In-form Tim Hartley ran away from a 300-plus field to regain the Charnwood Hills fell-race title at Anstey on Sunday.

In the process, the 35-year-old achieved one of the biggest winning margins in the 18-year history of the Bowling Climbing Club event, rated the County's toughest running race.

The Charnwood AC ace covered the twelve-and-a-half miles of rugged terrain, which had been swamped by heavy overnight rain, in 1hr 20min 13sec, finishing more than three-and-a-half minutes ahead of another previous champion, Oadby's Gareth Deacon.

The women's race honours went to Nottingham's Sharon Orridge, but Desford Striders' Emma Marvin, who took up running only a couple of years ago, underlined her potential with a fine runner-up spot.

However, it was Hartley, wearing a T-shirt that suitably proclaimed 'Let's Get Dirty', who proved himself the class act on the day.

He made his decisive move up and down Beacon Hill, taking almost a minute out of Deacon, the 1998 champion - and, on the inward half, Hartley maintained his momentum, despite the energy-sapping final stages over waterlogged farmland.

"I was pleased with that," he said afterwards. "It's a real test - in fact, it's a real test for anyone.

"Gareth was close to me going up Beacon but after that I didn't really see him again. It was tough up alongside the wall going up Beacon - at first it was fairly flat then suddenly there was a rock face in front of you!

"But the worst bit for me was coming down from Broombriggs and having to slam your legs down to stop yourself skidding."

Hartley, who was nearly three minutes faster than when he won in 2002, albeit over a slightly different course, now hopes to maintain his form for the Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championships in March when he hopes to be part of what he expects to be a strong Leicestershire men's squad.

In the meantime, he is likely to take in a couple of local road races though he is not contemplating tackling the National XC Championships later this month.

Deacon was "disappointed" with his 1.23.56 effort but did not want to take anything away from Hartley. "I think I'm going to take a few months off after the Inter-Counties," he said. "I know I had six months out last year but everything's a slog for me at the moment."

Sutton-in-Ashfield's Dean Cross took third place, ahead of Richard Brown, of the host club Bowline, with Shepshed's Ashley Long having a fine 1.26.17 run for fifth spot to take the top veteran's prize.

Orridge, an F35 veteran, was beaten by only 38 men as she clocked 1.35.56 but the 23-year-old Marvin ran her pretty close, crossing the line in 1.37.44 to beat English fell-running veteran champion Sally Newman into third spot.

A year ago, Marvin finished fourth in 1.47.41 but she sliced nearly 10 minutes off that to suggest that she should go faster than her 2003 London debut in 3.18 when she returns to the capital in April.

Marvin, the Everards Leicester Half-Marathon winner in November, came through strongly after a cautious start and had Orridge in sight at Beacon but had to settle for second place. "Coming back through Bradgate I knew I wouldn't catch her," she said.