ST HELENS Sutton AC members took part in the major event of the domestic cross-country season when they travelled to Durham for the National Championships.

Considering the recent weather, the course was pleasantly firm but the day was bitterly cold and the course had its fair share of hills.

In the senior men's event 12km Chris Geraghty turned the tables on a number of his team-mates to be first club member to finish in a time of 44min 59secs. Tony Smith, running up to form, was not far behind in 45min18secs and while Barry Graney was less than two minutes further behind in 47min 10secs, such is the standard of competition at this level that he finished more than a hundred places behind Tony!

Anthony Davies found it hard going, finishing in 48min 15secs, Richie Bradshaw was next home in 54min 52secs and Tony Raffles, a long way from racing fitness, could only manage a time of 58min 3secs. John Irwin continued his return after injury, completing the course in 65min.15secs, a little way ahead of Alan Davies in 67min.15secs.

Two other members made the long journey to run as individuals in their respective races. Luke Benyon ran in the junior men's race recording 26min 27secs for the 6km course, and Janet Holmes competed in the senior ladies' event running 43min12secs for the 8km course.

Meanwhile, the club played host to the recent Northern Veterans Cross-country Championships with the 9.4km course in Sherdley Park designed to provide a real test including virtually every hill in the park and with extremely soft going for most of the way.

Two members took advantage of home experience to become prize winners. Janet Holmes took second place in the over-45 years ladies event with a time of 49min 40secs, and Stan Erlam took third place in the over-60 years mens' event with a time of 38min 41secs. Also running in the senior age group race was John Clare, making a rare appearance over the country, and he recorded 46min.10secs.

The club turned out a team in the race for the over-40 years and over- 45 years runners. New veteran Andy O'Connor again led the way with his time of 35min 22secs, Andy Boyack would be well pleased to hold off John Appleton as they recorded 38min 20secs and 38min 26secs respectively and the team was completed by Tony Raffle, 41min.10secs, to finish third.

There are currently two displays of Sutton Harriers memorabilia on show to the public in the town. One is in the archives section of the Central Library in Victoria Square, the other is in the public area of the World of Glass.