THE 18th running of the Netley 10K Road Race turned into a battle royal between Southampton and Bournemouth.
And it was a Dorset man who came out on top with veteran-40 runner Mark Hargreaves finding the faster legs in the final kilometre to pull away from Southampton Running Club's Eddie Tee and win in 31 minutes and 53 seconds from a field of over 300.
Tee was 21 seconds adrift of the winner and it was another Bournemouth veteran, Gary Eagle, who finished third ahead of Southampton's Jamie Jones, who had taken a month out of running after being attacked during the Southern 12-Stage Road Relay.
SRC had the consolation of winning the men's team title ahead of their Southampton neighbours Lordshill Road Runners, whose first three - Mike Bisson, Graham Bungay and Robert Tanner - finished 14th, 16th and 17th respectively.
Not for the first time, the ladies' event was won by City of Portsmouth's Nikki Kearney, a consistent competitor and winner on the popular traffic-roads of Netley's Victoria Country Park during recent years.
Her victorious time of 38.05 was well over a minute clear of runner-up Rachel Byers from Totton Running Club, with Southampton City's Karen Rushton taking third.
The women's team title went east along the M27 as City of Portsmouth successfully saw off the challenge of Eastleigh Running Club, for whom Sarah Rhimes finished fourth overall and first vet-40.
The completion of the run marked the end of a long weekend for race director Richie Pearson, who had completed the Isle of Wight Marathon the previous day.
The Island event incorporated the Hampshire Championships and it was Pearson who topped the over-50 age-group in a time of three hours and 14 minutes.
Clubmate Malcolm Knight followed with 3.40, Ken Hawkins finished in 3.55 and John Cork crossed the line in 4.37.
With injuries and illness biting hard, SRC's over-50s had to withdraw from the National Veterans' Relay at Sutton Coldfield at the eleventh hour.
The over-40s title was won by south coast neighbours Brighton AC with the SRC boys finishing 34th out of the 68 completed teams, which was inside the predicted position.
RESULTS:
MEN
1 HARGREAVES Mark (V40,1st), Bournemouth AC, 31.53
2 TEE Edmund, Southampton RC, 32.14
3 EAGLE Gary (V40,2nd), Bournemouth AC, 32.42
4 JONES Jamie, Southampton RC, 33.03
5 BLISS Mike (V40,3rd), Overton Harriers & AC, 33.09
6 HUGHES Tim (V40,4th), White Horse Harriers, 33.30
7 GRICE Zippy, Stubbington Green R & AC, 33.58
8 JONES Owain, Southampton University AC, 34.36
9 STAMP Vince (V40,5th), City of Portsmouth AC, 34.40
10 BISHOP Steven, Denmead Striders, 34.51
11 HOGG Andy, Southampton RC, 34.59
12 GUEST Phil (V40,6th), Portsmouth Joggers, 35.00
13 KENDALL Rob, Hardley Runners, 35.30
14 BISSON Mike, Lordshill Road Runners, 35.50
15 WHITE Mike (V40,7th), Havant AC, 35.56
16 BUNGAY Graham, Lordshill Road Runners, 36.49
17 TANNER Robert, Lordshill Road Runners, 36.50
18 HOTSON Neil (V40,8th), Southampton RC, 36.52
19 CLARK Keith, Overton Harriers & AC, 36.56
20 JONES Paul, Havant AC, 36.59
WOMEN
1 KEARNEY Nikki, City of Portsmouth AC, 38.05
2 BYERS Rachel, Totton RC, 39.41
3 RUSHTON Karen, Southampton City AC, 40.35
4 RHIMES Sara (V40,1st), Eastleigh RC, 40.52
5 DENNISON Audra, Overton Harriers & AC, 42.25
6 NEWTON Lynne (V50,1st), City of Portsmouth AC, 42.43
7 LOCKYER Helen, City of Portsmouth AC, 42.52
8 MORGAN-LEE Claire, Eastleigh RC, 43.02
9 PRENTICE Angela (V40,2nd), Southampton RC, 43.40
10 BARFOOT Jo-Anne, City of Portsmouth AC, 44.05
11 McMANUS Eleanor, Southampton RC, 44.20
12 HILL Fiona, Eastleigh RC, 44.24
13 LIVINGSTONE Lisa, Hardley Runners, 45.40
14 WHITE Nicky, Team Solent, 45.46
15 THORNEWILL Rachel (V40,3rd), City of Portsmouth AC, 46.24
16 STAINES Linda, Basingstoke & Mid Hants AC, 46.30
17 ROUDE Sally, Quakers, 46.44
18 CLARK Nicola, Overton Harriers & AC, 46.50
19 BURTON Emma, 46.58
20 WIGGINS Ruth, Trail Runners Association, 46.59
MEN'S TEAMS
1 Southampton RC, 17 points
2 Lordshill Road Runners, 47
3 Overton Harriers & AC, 48
4 Stubbington Green Runners & AC, 56
5 Havant AC, 73
6 Eastleigh RC, 100
7 Southampton RC B 105
8 Stubbington Green Runners & AC B, 143
9 Lordshill Road Runners B, 146
10 Hardley Runners, 160
WOMEN'S TEAMS
1 City of Portsmouth AC, 14 points
2 Eastleigh RC, 24
3 Overton Harriers & AC, 44
4 Southampton RC, 46
5 City of Portsmouth AC B, 47
6 Team Solent, 90
7 Lordshill Road Runners, 168
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