NEWQUAY Road Runners' Kevin Toher was cruely denied victory in Sunday's Trevornick 10 mile multi terrain race, round five of the Cornwall Glass and Glazing Cornwall Grand Prix Series.

The scenically attractive course over Cubert Common set a stiff challenge with runners facing long undulating grassland sections, crossing the beach at Holywell Bay and back to the firmer ground via a testing sand dune section.

And it was in the sand dunes that it all went wrong for Toher.

The absence of a marshal at a key point in the dunes resulted in the Newquay runner, who had moved into a clear lead ahead of Pete Ellis (Hayle Runners), following the wrong path and spending a couple of minutes going walkabout in the dunes.

Toher said: "When I eventually returned to the race route I had no idea who and how many runners were ahead. It was only in the closing stages when I saw Pete Ellis in the distance that I realised I would have to settle for second."

Ellis finished almost one minute ahead of a disappointed Toher.

Toher's team-mate, Gregg Hooper, also had a scare in the final mile, taking the wrong path along with Adrian Ball (Cornwall Athletic Club) and a visitor to the county, James Roche (Woodford Green).

The trio soon realised the error of their ways and retraced their steps to get back on course, with Hooper finishing third and Ball (4th) overtaking Matt Lewis (Cornwall Athletic Club), who had slipped ahead of them during their detour, although Roche had to settle for sixth.

Lucy Kelvey had only the men for company in the Ladies race, finding herself well clear of the other ladies at an early stage of the proceedings.

The Newquay Road Runner looked strong throughout, coping comfortably with the demanding terrain and winning by a sizeable five minute plus margin.

Suzy Bosustow (Cornwall Athletic Club) began steadily and was in fourth place at two miles but as the going got tougher Suzy got stronger, moving through into second place and was never threatened for the runners-up spot.

There was a real battle for third place with another Woodford Green vest prominent, this time worn by Katherine Gundersen, who edged out Newquay's Sharon Coyne by just three seconds.

A strong Newquay Road Runners Men's team packed well, with their six scoring runners finishing in the top twenty three places, giving the host club their first Grand Prix Men's team win of the year, comfortably ahead of a below strength Cornwall Athletic Club, with St Austell Running Club in third place.

Newquay made it a team double with their four scoring Ladies all finishing in the top ten for an emphatic victory ahead of Cornwall Athletic Club.

On this occasion it was Hayle Runners who nipped in to take third place, two points ahead of their Penwith rivals, Mount's Bay Harriers.

● Results, Page 95.