Determined Darrel Gooch stormed to a crushing victory in the annual Boxing Day runner versus cyclists event.

But even his brilliant individual performance could not prevent the runners from retaining the Markham Cup for the fifth successive time with 109 points to 32.

The runners set about tackling the three laps of a demanding 1.7 mile demanding course in Friday Woods, but it was Gooch and Ivor Burch of the cyclists, together with runner Robert Malseed, who broke away from the main pack.

All three were in contention on the first lap. Then Gooch started piling on the pressure during the second lap to pull away from his rivals to cross the line first with over a minute to spare in a new course record of 27 mins 14 secs.

The lion-hearted Malseed was second in 28.38, followed closely by third-place Ivor Burch, who once again did himself proud with a time of 28.55.

Paul Spowage (runner) was a worthy fourth in 30.37, while completing the team were Dominic King 32.13, Mike Bond 32.26, Derek Walker 32.32 and Dave Wright 32.59.

The cyclist team was supported by Ken Baker 36.28, D Beeby was 25th in 38.15, Neil Pears 38.36 and D Triggs 39.38.

In the ladies' two-lap race Grace Greenhalgh, making her debut in this race, showed why she is Essex County 5,000m champion.

Stepping us the pace on the second lap, Greenhalgh crossed the line first in 22.41 to win the Arthur Withers Cup.

Defending champion Ruth Eddy, in only her second race in nine months, dug deep to finish an excellent second in 23.20, a gritty run came from Sue McCann who came in third in 24.09 with Lynn Tanner fourth.

In the under-15 race, Sarah Cole ran well, coming first in 17.46 with a fine second from Lucy King.

The event was once again well supported and a big thank you goes to those officials and marshals who helped to make this a successful morning's sport.

Published Thursday December 27, 2001