THIS year’s winner of this Darlington 10km returned to secure a hat-trick of victories and set a new course record in a sensational time of 29mins 56 seconds.

Dominic Shaw broke his own course record which he set two years ago when he finished two seconds outside 30 minutes.

He said: “I wanted to come back and see if I could make three years in a row which was a challenge but to set a new course record of under 30 minutes is absolutely brilliant.

“Mohammed set a great pace in the first six kilometers but I when I saw him start to look over his shoulder I knew I would be able to finish strongly.”

Coming home in second place was Mohammed Abu-Rezeq in 30:42 and in third place was Lewis Gamble-Thompson in a time of 32:12.

Thousands of people took part in the main event with competitors from running clubs from around the region taking part.

The first woman home was last year’s winner Tracy Millmore who finished in 36:45. She was followed home by Hannah Wood in 37:43 and Louise Talman came home third in 38:45.

As well as the 10km race there was a junior 3km race and a family fun run.

A special mention was given to five-year-old Harrison Foers who completed the family fun run to raise more than £600 for the charity, Joseph’s Dream, to help support a seriously ill young boy who lives in Middleton St George.

And to make his achievement even better the race sponsor, SG Petch, offered to take the total to £1,000.

Harrison’s mother, Amy, said: “He did really well on his run and he is really proud of the money that he is raising for Joseph.”