Imperious Merrien beats down the brick wall

With northerly winds pulverising the open spaces of Les Amarreurs and the west side of the L'Ancresse Common, conditions for the four-mile race were particularly testing and even Merrien, who broke away from the big field early, admitted it was tough.

'It was like you were running in quicksand in places, or hitting a brick wall more to the point,' he said. 'I forgot what it was like to run in these conditions and what is like underfoot here.'

Merrien crossed the finish line at Lucksall in 21min. 39sec. for a winning margin of 50sec. from Matt Loveridge who had come through strongly in the last half mile to win the race within a race which attracted another bumper entry.

The women's race was won by Sarah Mercier who was eighth across the line, some way ahead of Natalie Whitty with Louise Perrio a distant third.

• More in Monday’s Guernsey Press.