Matthew Jones was the only runner to break the one-hour mark in winning race two of the New Balance Reservoir Series at Tai Lam Chung yesterday. Jones, 29, had not run the scenic 15km course before, but did cover part of it when completing the 100km Trailwalker event in November. 'Nothing about the course today was familiar, as we covered this section of the Trailwalker during the night,' said Jones, who works at the British consulate in Admiralty. 'It really is a lovely course, though, and I didn't need to fear the hills in the daylight.' Jones was part of a small group of runners at the head of the 300-strong field soon after the start at 9am, but by the 2km mark had shaken off his opponents.'As the course was unfamiliar to me, I was careful on the hills, but I then injected some pace on the flat sections to try to maintain my lead,' said Jones. He crossed the line in 59 minutes and 22 seconds for a 1:39 ahead of veteran-one category winner William Crowe. Crowe clocked 1:01:17 for second place overall, while Philippe Cosentino took third in 1:01:41. Jane Hodskin was also a first-time visitor to the northwest New Territories course and, like Jones, took home a winner's trophy. A fast first kilometre ensured the 25-year-old Australian marketing executive was never challenged over the 15km, and she came home 1:21 clear of women's veteran-three category winner Gillian Castka, while Sian Abate took third overall, and first place in the veteran-one category, in 1:13:56.
