RUNNERS were greeted with ankle-deep puddles, challenging climbs and daunting descents at the Cheshire Cross Country Championships on Saturday.

Clubs from the Chester area were well represented at Forest Park in Warrington and plenty of local athletes went home with medals.

Dave Alexander steered West Cheshire AC home to team silver.

He headed the club’s veteran men’s charge to success after finishing 11th overall and third in the over-40 men’s age group. He was the fourth veteran finisher overall with a time of 42 minutes and six seconds for the 9.6km course.

Alexander was backed up by Andrew Clague (12th veteran and 23rd overall in 45:13), Dave Tiernan (27th veteran and 44th overall in 48:02) and Max Woods (45th veteran and 73rd overall in 51:32).

Other West Cheshire AC finishers included Joe Foy (104th in 57:10) and Dave Hough (108th in 58:00).

At the other end of the age spectrum, West Cheshire’s under 11 boys trio of Josh Hinchly, Joseph Morrison and Robert Evan teamed up for silver medals.

Hinchly finished third overall after covering the 1.6km course in a time of 7:22, and he headed Morrison (ninth in 7:43) and Evan (10th in 7:46) to earn the team’s place on the medal rostrum.

Jac Goodall (15th in 8:23), Bradley Cameron (16th in 8:24) and Thomas Harrop (28th in 9:11) claimed West Cheshire AC sixth team position, and Ewan Hearn finished 29th in 9:14.

Amy Hinchly claimed a bronze medal after posting 15:14 for third position in the U13 girls race, supported by Megan McEveley (ninth in 16:45).

Mark Lathom clocked 14:52 for eighth place in the U13 boys race, ahead of West Cheshire team-mates Chris Harrop (12th in 15:02), and Elijah Montez-Brown (20th in 15:48) to earn the club fourth team position, ahead of other finisher Cameron Weaver (22nd in 16:08).

Beth McMahon finished 23rd with a time of 10:39 in the U11 girls race and sister Ellen was 24th in the U15 girls race with a time of 21:30, while Mark Hearn was 22nd in 19:30 in the U15 boys event.

Laura Bestow finished 11th in the women’s race after clocking 40:18, ahead of Sacha Kendall-Woods (fourth over-40 veteran and 31st overall in 48:29) and Lisa Ayling (sixth over-35 veteran and 35th overall in 52:00).

Chester-based triathlon ace Oly Stanley, representing Loughborough Students, claimed 10th spot in the main race in 42:04, while Simon Ellis (24th in 45:15) was the first member of Tattenhall Runners to cross the finish line.

Helsby Running Club’s Adair Broughton was 26th in 45:37.

Northwich club Vale Royal AC provided the second and third-placed runners – Tom Carter (39:36) and Chris Perry (39:41) – but they were unable to catch winner Daniel Cliffe (Warrington AC, 38:55).

County titles and representative honours will be at stake this Saturday at the Cheshire Schools Cross-Country Championships to be held at Wade Deacon High School and Sts Peter and Paul Catholic Sports College in Widnes.

There are eight races from 11am to 1pm.