GREAT BRITAIN international Stephen Hepples beat off an African challenge to retain his title in yesterday's big Tees Pride 10K in Middlesbrough.

The 27-year-old council auditor got his sums spot in a sprint finish to beat Gateshead Harrier Alan Buckley by ten seconds after Kenyan Zakary Kihara was relegated to third place.

Kihara, a past winner of the Edinburgh and Loch Ness marathons, was a late replacement for pre-race favourite Tewdoros Shiferaw, who cried off with a calf injury after winning the previous weekend's Bristol Half Marathon, but never offered a serious threat.

He was dropped by Hepples and Buckley after four kilometres and soon gave up the ghost, settling for a distant third.

The two leaders were involved in a cat-and-mouse struggle, passing the halfway mark in 14 mins 59 secs in windy conditions, ruling out a course record challenge.

Hepples waited until the pair swept round a left-hand turn just after the 9K marker to make his race-winning move, sprinting clear of his Leeds-based rival for a comfortable victory in 30 mins 30 secs, just less than a minute slower than the course record of 29.36 set in the inaugural 2005 race by Martin Scaife.

Hepples, who won the previous year's race in 30.47, said: "I'm very pleased with the victory - the race went better than I thought.

"It was the quickest I have run here but I knew a new course record was unrealistic because of the wind.

"All credit to Alan for his early-race surges which saw off the Kenyan. I sat in for a long way and while Alan is a strong runner I thought I might have a stronger finish.

"That's the way it turned out and I felt as though I had another gear if I needed it."

Buckley a 32-year-old Great Britain World Cross Country Championships representative, is making his marathon debut in Berlin in two weeks' time. He said: "I'm reasonably happy but I'd have like to have been able to turn the wind down. I think we could have gone for the course record if it hadn't been so windy."

The course record was shattered in the women's race by Kenya's Cathy Mutwa who took nearly two minutes off in 34 mins 40 secs, earning a £150 bonus.

The three-times winner of the Blaydon race came home 2 mins 7 secs ahead of Teesdale's Clare Robson, who added the North-East 10K crown to her 5K title.

Robson, who now works in Sheffield after gaining a masters degree at Boston University, admitted: "I never even saw Cathy Mutwa. But I'm pleased to have run a personal-best time in windy conditions and the North-East title is a lovely bonus."

Last year's winner, Louise Noble, finished a disappointing fifth in 28.33 but had the consolation of leading Sunderland Harriers to victory in the team event.