After two cancellations due to storms and COVID 19 the third fixture of the North Wales Cross Country league took place in Oswestry on Saturday. The league which includes all the North Wales clubs also has participation from big English border clubs from Shoprshire and Cheshire too. This venue traditionally offers everything an old fashioned cross country course should and it didn’t disappoint. In addition to the expected hills, uneven terrain and mud the unrelenting rain and wind made it more of a challenge than previous years. In the women’s race over 3 miles Denbigh Harriers had 6 participants with the first four finishers counting towards the final results. Eleanor Ashcroft in her first race in Denbigh colours provided a strong performance in the conditions to finish in an impressive 13th. The ever improving Katy Baugh was close behind in 16th followed by Mel Morris in 20th. The final counter was Emma Collins who also finished as 1st female 55. The team was well backed up by Elen Baugh in 42nd and Menai Baugh in 70th finishing before many of the opposition team’s counters and therefore improving their team’s performance on the day. This resulted in the women finishing in 2nd place in division 1 for the fixture and overall in a strong 3rd place. The over 65 men run the same course as the women and Fred Jones finished in an excellent 10th with Jeff Jones in in 18th.
The mens’s team ran a course of over 5 miles which had been cut up quite badly by the time they ran the race resulting in some falls in the slippy and boggy conditions. Shaun Hughes showed that his modified training has paid off with a tremendous 12th position which interestingly made him the 4th Welshman in the field. Next home was Tony Wood in 20th relishing the hills and mud with Dan Jones in 21st hot on his heels. The improving Aron Evans had a strong run finishing in 53rd folllowed by Joe Welsh, returning to fitness in 63rd. The last counter was Owen Conry in 70th backed up by David Baugh in 87th and Dave Davies who celebrated his return to the club by deciding to dive head first into one of the boggy patches. This good result meant that the men finished in 6th moving them out of the relegation zone in division 1.
Women
13th Eleanor Ashcroft 21.28
16th Katy Baugh 22.08
20th Mel Morris 22.20
31st Emma Collins 23.00
42nd Elen Baugh 23.53
70th Menai Baugh 27.59
Over 65 Men
10th Fred Jones 26.08
18th Jeff Jones 29.18
Men
12th Shaun Hughes 34.08
20th Tony Wood 35.33
21st Dan Jones 35.52
53rd Aron Evans 39.06
63rd Joe Welch 39.59
70th Owen Conry 40.55
87th David Baugh 43.07
91st David Davies 43.33
Parkrun results
Kingston
87 Sian Pritchard 25:43
Lyme Park
45 Alys Griffiths 26:31
46 Sioned Griffiths 26:33
Conwy
46 Simon Nixon 23:38
Prestatyn
6 Phillip Hayes 22:34
14 Tony Benton 24:21
