PAUL Fernandez was far from downhearted after finishing second in the Barry 40-mile track race for a third time.

The Abingdon Amblers endurance specialist completed a gruelling 161 laps of the 400m track in 4hrs 19mins 13secs.

Fernandez was edged out by Belgium’s former world 50k silver medallist, Pieter Vermeesh.

But he said: “I was pleased to see that my time would have won the last seven Barry 40 races.

“I am pretty sure that I have just ran the fastest 40 miles of any UK athlete for the last eight years – so I am quite happy with my performance.”