LAST Sunday's Hampshire Chronicle Romsey 5 Miles Road Race was held in near perfect weather conditions with no wind and a very mild temperature.

There was a record entry of over 630 and the event was well supported by Hampshire Police and several dedicated groups of marshals, who helped to make the day a great success.

The race began and ended at the Greatbridge Industrial Estate and, straight from the gun, eight runners went away from the main pack. But within the space of a mile or so, two competitors had broken away. They were James Baker (Chichester Runners & AC, the eventual winner) and Iain Robertson (Southampton RC).

Baker pushed on again to open a gap of 150 metres to win in 25 mins 41 secs, with Robertson in second place in 26.10.

Third in 27.00 was fast-finishing Richard Parr (AC York), just four seconds in front of Russell Coleman, (Southampton RC) who, with Simon Ridley in eighth place, made up the winning men's team.

The fastest Veteran man was David Thomson (City of Portsmouth AC), who came fifth overall in a time of 27. 07. The first woman home was Kaye Harwood (Southampton RC) in 29. 27, followed 13 seconds later by Elaine Phipps (Reading Road Runners) and third Claire Thorne (Team Southampton) in 31.10.

The first Veteran woman home was Debbie Shephard (Andover), a further 24 seconds back, and the winning team was again Southampton RC.

Full road race results are on page 25 of tis week's Advertiser.