More than 150 runners took part in this year’s 35th Downland Challenge.

Adult runners took on 10k and 5k trails, while children tackled one-kilometre and 500m courses.

In sunny conditions and unseasonably high temperatures for late October, the runners took on a new course that meant the previous road section through Holybourne was no longer part of the course and the route was now 90 per cent off road.

Both adult races started at the top end of Anstey Park and followed the hedge into Diggers. It was here that the routes split - with the 10k runners carrying on along the edge of Diggers and the 5k runners taking a left-hand turn onto a path that runs alongside Alton School. Both routes then joined up when the 10k runners arrived at the 5k split path and followed a field all the way to Howards Lane.

The route continued to Howards Farm and onto the road, passing the church before continuing along St Swithun’s Way to New Lane, where the races again split with the 5k runners turning left up New Lane and the 10k athletes continuing along the Swithun’s Way to Upper Froyle.

When the 10k runners reached West End farm they were able to take on water supplied by the 8th Alton Scouts. From here, the runners had their first hill to climb up to Holybourne Down before a downhill section back to New Lane where they re-joined the 5K runners when they all turned onto Vere Lane. After that the runners then came to another new part of the course which meant instead of turning left and going down Brockham Hill Lane they turned right up the steep lane for around 300 metres where there was a footpath toward Howard Lane. From there, they retraced their steps back to the finish at Anstey Park.

The overall winner in the 10k race was Stuart McLay from Four Marks, who was running for Farnham Tri, in a time of 38 minutes 37 seconds. Second man home was Paul Mitchinson (Victory AC) in 39.05, and third was Simon Gill (Victory AC) 39.27. Stuart McLay also won the senior men’s category, while Simon Gill won the over-40 men’s title.

The women’s 10k race was won by last year’s winner Fay Cripps in a time of 44 minutes 50 seconds. Second woman home was Lesley Whiley (Reading Roadrunners) in 50.53 and third was Alton Runners’ Naomi Shaylor in 51.35. Fay Cripps also won the over-35 ladies’ category, Lesley Whiley won the over-55 ladies’ category, and Naomi Shaylor won the over-45 ladies’ category.

All finishers received medals and the trophies for the category winners, runners-up and third-placed athletes were presented by David Tomlinson, chairman of the Holybourne Village Association.

Top three in each age category:

Senior Ladies: 1 Joanna Walters (Four Marks) 58.23; Veteran 35+ Ladies: 1 Fay Cripps 44.50, 2 Nicola Fitzpatrick (Holybourne) 55.37, 3 Cara Shadbolt (Four Marks) 56.57; Veteran 45+ Ladies: 1 Naomi Shaylor (Alton Runners) 51.35, 2 Diane Byrne (Alton Runners) 52.25, 3 Nikki Pickering 55.58; Veteran 55+ Ladies: 1 Lesley Whiley 50.53, 2 Linda Tyler (Farnham Runners) 54.38, 3 Diana Jordan 54.38; Senior men: 1 Stuart McLay 38.37, 2 Paul Mitchinson 39.05, 3 Leo Maliphant (Farnham Tri) 41.11; Veteran 40+ Men: 1 Siom Gill 39.27, 2 Mat Shaylor (Basingstoke & Mid Hants AC) 41.19, 3 Neil Martin 41.40; Veteran 50+ Men: 1 Stephen Beckett 50.54, 2 Chris Harrop (Beech) 54.20, 3 Geoff Brown (Farnham Runners) 56.21; Veteran 60+ Men: 1 Phil Guest (Portsmouth Joggers) 43.20, 2 John Greenhaugh (Medstead) 55.40.

In the 5k race, which had a minimum age limit of 10, the overall winner was Ross Wayne, from Purbeck Runners, in a time of 23.06, followed by Alex Lelliott (23.31) and David Hunter third in 24.12.

The first lady home was Sophie Allistone in a time of 26.22. She was followed by Kerry Starkey in 28.10 and Frankie Howard was third in a time of 31.33.

Alex Lelliott (23.31) won the Boys’ 10-12 category and was followed by Henry Driver, of Eggars School, in 30.48 and Harry King, of Rowledge School, in 31.18. Rosie Swain (36.42), from Amery Hill School, won the Girls’ 13-15 category with Isobel Vickery, also from Amery Hill School, second in 36.49.

Eggar’s School runner Oliver Malkin (31.10) won the Boys’ 13-15 category and Mikey Flack, also from Eggars School, was second in 41.20.

