Tom Collins missed the Virgin London Marathon to concentrate on improving his speed over shorter distances, but his hopes for a personal best at the 31st Folkestone 10 miles on Good Friday were blown off course, writes Alan Newman.

The 28-year-old Medway and Maidstone athlete was chasing his 2008 best of 53min17sec but a lack of opposition and a stiff northerly breeze restricted the winner to 53min56sec, still his best time for five years.

Peter Hogben (Canterbury Harriers, 56.07) and M40 Damian Coleman (Deal Tri, 56.55) were the next finishers as the top 10 went below 60 minutes.

The women’s race produced an equally dominant performance from Paddock Wood’s W45 Maria Heslop (1hr01min.59sec) with four and a half minutes to spare over fellow W45 master Sarah Gruber (Sittingbourne Striders, 1:06.27).

Third place was hotly contested by Claire Day (Paddock Wood, 1:07.16) and Hope Sloly (Mornington Chasers, 1:07.23) with the local athlete producing a great finish to take the position with a new personal best by over a minute.