The Cornwall Ladies team, led home in emphatic style by Jo Friday (Cornwall Athletic Club),  swept aside the Devon Challenge in their annual encounter, incorporated in last Sunday’s Plymouth Hoe 10 mile road race.   Conditions were far from favourable for fast times, with a bitterly cold, strong easterly wind buffeting the runners along the Hoe but this did not deter Jo from setting a personal best time of 59 minutes 25 seconds, winning the race by a staggering two minutes, ahead of the leading Devon lady Helen Parkinson (Torbay Athletic Club).  England International veteran runner Anne Luke (Tamar Trotters) was third, clocking 63 minutes 14 seconds, which not surprisingly brought her victory in the Veterans 50-54 category, finishing over two miles ahead of the runner up in this age group!

Juliet, Anne, Jo, Kenza

In the open race Cornish clubs achieved a clean sweep of the team awards, with the race winner receiving excellent support from Cornwall Athletic Club team mates Emma Stallard (7th), who also won the Veterans 35-39 age group and set a personal best of 64 minutes 53 seconds and another personal best peformance from Suzy Bosustow, who was fourteenth in 76 minutes 46 seconds.  Jenny Evans, provided much needed back up for the Cornwall Athletic Club ladies, finishing as the fourth club runner in twenty first place, beating her previous best 10 mile time, set last month, by almost five minutes.  The Saltash based club Tamar Trotters, were second, just pipping Carn Runners by one point. 

The Men’s race which was a mirror image of last year’s event, again developed into a battle between two of the South West’s top middle distance racers, Kairn Stone (Newham and Essex Beagles), who was leading the Devon squad and Kevin Toher (Newquay and Par Athletic Club) heading the Cornish challenge.

These two ran shoulder to shoulder from the start and were still locked in combat as they entered the track at the Brickfields for the final 400 metre lap.  Toher managed to edge a couple of metres clear but in a repeat of the 2007 finish, Stone’s sprint in the finishing straight was just enough to retain his title, again by the identical one second margin.

The race for third place was almost as close, again featuring only two runners, Matt Pullen (Cornwall Athletic Club) and Shaun Milford (Newquay and Par Athletic Club), who were both representing Cornwall.  Little daylight separated this pair until the final mile, when Pullen, in a repeat of his Blaythorne victory last month, proved just a little too strong for the Mid Cornwall runner, powering home by ten seconds.

Cornwall’s fourth scorer, Pete Ellis (Hayle Runners), had a storming run, finishing twelfth in a huge personal best time of 57 minutes 5 seconds, which was over two minutes faster than in last month’s Blaythorne 10.  Mike Robinson (Hayle Runners) and Tim Drew (Mount’s Bay Harriers) both ran to form, finishing twenty three seconds and two places apart, with Robinson seventeenth in 58 minutes 9 seconds and Drew nineteenth in 58 minutres 32 seconds.

Tim, Kevin, Shaun, Mike, Matt, Pete

Devon got their revenge in the Men’s team event, pipping Cornwall by just two points, with their six  runners all finishing in front of the Duchy’s fourth scorer.

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