MEMBERS of St Helens Sutton AC travelled up to South Shields for the Northern Counties Cross-country.

The going was good on the undulating park land course but the strength of the wind tested the strongest competitors. With runners taking part from all over the north of England there were large fields and strong competition. The under 15 years girls and boys both ran over the same 4km course.

Laura Davenport found the conditions a bit too much to finish 38th in 17min 19secs and Steve Thompson found his time of 16min 16secs was only good enough for 105th place.

The under 17 years girls ran over 5km and Holly O'Connor has probably her best run of the season to finish 27th in 20min 55secs. Matthew Wharton running in the under 17 years boys event over 6km ran 24min 25secs for 135th place and will do much better when he is in the same age group next year. There was good running from Anna Kyle and Pam Fitzsimons in the under 20 years ladies race over 5km, Anna moved away well early on but Pam came through well in the later stages to finish just two place behind Anna with times of 21min 42secs and 21min 49secs for 28th and 30th spots. Two of the club's senior ladies took part, Cecilia Fitzimons ran 39min 0secs for the 8km course to finish 119th and Janet Holmes 43min 53secs for 159th. Once again the club turned out a full senior mens team for their event held over 12km. Gareth Moore showed that he had recovered from his recent sickness to be the club's first finisher in 205th place and a time of 44min 10secs. Barry Graney used his strength to good effect to finish well ahead of Andy O'Connor with times of 45min 52secs and 46min 27secs and places of 275th and 306th. Tony Davies was another runner coming back after sickness and he did well to finish in 337th place with a time of 47min 22secs. The consistent Andy Boyack and Gary Freeman completed the team count finishing 415th and 480th in 49min 23secs and 53min 14secs. Also running were John Irwin, 57min 49secs for 521st and Alan Davies.

Conditions were very different for the Northern Counties Indoor Athletic Championships held in the excellent facilities at the Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield. here two of the club's leading sprinters used the championships to assess their current form. Louise Styles competing in the under 17 years girls group did well to take fourth place in her speciality event the 60 metres hurdles with a time of 9.77secs. Running in the flat 60 metres race she recorded 8.80secs for third place in one of the heats. Senior sprinter Gary Baines ran a personal best time in his heat of the 60 metres men's race of 7.22secs to progress to the semi-final stage where a poor start saw him slow to 7.25secs and be eliminated.

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