GREAT Britain triathlete Jonny Brownlee was pipped to first place in the Ribble Valley 10k by defending champion Marc Scott.

The two-time Olympic medalist and world sprint triathlon champion picked the New Year’s Eve race as his first official road 10k.

But he admitted he knew he would struggle to get off to a winning start when he heard he was up against last year’s RV10k champion.

“As soon as I heard that Marc was there he was always going to beat me,” admitted Brownlee, who clocked 29 minutes and 54 seconds, with Scott crossing the line in 29.37.

“He is better than me so fair play to him.

“It was nice to do a really good race.

“I came out just for a bit of a race and burn some Christmas turkey off.”

Brownlee was not the only famous name in the 1,500 strong sell-out field as GB international runners Laura Weightman and Beth Potter were also on the startline, completing the trio of Olympians.

Weightman was the first female to cross the line, missing out on matching the female course record by just 10 seconds as she stopped the clock on 32.30 to finish 31st overall.

“I’m not sure what I expected,” she said. “It’s Christmas, I’ve had a nice week with my family. I just wanted a hard run-out.

“I didn’t really expect much of a time, I just wanted to come here and run hard and see where I am at.

“I’m delighted with 32.30 on a course like this and the wind, I’m really pleased with that.”

Potter was just half a minute behind to secure a personal best.

Blackburn Harrier Ben Fish recorded a season’s best of 30.31 to come in seventh, despite an earlier start than most as he was setting up his club’s Up and Running stall at 7.30am that morning.

He was followed by club-mates Tim Raynes in 24th (31.48) and V45 winner Mat Nuttall in 59th overall, with a season’s best time of 34.28.

Blackburn runner Alison Leonard had not raced since May 2017 but contributed to the northern women’s team gold medal and open race team win with a time of 37.26.

Course winner Scott, who was just four seconds shy of last year’s personal best, said: “It was a shame about the weather. I would have liked to go a bit quicker but it was really windy out there so I just had to sit and sit and then went when I felt good and thought I could get a gap.

“I knew there were some good guys behind me.”

The race has been a feature of the East Lancashire athletics calendar for more than 30 years and has been promoted by current organisers Blackburn Harriers since 1998.