In the under-17 and under-20 ladies’ race Amie Bagnall, who is in the North Wales team for the UK inter-counties championships next week, finished 19th. Despite the test ing course she managed to produce a sprint finish to hold off the challenge of a fast-finishing Deeside rival.

Callum Smith, who is still very new to the sport, again showed great maturity in his run, refusing to be daunted by a high-quality field in the under-17s’ race. He, too, displayed determination and finished strongly in 21st place.

Katie Parry from Rhyl, who was a member of the club as a junior but now runs for Valley Striders in Leeds, impressed everyone in finishing third in last month’s North Wales championships and she was in great form again at Northop. In another quality field in the senior women’s race she finished 10th overall, finishing strong enough to keep ahead of Eryri’s Andrea Rowlands, who pipped her in Corwen

 

The very senior club representative present was Roger Harrison-Jones, who was not competing but was one of the “celebrities” invited to the meeting by Welsh Athletics in recognition of his performances in the past. Roger made five international cross-country appearances between 1959 and 1964.

 

 

The current placings are: Glenda Davies 257 points from 19 races, George Nicholls 200/20, Des Davies 152/16, Steve Hatfield 136/18, Dean Longley 99/8, Eleri Goddard 97/14, Gay Waring 90/9, Phil Jones 89/12, Arwel Jones 89/15, Neil Owen 84/9, Amie Bagnall 78/9, Groff Owens 77/6, Matt Anwyl 74/7, Oliver Harrison-Jones 73/7, Shelly Ward 68/7, Brenda Tiedtke 67/9, George Nixon 65/10, John Hughes-Roberts 64/12, Eleri Jones 60/10.

The three remaining races are this weekend’s Village Bakery half-marathon in Wrexham and the Border League fixtures on March 13 and 27.

Members are reminded that the annual meeting will be at the Offa’s Tavern on March 25th and the annual social and prizegiving at Meliden Golf Club on April 2. Tickets for the social will be available soon.

With only three races remaining in the club’s Grand Prix captain Glenda Davies look odds-on favourite to retain her title, with a massive 57-point lead over previous winner George Nicholls.