WITNEY Roadrunner Mathew Ashton blitzed the course record by 19 seconds as he cruised to victory in the second round of the Mota-vation Series at Bletchingdon.

Ashton, running for first-claim club Aldershot, Farnham & District, smashed the 15-year-old record to win his second successive race.

He and Woodstock Harriers’ Steve Naylor had already opened up a sizeable gap from the rest of the field as they entered the village, but from that point Ashton steadily moved away to win by over half a minute on the just over 4¼-mile course.

Last season’s champion, Steve Male, recovering from injury, was down the field, but led the V40 division three seconds ahead of Oxford City teammate John Atyeo, with vet 50 winner Paul Gregory (Vale of Aylesbury) splitting them.

In the vet 60 division, Roy Treadwell led in a trio of Oxford City runners.

Fine running by Abingdon scored five runners in the top twelve and extended their lead amongst the men’s teams, while Woodstock pulled out the stops to overtake Oxford City in the series rankings.

Jennifer McBain led the ladies, and together with her teammates, helped Alchester open up a gap ahead of Headington in the team competition.

Jude Craft (Headington Roadrunners), Nicola Gomm (Witney Roadrunners) and Kate Williamson (Eynsham Roadrunners) all scored their second divisional victories.

The next race is at Combe on July 1 (7.30 start).

RESULTS

(top 30, senior men unless stated)

1 M Ashton (AFD) 21.05, 2 S Naylor (Woodstock H) 21.42, 3 P Fernandez (Abingdon) 22.33, 4 S Frear (Woodstock H) 22.53, 5 O Ellis (Abingdon) 22.53, 6 S Kimber (WSEH) 23.08, 7 P Jegou (WHH) 23.10, 8 G Harris (Headington RR) 23.11, 9 G Harris (Headington RR) 23.11, 10 L Newell (Abingdon) 23.15, 11 P Egerton (ABingdon) 23.19, 12 T Wright (Banbury H) 23.20, 13 S Male (Oxford C, V40) 23.21, 14 P Gregory (VOA, V50) 23.22, 15 J Atyeo (Oxford C, V40) 23.24, 16 J Bolton (Woodstock H) 23.44, 17 B O’Connor (V40) 23.47, 18 M Maxwell (Oxford C) 23.49, 19 J Cooke (WHH) 23.50, 20 M Summerfield (VOA, V40) 23.51, 21 A Gleeson (Oxford C, V40) 24.01, 22 S Copley (Abingdon) 24.17, 23 K Game (Woodstock H) 24.21, 24 D Tame (Hook Norton, V40) 24.23, 25 S McLeod (Abingdon) 24.26, 26 R Skilbeck (Headington RR) 24.27, 27 M Tankard (Oxford C, V40) 24.29, 28 T Lock (Witney RR, V40) 24.38, 29 D Cantwell (Woodstock H, V40) 24.48, 30 H Price (Woodstock H) 24.50.