Kenyans win in Bristol but Wicks and Skinner extend their GP leads

Dominic Ondoro (Kenya) proved a dominant winner of the 24th Bristol Half Marathon, the penultimate event of the 2012 runbritain Grand Prix, with a winning margin of 43 seconds in 1:02.51. In the women's event Emily Biwot made it a double victory for Kenya as she clocked 1.11.22 and proved just too strong for her fellow countrywoman Eunice Kales in second (1.11.39).

Britain's Hannah Walker - on her debut over the half marathon distance - recorded an impressive time of 1.11.50 in third as she went close to snatching a sensational surprise victory, while in the runbritain Grand Prix competition, a third place finish in the British race-within-a-race ensured that Emily Wicks further extended her lead (985 points ahead of Annabel Granger in second with 946 points) in the women's competition, with Mike Skinner matching her efforts in the men's challenge to maintain his lead with 843 points with just one race to go in the series.

A relatively sedentary opening two miles in 10 minutes saw a large group of at least 25 enjoying the still cool conditions on the last day of September. However, a third mile in 4 minutes 30 dramatically reduced the contenders to a handful of six.

Five miles in at 24.27 saw the contenders for the title reduced to three Kenyans: Bernard Rotich, Ezekiel Kibet and Dominic Ondoro. The Africans matched each other stride for stride until the ninth mile when Ondoro pushed on with great purpose. Only Rotich could respond, and even he only lasted for another mile before Ondoro cruised away to record the fastest winning time for 10 years.

Bernard Rotich was a safe second as the Kenyans repeated their one-two placing of a week earlier at the Admiral Swansea Bay 10k, also a runbritain Grand Prix event.

Tewodros Shifraw was an isolated third in 1:03.59.

Neilson Hall won a furious sprint finish to claim the award of first Brit in fifth overall (1:05.57), while at the top of the runbritain men's Grand Prix standings, Mike Skinner and Martin Williams - who both scored good points in Swansea a week ago - built on those performances to finish 11th (1:06.45) and 22nd (1:08.40) respectively to lead the Grand Prix in first (843 points) and second (721 points) overall.

The women’s race in Bristol provided fabulously exciting drama as University of Birmingham’s Hannah Walker gave a thrilling chase to the top two Kenyans on her debut. The opening stages saw Emily Biwot, Eunice Kales and Jane Muia push the pace, steadily shadowed by Walker, Emily Wicks and Andrea Whitcombe.

However, by five miles Biwat and Kales had established a 20 second cushion over Muia, who in turn was 25 seconds ahead of Walker. The second half of the race saw the 21-year-old Birchfield Harrier Walker reduce the gap to eight seconds, but sensing the danger, Biwat accelerated once more to earn a well deserved 17 second victory over the ten thousand strong field.

Kales held on to second but Walker was delighted with her sub-72 clocking on her half marathon debut to scoop the British prize award. Second was Getenesh Tamarate (now third in the Grand Prix with 745 points), with Emily Wicks earning third.

Katriona Wooton finished fourth and Andrea Whitcombe, also a big points scorer in the Grand Prix event in Swansea, finished as fifth Brit and first Vet, taking her overall Grand Prix points score to 738 with one race to go - the Perkins Great Eastern Run on Sunday 14 October.

For a full update on the 2012 runbritain Grand Prix, follow the link and scroll down to the 2012 leader boards.

Footage of the event is also now available on the runbritain TV section of the website.