STEVE DAWES (pictured) romped to victory in yesterday’s Boxing Day cross-country.

Another bumper field took part in the traditional event, with 107 finishers recorded.

But Dawes was never in danger of coming anywhere but first.

He led from start to finish on the 4.75-mile L’Ancresse course, which started and finished at Rocque Balan.

By the time he had the strong easterly wind behind him, while running parallel to L’Ancresse Bay, he had already established an approximate 20-second lead over the chasing pack of four, which at that point was led by Mark Mercier.

That advantage continued to increase as Dawes reached the finish line in 26min. 1sec.

Second home and clear runner-up was veteran Alan Rowe, 43sec. down on the winner.

Lee Garland ran a strong race in third, clocking 27-12, while Dave Dyke passed Rob Smart with a final sprint for the line in the last 100m to claim fourth, two seconds ahead of the Commonwealth Games mountain bike star.

Mercier finished sixth.

Top under-17 runner was Will Bodkin, who was 11th overall in a fine 28-44.

The women’s honours went to Martine Scholes, who was 13th overall in 29-31 and was just over two minutes ahead of runner-up Sarah Mercier.