Winner Steve Dawes leads Mark Mercier up a slope in Fauxquets Valley. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0671901)

KATRINA THOMSON produced a superb run at Fauxquets Valley to split the island’s established top women in the toughest race of the OSA Recruitment Winter League.

Triathlete Thomson finished 19sec. ahead of Martine Scholes in the punishing six-lap race, but was more than two minutes down on race winner, Louise Perrio, who seems to be getting back to her best after a disappointing track season.

It was only in the closing stages that Thomson finally got ahead of Scholes, who had looked safe in second on a day when more than 80 seniors came to the start line, a number bolstered by nearly two dozen juniors who enjoyed mixing it with the seniors in the first half of the race.

Among the women, Kristina Neves (U-13) and Nicole Petit (U-15) ran strongly and prominently for two and three laps respectively, while in the men’s event, little Marcus Heaume (U-15) was in the lower reaches of the top 10 as Steve Dawes, Alan Rowe and Mark Mercier set the pace at the head of the field.