Alastair Watson looks determined to make a staunch defence of his Leicestershire Winter Road-Running League title.

Fourth in the opening race of this season's campaign at Barrow, the 34-year-old Hermitage Harrier put in an outstanding show to win Sunday's Desford 10k held at Market Bosworth Rugby Club.

Watson won in 31min 28sec, and by around 100 metres, from Gordon Lee.

Watson, whose 2011 title triumph was built on a string of consistent performances in the five-race series, was a 22-second winner over Leicester Coritanian veteran Lee with Irish international triathlete Conor Murphy in third spot.

There was also a notable success for Nicki Nealon in the women's race.

Just two weeks away from her 44th birthday, the Huncote veteran rolled back the years with a terrific victory.

She produced her best 10k time since April 2009 – 37min, 3sec – to finish ahead of Stilton Strider Nicola Clay, who is the current women's champion.

It was the first time Nealon had beaten Clay since September 2010 in the John Fraser 10-mile race at Loughborough. Leading finishers:

Men: 1 Alastair Watson (Hermitage) 31.28, 2 Gordon Lee (Leicester Coritanian) 31.50, 3 Conor Murphy (Leicester Tri-Club) 32.03, 4 Nigel Stirk (Leicester Coritanian) 32.16, 5 Stephen Mears (Charnwood) 32.20, 6 Jake Harrison (Leicester Tri-Club) 32.26, 7 Mark Couldwell (Charnwood) 32.32, 8 Chris Jordan (Hinckley) 33.37, 9 Simon Cotton (M40, Leicester Coritanian) 33.40, 10 Dan Allinson (Hinckley) 33.45, 11 George Buttery (Charnwood) 34.14, 12 Ian Murdey (M40, Beaumont) 34.23, 13 Danny Keating (M45, Leicester Coritanian) 34.35, 14 Gareth Deacon (M45, Leicester Coritanian) 34.38, 15 Matt Adcock (Hermitage) 34.44, 16 Martin Makin (Charnwood) 34.47, 17 Dave Pearce (M45, Leicester Coritanian) 34.54, 18 Phil Chritchlow (M40, Beaumont) 35.04, 19 Rob Sheen (M50, Leicester Coritanian) 35.04, 20 Richard Brown (Charnwood) 35.14.

Women: 1 Nicki Nealon (F40, Huncote) 37.03, 2 Nicola Clay (Stilton) 38.00, 3 Louise Insley (F40, South Derbyshire) 39.27, 4 Joanna Toon (Leicester Tri-Club) 39.45, 5 Holly Smith (Charnwood) 39.53, 6 Kate Ramsey (F40, Charnwood) 40.02, 7 Nicki Thompson (F40, Charnwood) 40.50, 8 Emma Limbert (Hinckley) 41.07, 9 Andrea Brewin (Huncote) 41.34, 10 Joanne Matthews (Hermitage) 41.32.

The Leicestershire athletics community turned out in force on Friday for the funeral of respected coach Paul Blissett at Loughborough Crematorium.

The tributes were led by Dick Callan, who was coached by Blissett as a schoolboy and went on to become Leicestershire's top runner and a significant international figure in a golden age of British middle-distance running.

The weekly Braunstone parkrun was called off on Saturday.