The first three boys and girls in the 500m race for children aged four to six:

Boys: 1 Edward Huntingford (Alton Infants School), 2 George Poff (Butts Primary School), 3 Freddie Greenwood (Medstead Primary School); Girls: 1 Rosalie Taylor (Binsted Primary School), 2 Evie-May Koradi (Bentley Primary School), 3 Emily George (Butts Primary School).

The first three boys and girls in the 1k race for children aged seven to nine:

Boys: 1 Milo Driver (Bentley Primary School), 2 Finlay Taylor (Binstead Primary School), 3 Tommy Nowacki (Medstead Primary School); Girls: 1 Julia Smykala (St Andrews Endowed), 2 Sophie Driver (Bentley Primary School), 3 Amy Kilner-Smith (Butts Primary School).

Downland Challenge

10k results

1 Stuart McLay (Farnham Tri) 38.37, 2 Paul Mitchinson (Victory AC) 39.05, 3 Simon Gill (Victory AC) 39.27, 4 Leo Maliphant (Farnham Tri) 41.11, 5 Mat Shaylor (BMHAC) 41.19, 6 Neil Martin 41.40, 7 Daniel Bailey 41.50, 8 Richard Fogg 41.55, 9 Richard Taylor (Alton Runners) 42.47, 10 Steve Armstrong 43.08.

11 Phil Guest (Portsmouth Joggers) 43.20, 12 Mike Newnham 43.24, 13 Tom Wyllys 43.36, 14 Alistair Morey 43.37 (Alton Runners), 15 Rufus Flack (Liss Runners) 44.15, 16 Marlon Driver 44.28, 17 James Plummer 44.45, 18 Fay Cripps 44.50, 19 Tim Cummins 45.36 (Farnham Runners), 20 Ricky Chan 45.39.

21 David Coldicott 45.58, 22 Josias Cunningham 45.59, 23 Oliver Shadbolt 46.08, 24 Laurent Choquereau 46.15, 25 Jamie Kilner-Smith 46.15 (Alton Runners), 26 James Gregory 46.20, 27 Nick Timmins 47.12, 28 Jethro Barnsley 47.57, 29 Rick Gregory 48.55, 30 Steven Pratt 49.01.

31 Mike Moorcroft 49.11, 32 Kelvin Storey 49.37, 33 Adam Maskill 49.49, 34 Tom Trowbridge 50.44, 35 Adam Smykala 50.49, 36 Lesley Whiley 50.53, Stephen Beckett 50.54, 38 Naomi Shaylor (Alton Runners) 51.35, 39 Diane Byrne (Alton Runners) 52.25, 40 William Barker 53.37.

5k results:

1 Ross Wayne 23.06, 2 Alex Lelliott 23.31, 3 David Hunter 24.12, 4 Henry Driver 25.38, 5 Oliver Malkin 26.10, 6 Harry King 26.18, 7 Sophie Allistone 26.22, 8 Ben Kilner-Smith 26.50, 9 Digby Longland 26.57, 10 Jeff White 27.10.

11 Kerry Starkey 28.10, 12 Samuel Le Machant 29.14, 13 Alex Drysdale 29.23, 14 Steve Drysdale 29.23, 15 Frankie Howard 31.33, 16 Garry Applin 31.33, 17 Rosie Swann 31.42, 18 Isobel Vickery 31.49, 19 Graham Jones 31.55, 20 Sarah Baker (Alton Runners).

21 Katie Holt-Jones 32.13, 22 Poppy Bastin (Alton Runners) 32.42, 23 Angus McCallum 32.58, 24 Zodwa Chasokela 35.58, 25 Mikey Flack 36.20, 26 Karen Eckworth 36.53, 27 Sarah Gowie 37.38, 28 Craig Shepherd 37.38, 29 John Arbury (Alton Runners) 37.41, 30 Paul Le Long 37.49.

31 Susan Santos 44.03, 32 Stephen Murray 44.24, 33 Melanie Murray 44.24, 34 Dan Dickenson 44.35, 35 Evelyn Malphus (Alton Runners) 44.51, 36 Simon Bane (Alton Runners) 47.08, 37 Arthur Whish 49.12, 38 Ed Rennie 49.13, 39 Sarah Hart 49.24, 40 Lisa Clarke (Alton Runners) 49.37, 41 Caroline Freeman (Alton Runners) 57.19.