Late entrants Raymond Tonui and Joyce Kandie, who are based in Leamington for the summer, flew the Kenyan flag well as they destroyed the field with Tonui winning the men's race by almost three minutes in 64.40 while Kandie beat the next woman home by over three minutes.

But the biggest winner was the town with entries snowballing and almost 1,000 runners in the Half Marathon and almost 2,000 in the Fun Run.

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• Or click here or here to see our photo slideshows of the event.

Both Kenyans found the brand new Half Marathon course a tough one, saying they the hills had been hard work, but, with it being a new course, both times were naturally new course records and may take some beating.

Although the sun thankfully stayed in under heavy cloud cover, it was still a heavy, humid morning with only an occasional breeze to help the tide of humanity race around the streets of Mansfield and back into the park.

Organising commitee member David Lisgo told Chad: "We are delighted with how it went.

"We know the new course is testing with the hills, but Mansfield is a hilly town and there is nothing we can do about that.

"The Kenyans are probably more used to running on big city streets which are generally flat.

"The old course used to be known for its 13 hills in 13 miles.
"But numbers are very much up and next year we hope to crack the 1,000 mark for the Half Marathon.

"We had over 200 sign up on the day and had 939 signed up in total. I think the weather helped on the day.

"Of almost 2,000 Fun Runners we had 1,700 finishers.

"We have also had some very positive feedback about the race ending on the Berry Hill track, for which we must thanks the trustees."

All the pre-race talk was of the entry of 29-year-old Mongolian Serod Batochir, who competed in the Beijing Olmpics Marathon but is over here running for Morpeth Harriers this summer.

His pre-race preparations were disrupted when his wife went into labour prematurely at their Newcastle base and gave birth at 3am on Saturday morning.

Full credit to Batochir for not withdrawing and, despite his lack of sleep, he still turned in a sterling performance to finish second in 1.07.29 with Longward Harriers' Andrew Pearson third in 1.09.36.

Another Kenyan completed the course bare-footed.

First local runner back was Mansfield Harriers'Mark Johnson.

Ladies' winner Kandier was 14th overall in 1.17.45 with Matlock Athletics Club's Christine Howard second (26th overall, 1.20.57) and Nicky Whelan, of Huncote Harriers, third (34th, 1.22.42).

Presentations to the winners were made at the end by Nigel Quinton, chief executive of Mansfield Building Society, who sponsored the event along with the Chad.

The oppressive heat proved too much for some with three runners needing medical treatment for exhausation, one agonisingly yards from the final stretch on the running track.

Although numbers were up, there seemed fewer Fun Runners in fancy dress costume this year.

Among them we did have several clowns, pirates, the Hulk, women in evening dresses or ballet outfits and a man on an 'ostrich'!

Several local schools and football teams entered teams, one man doing the entire course while dribbling a football.

Mansfield Town Mascot Sammy the Stag was also among the field as was last year's Half Marathon winner, Mansfield international runner Billy Farhquharson, who took a year off from serious competition to run the Fun Run with his wife and son.

We also had dog walkers and pushchairs strolling round. And there was a decent contingent of wheelchair competitors from Portland College, one bravely leaving his chair to finish the last few yards on foot.

Fun Run winner was 15-year-old Richie Talbot, from Forest Town, a pupil at Garabaldi School.

Runners had earlier congregated on the park amid a village of tents and were entertained by a steel band before some aerobic steppers got on stage to get those watching warmed up and stretched for the run to follow.

People gathered in good vantage points all around the course with the biggest crowds at the start and end in Berry Hill Park to cheer them off and cheer them back in again.

And the threatened downpours held off to help make a memorable day a huge success.

A full Chad video report with interviews and action will follow on here later today and don't miss this week's Chad for a full list of Half Marathon/Fun Run results plus pictures from the town's big day.