East Cornwall Harriers' Senior Ladies captured the team title at Sunday's Cornwall Cross Country Championships in Redruth.
The team of three, Revis Crowle, Sharon Dawe and Alison Martin, have now been chosen to represent Cornwall at the Inter County Championships in Nottingham on February 9.
Held in unseasonably mild conditions at Redruth, the championships had a total of ten individual and eight team titles up for grabs.
Sadly the competition failed to attract many runners, with only 105 finishers in ten age groups, less than half the number of runners in almost any Cornish road race these days.
Ollie Shilston (Cornwall AC), a former England Junior Cross Country International, brought a touch of class to the Senior 8K event, romping home well clear of his nearest challenger, club mate Tony Dunn.
In the same race Phil Tugwell (Cornwall AC) won the Under 20 title and Cornwall Athletic Club were comfortable winners of the team championship.
The Senior Ladies 5K race, incorporating the Under 17 and Under 20 events, was won by one of the youngest runners in the field, 17-year-old Danielle Cross (Newquay Par AC).
Danielle beat one of the county's leading veterans Revis Crowle into second place.
This proved to be the second part of a successful family double, with younger sister Leanne earlier in the day lifting the Under 15 title.
Jason Long (Newquay Par AC) prevented a clean sweep of the five individual male titles by Cornwall AC runners, coming off best in an exciting race long dual with Cornwall's Robbie Dale. Jason edged ahead on the final circuit to win by ten seconds, the day's closest winning margin.
Jordan West produced a powerful display of front running in his Under 13 race. The Cornwall runner was clear after 200 metres and determined not to be caught. His main aim was to put as much daylight as possible between himself and his pursuers and this he did most effectively, although team mate Tom Graver never gave up the chase in second place.
Dani Perks (Penair School) produced a dominant win in the Girls Under 13 event after the county's leading under 13, Abbie Williamson (Truro High School), was forced to pull out through sickness. Dani moved relentlessly on, cruising to a well earned victory and leading her school team to the first of their two team titles.
Most of the spectators had left the course when a rejuvenated Shane Retallack set off in the Under 17 6K race.
With no-one intent on taking the early initiative, Shane was content to follow the leaders until, sensing a drop in the pace, he forged on, building a winning lead and showing his best form for some time.
Results - Senior Men: Oliver Shilston CAC 27:18; Tony Dunn CAC 29:03; Raymond Rogers V40 NP 29:36; Simon Fisher CAC 30:14; Chris West CR 30:28; Tony Wright NP 30:38; Chris Martin V45 SWV 30:39; Paul Chesterfield CAC 30:56; Warren Jeffries CR 31:06; Keith Penuluna CR 31:46. Teams: Cornwall AC 15pts; Carn Runners 36; Newquay Par AC 44.
Under 20 Men: Philip Tugwell CAC 31:42; Jay Patterson LISK 39:42.
Under 17 Boys: Shane Retallack CAC 21:39; Simon Julian NP 22:22; Jack Foulsham BS 22:31; Robert Foster LAC 22:59; Nicholas Hawke NP 23:11; James Oakley PEN 23:30.
Under 15 Boys: Jason Long NP 16:46; Robbie Dale CAC 16:56; Dean Retallack CAC 17:22; David Wall CAC 17:28; Chris Stark PEN 18:11; Damon Grose CAC 19:30. Teams: Cornwall AC 15pts; Penair School 35.
Under 13 Boys: Jordon West CAC 10:51; Tom Graver CAC 11;38; James Ross-Harris LISK 11:52; Stephen Johnson PEN 11:59; Ben Read CAC 12:07; James Rowett NP 12:16; Teams: Cornwall AC 15pts; Penair School 32.
Senior Ladies: Revis Crowle V35 ECH 19:53; Charlotte Renecle CR 20:24; Clare Baxter CR 20:49; Sharon Daw V35 ECH 20:56; Lesley Richardson V40 NP 21:02; Barbara Lock V45 CAC 21:35. Teams: East Cornwall Harriers 15pts; Carn Runners 21; Newquay Par AC 29.
Under 20 Women: Tessa Williamson NP 24:57. Under 17 Girls: Danielle Cross NP 19:39; Hannah Gethan CAC 22:29. Under 15 Girls: Leanne Cross NP 15:38; Joanne Solomon PEN 15:56; Melissa Gammons THS 17:07; Rebecca Turner PEN 17:13; Emily Young-Jameson THS 17:22; Katie Law CAC 17:31. Teams: Penair School 15pts; Truro High School 16.
