Victory gave Grimer a perfect score of 50, with the first Cambs Road League member in each of the nine races scoring 10 points and the best five results counting.

Grimer went into Sunday's race with four wins and a second in five Cambs Road League races but victory at Thorney allowed him to drop that second place behind Ely's Alex Tate in the Eye 10k.

Grimer went into the race just trying to do enough to finish first Cambs Road League member, as he was trying to conserve energy for last night's NVH 5k (also part of the league).

He said: "Thankfully I didn't have to start working hard until four miles so it didn't take too much out of me.

"The problem was the guy who was leading until four miles wasn't wearing a club vest so I didn't know if he was a member of a Cambs Road League club."

As it happened, Grimer need not have worried for it was Norwich veteran Richard Sales who was leading up to that point but he had no answer as Grimer picked up the pace to win by 10 seconds in 27.36 as Cambridge's Noel Carroll moved up to second.

Grimer added: "Had I needed to I think I could have broken 27 minutes but I didn't want to run too hard due to the 5k and I also have the Newmarket Duathlon on Sunday.

"The league has gone better than I expected. Before it started I wasn't sure whether I'd recover in time to do enough races to win the league, because I also have triathlon events, but the races haven't been that hard so I've recovered quite quickly."

Grimer's wife Laura finished third, and second as far as the Cambs Road League is concerned with Peterborough Athletic Club's Sarah Caskey taking the 10 points in second. Caskey, who finished second woman behind Northampton's Maree Jesson, overtook Grimer at the top of the league.

But PAC coach Graham Ward says his club may not compete in the Cambs Road League next year as he is unhappy with some of the events.

He said: "We won it four years in a row earlier this decade but next year we may not compete in the league – or at least I may not carry on.

"We want to finish runners-up behind Nene Valley but I don't think we will do so. We boycotted the Dairy Crest 10k because we were unhappy about the entry fee jumping up 25 per cent to £10 and I'm unhappy because the Grunty Fen Half-marathon is restricted to online entrants only.

"Not everyone is on the internet and I feel we may not get as many runners competing because of this. From my point of view the Cambs Road League is a team thing and I feel disappointed that we may not get all our runners out.

"It's a shame because there are some great races in the Cambs Road League, as shown this week. The Thorney 5 on Sunday had a good turnout, has reasonable entry fees and is a popular race while the NVH 5k is another good event."

PAC's Tristan Smith won the 3k fun run at Thorney.