Thames Hare & Hounds’ Stuart Major won the Dysart Dash 10km race for the second year in a row in Petersham and Ham on Sunday.

Despite the very hot conditions, Major improved his time from last year by six seconds to clock 32 minutes 36 seconds and finish 12 seconds ahead of team-,ate Andy Weir, the first over-40 veteran.

Pre-race favourite John Kimaiyo, a Kenyan who recently joined Belgrave Harriers, had to settle for third in 33.08, just holding off Dorking’s Nick Hodges.

The course is part-road and part-Thames towpath, and while the towpath section offered some shade there was no respite from the broiling sunshine in the last mile of each of the two laps along Ham’s Riverside Drive.

Several runners called it a day after the first circuit but most made it all the way and collected their well-earned finishers’ medals.

The race to be the first Ranelagh finisher was expected to be a tussle between Jonty Stacey and Darryl McDonald, but Stacey was one of those who dropped out after one lap, leaving McDonald well clear of his rivals.

McDonald’s time of 35.08 gave him 13th place overall but second in the Over 40 category.

Next finishers for Ranelagh were Steve Whitehead, 19th in 35.53 and Nathan Mills, 26th in 36.35.

There was a close finish in the over 50 category, with Ranelagh runners filling the top two places.

Jonathan Robinson passed Martin Halvey in the final half mile to finish 40th overall in 37.20 with Irishman Halvey crossing the line nine seconds later.

First over 60 was Tadworth’s Geoff Newton who recorded 39.46.

The team race went to Thames Hare & Hounds, who had four men in the top fourteen.

Events organised by Ranelagh seem to be a happy hunting ground for Stragglers’ Jess Petersson.

She won the club’s Richmond Half Marathon back in May and she repeated the trick on Sunday, finishing 39th overall in 37.17.

Ranelagh’s Jo Ronaldson was runner-up in 39.05 and she led the club to team victory backed up by Marie Synnott-Wells, 5th in 39.36, Sara Grosvenor 10th in 40.35 and Liz Kipling 11th in 40.57.

Ronaldson also took the top place in the over 35 category.

Leading over 45 was Thames’s Anna Garnier who recorded 44.08, but she was actually beaten by the top over 55, Epsom’s remarkable Jane Davies, who finished in 43.01.