VALE Royal AC athletes enjoyed a good day at the first round of the North Staffs Cross-Country League at Newcastle.

In the senior men's race, run over six-and-a-half miles, Simon Ruscoe was in contention throughout before eventually finishing in second place, 100 metres behind the Dutch international winner.

Richard Godden finished 10th, Kenneth Moss 11th and John Kettle 22nd.

In the senior ladies' race, Bethan Patchett was 22nd and Maggie Davenport 75th.

George Thompson finished fifth in the under-17 boys' race, while David Mason was seventh among the under-13 boys.

The under-13 girls' event saw Hannah Rugen finish 10th and Joanna Nugent 11th, while in the under-15 girls, Hartford High School's Fiona Rudkin managed an excellent third place in a high-quality field.

Vale Royal athletes were also in action in the Deeside Cross-Country League, where the impressive Holly Knight, a Cuddington County Primary School pupil, stormed to victory in the under-11 girls' race.

Club coach Sean McGrath said: "Holly went away at the start and that was the last anyone saw of her. She's a stunningly fast girl and she won the race by miles."

Abbie Lapworth was sixth and Diane Lapworth seventh.

In the under-13 girls' event, Amy Neze was third.

Elsewhere, Dave Hanson recorded a time of 3 hrs 5 mins in the Manchester Marathon, while in the Great North Run, Rachel Barlow clocked 1 hr 57 mins in what was her first half-marathon.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.