MORE than 2,000 entrants took part in the popular DB Max Castle Combe Chilly 10k and Duathlon on Sunday, with the British Universities and Colleges Duathlon Championships held alongside at the Castle Combe racing circuit.

Sponsored by proto-col, the Chilly 10k saw 850 runners on the tarmac.

From the off, David Bell, of Cirencester AC, took the lead, closely followed by Mike Towler, of Avon Valley Runners and Alastair Campbell, from Stroud AC.

Bell gradually increased his lead lap by lap and held on to take the win in 32 minutes 13 seconds, just 20 seconds ahead of Towler with Campbell another 10 seconds back.

The ladies race was also won from start to finish by Rebecca Pierce, who led the entirety of the race taking the win in 39:21.

The battle for second was tighter with a titanic tussle between Natasha Lewis (Bristol and West AC) and Becky Haywood (Kingswood Triathlon Club), positions changing hands regularly until Lewis surged clear in the closing kilometre to take second from Haywood.

The proto-col Chilly Duathlon saw Luke Grenfell-Shaw surge into a lead he was not to relinquish throughout from the gun.

Grenfell-Shaw stormed round the two-mile run, 10-mile bike and final two-mile run in a total time of 42:31, setting a new course record.

He finished one and a half minutes in front of the chasing pack, which was led by Brad Williams, of Bicester Triathlon Club, who sliced through the field on the bike leg, setting the fastest bike split of the day in front of Alex Doherty, of Cheltenham Harriers.

The ladies race was a far closer battle with four athletes in with a chance of taking the win after the bike leg.

As they headed out of transition and on to the final run Maria Powell (Bike Science/Boardman Elite) held an 18-second advantage over Joanne Jago (Performance Cycles) and a 32-second lead over Emma Wardall (Tri-Training Harder) and Josie Rawes.

An incredible final run from Wardall saw her close down Powell and Jago and go on to win by 23 seconds, ahead of Jago in second and Rawes in third.

The day finished with the annual BUCS Duathlon, with the men’s event won by Jack Willis (University of Leeds) , and the ladies by Sophia Saller (Oxford University), with Bronwen Owen (Leeds Beckett University) second.and Bronwen Owen (Leeds Beckett University) stormed in to an early lead in the elite ladies race and headed the field by 16 seconds after the first run.

On to the bike Saller’s power started to show as she slowly opened up a gap over Owen and the chasing pack.By lap four Owen had slipped back to fifth with Zoe Chandler (Univerity of Birmingham) now Saller’s nearest challenger, followed by Kate McTear (University of Bristol) and Sophie Alden (Loughborough University).

By the end of the bike leg Saller’s led by 43 seconds and looked like she would comfortably take the win.However, a spirited second run from Owen saw her cruise past the ladies in front and set off in pursuit of Saller, eventually finishing 19 seconds behind the 2017 champion with McTear in third place Full results are available at dbmax.co.uk and the next edition of the event on February 18 is now open for entries at the same address.