Undeterred by a bad weather forecast and a fierce pre-race squall and downpour, almost 500 runners took on the Lexus Croydon Charity 10k road race on Sunday.

Early on, three athletes broke clear of the pack with a positive surge, and from the end of Oakes Road, South London Harriers Pavel Bal was beginning to look a good bet.

A liitle further back, two Croydon Harriers junior men, Ben Savill and Harvey White, were having a battle royal.

Moulay Goumrhare of Striders of Croydon, and SL Harriers Joseph Lynn, as well as Trinity School teacher Lee Flanigan were mixing it with Oxford challenger Steve Overton.

Also in the top 20 frame, and making exciting 10k debut was 17-year-old Croydon Harrier Robert Spalding.

Croydon Harriers’ top distance woman Lisa Harris, just recovering from flu, valiantly chased eventual winner Emily Proto of Arena 80 AC Brighton throughout.

Harris finished 31st over all, nearly three minutes clear of her nearest female challenger.

Training group colleague Kartik Iyer, 17, gave Harris a fright towards the end furing the latter stages of the race.

Bal stretched away from his only real challenger Michael Brooks, going on to win the Lexus title in splendid isolation, clocking 34 minutes, 38.8 seconds, with Brooks 100m adrift.

Neil Reissland (M45) of Collingwood AC ran a canny race to comfortably take third place.

Croydon Harriers’ excellent packing won the inter club team title, with Striders of Croydon second and Collingwood AC third.

Fittingly sponsors Lexus won the corporate challenge run held concurrently on a separate course, and the Lexus 3k Fun Run attracted a field of 60 young enthusiasts.

James Lyne of South London Harriers (11:23.0) and Omar Harahara (11:49.4) led the way and so it remained at the finish, closely challenged by Ian McFeat of Storm Lightening, with Abbey Burrett (14:31) and Faith Chen, both Croydon Harriers in 10th and 13th, heading the females.

Lexus Croydon manager Darren Noakes presented the awards, and the event was further supported by Croydon Market Traders, Virgin Fitness Croydon and Run Breeze.