RUTH Barnes came close to pulling off an astonishing victory in the Devizes Half Marathon.

Just before the 10 miles point Barnes was the overall leader of the 400-strong field race overall with the leading men struggling to keep in touch.

But suddenly Barnes was forced to stop allowing Stuart Temple of Swindon-based club Slinn Allstars to race into a clear lead which he held to the finish, despite a strong finish by Barnes after she had recovered.

“I got really bad stitch at nine-and-a-half miles and I just had to stop to get rid of it,” said Barnes.

“It is something I have suffered with before on longer races and it is frustrating.

“I think the other two guys might have ultimately beaten me as the one chap who eventually won was right on my heels when I stopped and the other one (Mike Dooley of Corsham) was maybe 50 metres behind so he caught me as well.

“We’ll never know now but it must have cost me a minute.”

Remarkably Barnes, who lives in Bradford on Avon, regained her composure to not only finish third overall but also smashed the course record with her time of one hour 19.19 minutes.

“It is certainly not a super fast course but I was pleased with the time as I last did it a few years ago when I ran 1:21.58 and was expecting something similar even though there have been changes since then,” added Barnes.

“Still, it was nice to break the course record and get a £50 bonus.”

Family commitments mean Barnes has pulled out of the Corsham St Georges 10k on Sunday (11am) and is now looking towards the Bristol 10k next month for her next outing.

The start and finish of the Corsham race is at Corsham Town Football Club.

Entry is through the Corsham Running Club website corshamrunningclub.co.uk.

Devizes half marathon – men: 1 Stuart Temple (Slinn Allstars) 79:04; 2 Mike Dooley (TB, M50) 79:19; 3 Joe Staddon (Richmond) 81:51; 4 David Vaudin (TB, M60) 84:20.

Women: 1 Ruth Barnes (AVR, W35) 79:19; 2 Natalie Plummer (U/A) 88:00; 3 Annabel Harford (TB) 97:14; 4 Lisa Bennnett (TB) 97:20.