ROAD RUNNERS voted with their feet when the 21st annual Eastleigh 10k road race took place on Sunday.

On one of the busiest weekends for road racing in the country, runners came from far and wide to take part.

"We had 107 different clubs represented and only 28 were from Hampshire," said joint race director Malcolm Price.

"It was a nice dry and still day and they were rewarded with some good times. Two of the first three men's runners did personal bests to put them up the UK rankings."

Belgrave Harriers' Mark Miles, pictured left, who won in a time of 29 minutes 11 seconds, the second best time since the new course was established in 1984, was well pleased.

"It's a quality organisation and a quality race," he said.

He held off Fiachra Lombard of Woodford Green (29.17), with Alister Moses, the Chichester 10k winner, in third place in 29.25.

Fourth-placed Lee Rodrigues (New Forest Runners), from New Milton, could also have beaten the 30-minute barrier but paid the penalty for a plucky attempt to stay up with the race leaders.

His big effort meant he was running just that bit faster than he could afford and, when he was eventually dropped by the leaders, found himself isolated with no group around him to pull him through to a better time. Even so, he knocked two seconds off his personal best in 30.25.

"I counted 30 road races, including the UK Championships at Hastings, being staged at the weekend but we still turned away 400 entries," said Price. "I was a little surprised on the day that we had only 1,045 who finished. I was expecting nearly 1,200 runners and we had accepted 1,400 entries."