MARK Kinch led the Warrington athletes home on a testing Heaton Park course in the North of England Cross Country Championships.

The Padgate man clocked 39mins 29secs over the 12k distance for 23rd spot.

Les Brookman led Warrington Athletic Club's senior men's team home in 21st position, while Paul Boileau did the same for Spectrum Striders as they finished 41st.

Warrington AC: 120th, L. Brookman, 42.54; 155, J. Crehan, 43.33; 199, J. Hey, 44.28; 210, S. Burthem, 44.22; 332, T. Oakes, 46.45; 414, N. Stephens, 47.55; 707, L. Williams 52.50, 807, D. Spencer, 56.00; 903, G. Settle, 65.07.

Spectrum Striders: 164, P. Boileau, 43.45; 282, M. Ward, 45.52; 324, I. Pudge, 46.40; 459, M. Livingston, 48.38; 461, A. Mcarthy, 48.40; 519, I. Pudge, 49.30; 597, J. Spencer, 50.40; 664, P. Doherty, 51.48; 680, A. Garnett, 52.13; 781, B. Tuohey, 55.12; 794, A. Peers, 55.29; 820, A. Couper, 56.29.

Warrington Athletics Club were strongly represented in the women's section.

In the senior 8,000m race Jane Burtham had an excellent run in a high class field to finish 49th in 33mins.

Gill Stevens, 145th in 38mins, Geraldine Taylor, 159th in 38.36 and Gill Cullen 258th in 44.34 completed the team which finished 24th overall.

Paula Whitney was the club's only junior woman and finished 21st in 20.49.

In the under 13 girls' 3,000 metre race, Kimberley Roach continued her good form to finish 55th.

The quality of the field can be judged by the fact that the next Warrington runner in, Jody Ormerod, was only 20 seconds behind Kimberley but 33 places back in 88th place.

Claire Drewery, 112th, Jane Hinkins, 156th and Dawn Makin, 161st, completed Warrington's team which finished 14th.

The under 15 girls' team was weakened by illness but ran well over the 4,000m course.

Gemma Flannery produced one of her best races for some time finishing 82nd. Jenny Smith was 105th, Kelly Rudd, 168th and Claire Irons, 176th to give a team place of 23rd.

The under 17 girls were represented by Katie Brennan who completed the 5,000 metres in 21mins 42secs for 41st place. Lyndsey Harrison was 95th and Rebecca Moore, 98th.

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