WYE Valley Runners consolidated their commanding lead after the penultimate race in the Herefordshire Summer Off Road League at Westhope.

Tim Iveson of Builth Wells R.C., who had finished as runner up in the first two races in the series, eased into a slender early lead chased by the Croft Ambrey R.C. duo of Mark Lamonby and Stacey Morgan.

These three gradually pulled away from their pursuers with Iveson always holding a slight advantage in the battle for supremacy. The Croft Ambrey pairing had no answer when Iveson pushed hard up the final steep climb to open a decisive gap, which he maintained on the downhill run towards the finish line to finally win by just three seconds from a battling Lamonby. Heavy ironman triathlon training appears to have strengthened Lamonby who recorded his best ever Hereford league finishing position and his first defeat of his team mate, the evergreen Morgan, in an official race.

Iveson’s victory produced the third different winner in this season’s three races and it sets up a wide open final race for an exciting climax in the battle for the league individual championship with reigning champion Eliot Taylor due to return.

In contrast, the women’s race was won for the third successive time by Wye Valley’s in form Laura Tootell.

She established an early lead, which she never relinquished, but she could never relax as she was again gamely chased by her club mate Gintare Gaigaliene all the way.

Tootell’s assured and positive performance brought her home in 38th place in the overall field with Gaigaliene in 41st just 29 seconds adrift.

Monross Trailblazers’ Laura Lelievre ran strongly to finish third female and 52nd overall.

These three leading female runners were highly influential in deciding the team honours on the evening as they led their respective teams to the top three positions with Wye Valley again proving their superiority with yet another consistent and dominant display. Tootell was well supported by lively runs from Christian Jones in fourth place, Steve Flowers in fifth and Jeremy Jehan in seventh. Gaigaliene led the Wye Valley ‘B’ string to a clear second place ably backed by Mark Killeen in ninth, Mike Fawcett 11th and Ian Sockett 13th.

Monross again performed impressively in their quest to gain a first league team award with a third place thanks to Lelievre’s effort abetted by Luke James in eighth place, Andy Stephens 10th and Gavin Jones 18th.

The final event in the four race summer series was due to be held at Shobdon yesterday with Wye Valley strong favourites to retain their title.