VALERIE VAUGHAN (Blarney/Inniscarra) got the victory she had always wanted when she finished clear of defending champion Anne Keenan-Buckley (North Laois), to win the Evening Echo Cork Women’s Mini-Marathon yesterday, when she defied the tight corners and series of energy-sapping climbs that punctuated the new course to cover the five miles in 27 minutes 45 seconds, and that was just nine seconds clear of the runner-up.