256, 1.21.34, Luke Chapman; 262, 1.22.07, Damian Hill; 306, 1.24.54 Keith the king Marshall; 309, 1.25.28 Tiffany Gale; 315, 1.26.17, Darren Pascoe; 318, 1.26.25, Sean Hayden; 319, 1.26.56 Michelle Williams; 337, 1.28.25 Michael Leyshon; 360, 1.30.47, Judith Wilkes; 369 1.31.23 Roy Newton; 371 1.31.29, Sarah Webb; 374, 1.31.45 Marisa Falcione; 375, 1.31.49, Cara Rowe; 376, 1.31.53 David Wilton; 384 1.32.41 Katie Cooke; 396, 1.34.14, Matthew Tamblyn; 397 1.34.14 Hailey Tamblyn; 404 1.34.51 Jude Puxley; 412 1.35.33, Debbie Mccoll; 418 1.36.09 Tessa Rabett; 426 1.37.01 Rosalyn; 427 1.37.09 Terry Marshall; 430 1.37.21 Katherine Leyshon; 432 1.37.36 John Shallcroft; 446 1.38.37 Anna Chick; 455,1.39.53, Peter Jenkin; 478 1.42.30 Angie Tiller; 516 1.51.45 Lorna Wood; 518 1.52.39 Davie Garrard; 533 .01.37, Nic Percival; 540, 2.07.36 Helen Brown; 542, 2.08.50, Trudy Johns