THE 36th renewal of the Alton 10 road race was held on Sunday.

Organised by Alton Runners, it forms part of the Hampshire Road Race League.

Although the day started relatively cool for the 475 runners, the sun came out and things started to warm up, resulting in a much tougher second half.

As in recent years, the race began from the entrance to Treloar’s College before following the road out through Holybourne. The runners then experienced the ups and downs of the road through Binsted before turning left at Blacknest toward Bentley. The second half of the route maintained the undulating character of the first, offering the runners some wonderful spring views across the Hampshire countryside. The final mile of the race saw competitors returning through Holybourne before reaching the finishing line at Eggar’s School.

The overall winner was Stuart Holloway, from City of Salisbury AC, who finished in a time of 55 minutes 25 seconds. Stuart was also the senior men’s category winner.

The first woman home was Rebecca Lord, from Stubbington Green Runners, in a time of 1.05.39, who came third last year.

The second woman to cross the line was Ruth Wallace, from Fleet & Crookham AC, in 1.06.29, who was also first vet 35+ lady and third was Alice Burch, from Totton Running Club, in 1.09.32, who was also second vet 35+ lady.

The second man to finish was Alex Hamilton, of Basingstoke & Mid Hants AC, in 56.09, who was also first male vet 40+. Third was Richard Lovejoy, of Aldershot, Farnham & District, in 57.16.

There was a good showing by Alton Runners. First to finish was Alistair Morey, who was 24th male finisher in 1.03.41, which was an excellent time after running the Southampton Marathon the week before in a time of three hours nine minutes.

The other Alton Runners were Richard Taylor (1.06.00); Eli Dawson (1.10.56); Sophie Keough (1.11.40), who was also third senior female; Andrew Hook (1.14.04); Alex Hall (1.14.35); Kat Barrett (1.15.20); Michael Sennett (1.16.18); Vanessa Lowe (1.17.08), who was third female 45+ vet; Richard Bacon (1.18.56); Michael Pearce (1.23.13), who was second male 70+ vet; Stephen Clow (1.23.38); Fran Light (1.26.28); Jane Scrase (1.29.37); Hugh Bethell (1.36.07); Bianca Junge (1.37.20); Jane Law (1.40.11); Patricia Bacon (1.40.23); Karen Masson (1.42.25); Simon Bane (1.42.51) and Abbi Tarrant (1.46.57).

The other placed male runners were Richard Waldron (Southampton AC), 58.34, third senior man; Julian Manning (Denmead Striders), 58.10, second male 40+ vet; David Reid (Liss Runners), 58.51, third male 40+ vet; Chris Dewey (Andover AC), 1.01.04, first male 50+ vet; Matt Saker (Farnham Runners), 1.04.21, second male 50+ vet; Andrew Ellison (Farnham Runners), 1.04.32, third male 50+ vet; Mike White (Stubbington Green Runners), 1.05.18, first male 60+ vet; Andrew Gates (Totton Running Club), 1.12.24, second male 60+ vet; Tony Lees (Totton Running Club), 1.14.50, third male 60+ vet; Malcolm Renyard (Hardley Runners), 1.22.14, first male 70+ vet.

The other placed female runners were Joanne Clarke (Winchester & District AC), 1.10.20, second senior female; Ruth Thom (City of Salisbury AC), 1.09.53, third female 35+ vet; Tamara Lake (Liss Runners), 1.12.15), first female 45+ vet; S McCulloch (Farnham Runners), 1.16.49, second female 45+ vet; Linda Tyler (Farnham Runners), 1.18.13, first female 55+ vet; Helen Backshell (Lordshill Road Runners), 1.24.47, second female 55+ vet; Trisha Reilly (New Forest Runners), 1.30.01, third 55+ vet; Joy Radford (Winchester & District AC), 1.21.51, first female 65+ vet.

As ever, Alton Lions and Alton Runners did an excellent job with the marshalling and organisation of the event. South Coast Medics were on hand to provide medical cover, Treloars College and Alton 8th Scouts provided vital refreshments and water stations on the course, Town & Country Cars, Holybourne, provided the lead car, and the event was supported by Alton Sports. The race was started by Alton Runners chairman and race director Philip Scrase and the prizes were presented by Jeff Smart, who is taking over as race director.