Bold as Brass

8:35am Monday 21st January 2008

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THE 25th running of the Knavesmire Harriers' Brass Monkey half-marathon produced a course record for Hailey Haining.

Olympic hopeful Haining clocked 1hr 11min 46 sec on the flat and windy course in York yesterday, shaving two minutes off her own record.

The Scottish runner said: "The wind was the only thing to trouble me on the course and I was happy with how I progressed from start to finish."

Haining will now be pushing for one of two qualifying spots for this year's Olympics in Beijing.

In second place was Wakefield's Julie Grisco, who ran a time of 1hr 18min - a minute in front of third placed Rebecca Moore, of Edinburgh.

In the men's race, Ian Fisher, of Ilkley, and Steve Hepples, of Newham & Essex, set the early pace from the gun.

Over the last four miles both runners tried shading from the wind.

In the final quarter of a mile, Hepples out-paced Fisher and won in 1hr 8min - 20 seconds ahead of his rival.

In third place was well fancied Pickering runner Darran Bilton, followed by Paul Merchant, of Rothwell, and Steve Neal, of Pudsey.