CORNWALL Athletic Club's top road runners, Dan Simons and Jo Friday appeared in tandem for the first time this year at Launceston in the Treggy seven-mile road race with both athletes winning their respective races comfortably and breaking the course reords set by two other Cornwall Athletic Club runners, Ollie Shilston and Zelah Morrell, at the inaugural event last year.
This race, round 11 in the Cornwall Grand Prix Series, sponsored by the St Austell Physical Therapy Centre, attracted 27 more runners than in 2006.
At the sharp end of the race, Simons and Jim Cole (Tavistock AC) soon hit the front, with Exeter Harrier's Andrew Chambers, Shaun Milford (Newquay Road Runners) and Cornwall Athletic Club's Jon Keast all in close contact. Simons and Cole were still head to head on the steep climb into Tregadillet but when the Cornwall runner came to the final flat section to the finish, he was able to force the pace to win by a clear margin of 23 seconds in a new course record of 38 minutes 10 seconds.
Cole and fellow interloper from across the Tamar, Chambers, were unchallenged in second and third places respectively, with Milford finishing ahead of Keast in fourth position.
Cornwall Athletic Club, fielded a smaller team than usual, but were still strong enough to win the team race, finishing almost 40 points ahead of Hayle Runners, who were 14 points clear of Newquay RR.
This victory gave Cornwall their eighth Grand Prix team win of the season, clinching the overall team title for the sixth successive year.
The Ladies race was won in convincing style by Jo Friday (Cornwall Athletic Club). Jo beat the course record by 2 minutes 12 seconds, finishing over three minutes clear of Stephanie Martin (Newquay Road Runners), with Paula Telford (Carn Runners) nipping into third place, just four seconds in front of teammate Donna Jenkin.
There was further cause for celebration for Jo as she retained her unbeaten Grand Prix record, winning for the eighth time this year and clinching the ladies' overall title for the first time.
A slightly understrength Carn Runners ladies' team had their eighth Grand Prix win of the year, well ahead of Newquay Road Runners, who edged out East Cornwall Harriers from the runner's up spot by just four points.
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