Under 13 Girls: Dani Perks PEN 11:33; Katie Maddever CAC 11:58; Elaina Guard PEN 12:22; Jasmin Hicks NP 12:27; Katie Knowles CAC 12;35; Laurel Callender NP 12:42. Teams: Penair School 11pts; Newquay Par AC 21; Truro High School 34.
Teams: CAC Cornwall AC; CR Carn Runners; BS Brymore School; LAC Launceston AC; LISK Liskeard Community School; NP Newquay Par AC; PEN Penair School Truro; ECH East Cornwall Harriers; THS Truro High School; SWV South West Vets.
IF YOU'VE made a New Year's Resolution to get fit and into shape for 2002, then East Cornwall Harriers could offer a solution.
Even if you are a complete beginner sessions held on Tuesdays and Thursdays will gradually increase your ability and improvements will become noticeable as the sessions get easier and the distances you can run get longer.
After a nice break now is the perfect time to set targets such as particular races to focus on to help your training and keep up your enthusiasm on wet dark January nights.
While most of us have been eating left over Christmas cake and chocolates, plenty of ECH runners have been busy taking part in races.
The Last Chance 10K at Exeter saw good running weather and there were a record number of 400 entries.
East Cornwall Harriers had seven runners, four of whom achieved personnel bests times for the distance.
Revis Crowle was first Harrier home and third lady in a time of 38:59 which was a personal best (PB). Mike Erith came in with a time of 41:01 in 87th position overall. Anton Luiten had a PB and finished in 42:32 followed closely by John McKinley, again with a PB in 42:43. Amanda Erith had a good run finishing in 47:18 as well as Andrea Smyth who achieved a PB in 52:25 and Hilda McKinley in 54:01.
Liskeard School and Community College entered the Cornwall County Cross Country Championships for the first time. Despite this being a new venture all the runners performed admirably well against some very stiff competition.
In the U13 boys race James Ross-Harris was third after an impressive run despite it being his first time in this age category.
Simon Edwards 12th and Karl Gross 15th also ran well putting up a good fight against other more experienced runners.
In the U13 girls race Martha Sneyd and Kizzy Kendle both successfully completed the course in good times with fantastic determination. Kizzy at 11 is young for the category but did very well.
The U15 girls race was over a slightly longer course, which Autumn Hughes completed successfully in a respectable 14th place after a brilliant run.
In the U20 Boys race Jay Patterson, who also runs for East Cornwall Harriers, had a fantastic finish on what was a longer and harder run.
Several events are coming up including the Blaythorne 10m at Camborne on January 20, and the Cornwall County Schools Cross Country event on Monday January 21.
On Sunday January 13 and 20 Newquay Roadrunners have organised a run along the Camel Trail for anybody interested.
These sessions are intended as training runs but any runners are welcome who would enjoy a 12.5-13 mile run on a Sunday morning leaving from Dunmere, near Bodmin on the Wadebridge road at 9.30am. The trail is flat and traffic free, passing through woods in the Wenford area making it quite scenic.
Being a social event everyone will run together for the first 15 minutes and there will be the opportunity to recover with food and beer at the Borough Arms, which is next door to the car park.
Normal ECH training sessions also take place on Tuesdays and Thursday at 6.30pm from Lux Park Leisure Centre. All are welcome.
Members of the Tamar Trotters Running Club kept on running over the festive period despite the lack of formal races.
The annual 'Turkey Trot', involving the art of running while being able to drink in a number of Saltash public houses and singing carols en route helped to raise over £80 for St. John Ambulance.
Another fund raising event was Saltash's 25th annual pram race. Winners this year came from Saltash rugby club – closely followed by teams from the Trotters. A total of £800 was donated to Katie Oliver from St. Clear.
The Exeter Last Chance 10K saw Dinah Cheverton third lady home in a time of 38 mins 39 secs – she was also the first Tamar Trotter to finish, narrowly beating fellow runner Paul Wilsmore by two seconds.
Another notable performance came from Pauline O'Reilly who finished a very creditable second in her age category.
This was also a good race for junior club runners. Twins Michael and Paul Wilsmore (16) finished 62nd and 146th with times of 39.22 and 44.04 respectively.
Adam Stiff (15) was close on dad Kevin's heels, finishing in 177th place (46:56).
Laura-Louise O'Reilly (15), competing in her first race over the distance, finished in a very worthy 53:54.