Ireland's Gareth Turnbull won the BUPA four kilometres race in Newcastle today for the third successive year.
After Ben Whitby acted as pacemaker for almost the entire race, Turnbull pulled away over the final 1500m lap with only British number one middle distance runner John Mayock responding.
But with 400 metres remaining a perfectly timed tactical break propelled the World Student Games 1500m silver medallist into a lead he never looked liked losing, and he won in 11mins 28secs.
Third position went to Andy Graffin, who clocked 11 minutes 35 seconds.
Turnbull, who is studying politics at Loughborough University, had a poor run at the European Championships in early December.
"I knew that was a one-off. Together I wanted to make amends and everything came together just perfectly. A hat-trick? What can I say - just great!"
Mayock, a two-time winner of the race but three seconds in arrears on this occasion, admitted: "I thought it was my turn to win again. But when Gareth went it was a decisive break.
"All credit to him - Gareth fully deserved the victory with such a strong finish."
PA