FRESH from his sparkling personal best in the Frankfurt marathon, Ben Cole raced away from his rivals for a thumping victory in the Swindon 10k last weekend, writes KEVIN FAHEY.

The 34-year-old Swindon Harrier was a class apart in the popular race, which attracted 562 finishers from a sell-out 600 entries, as he crossed the line in a course-record time of 30mins 50secs.

On a day for swift running, Cole led an impressive Harriers clean sweep of the podium places with junior Ethan Pierce runner-up on his debut at the distance and Simon Byrne third as he smashed his lifetime best by over a minute.

“It was three weeks after Frankfurt and while I knew I wouldn’t be in top form, it was good to see that I had no lingering niggles or soreness from the marathon,” said Cole, whose PB of 2hrs 24mins 26secs is the quickest time by a Wiltshire runner this year.

“Steve Goulding, the race organiser, suggested I try to run inside 31 minutes as I had the previous record of 31:28.

“I knew that would be a challenge, but was achievable so I gave it a go. I probably went off a bit too hard as I followed the lead bike and opened up a big gap. I paid for that towards the end but by then I had enough time in the bank to get the record and break 31 minutes.”

Behind the top three, Courtenay Chessell broke 34 minutes for the first time with a PB of 33:32 while Gary O’Brien completed a Harriers’ top five as he picked up the prize as first veteran – clocking a time just 23seconds off his lifetime best set 11 years ago.

In sixth, Highworth Running Club’s Michael Passmore shaved nine seconds off his two-years-old PB with 34:55.

Cole was clearly delighted with his day’s work in his home town race, but for sheer delight it would be hard to beat Denise Nott’s reaction at winning the women’s race for the first time.

“It is the seventh time I have run the Swindon 10k and I have always been the bridesmaid here, so it was brilliant to finally win it,” said Nott, who competes for Calne Running Club.

“I think it is my favourite race and I have only missed it once since I first started racing in 2012. It was also a hell of a race on Sunday as only 11 seconds separated the top three girls.”

In a real ding-dong battle, Nott only took the lead down the long finish straight stunning long-time leader Clare Jolliffe of Bristol & West AC.

“I heard Simon (Nott, her husband and coach) shouting at me down the finish straight and I just went for it, so it is nice to know I still have a sprint finish in me” added Nott.

“I really wanted to win so it is a massive box ticked for me.”

To complete a good day for Nott, two athletes she coaches at Calne RC, Michael Gilbert and Helen Gibbs, both smashed their personal bests to finish eight and seventh respectively.