WEST Cheshire AC's men capitalised on home advantage - and hauled themselves out of the relegation zone - by finishing second at the fourth round of the Borders Road Running League held at Christleton.
Graham Jenkins steered the purple-vested squad home on Sunday, finishing 22nd with a time of 34 minutes 28 seconds for the six-mile course through country lanes and off-road tracks.
He was followed home by Gary Roberts who secured 23rd position with a time of 34:31, ahead of Russell Kirk (33rd in 34:57), Dave Tiernan (34th in 35:06), Andrew Clague
(35th in 35:08), Graham Earlam (36th in 35:15) and Gary Withers (37th in 35:20).
Chris Rhodes (81st in 36:08), Andy Hickmott (96th in 36:52), and Barry Gardner (97th in 36:52) completed the club's scoring team who finished in second place on the day and are now fifth in the seven-club Division One table.
Charlotte Roach pointed the West Cheshire women's squad home, finishing third lady in 36:16, ahead of Mieke Vanesste (18th in 41:48), Lisa Davies (27th in 44:02) and Liz Stott (44th in 47:28) to earn the team sixth spot on the day.
Other West Cheshire ladies to finish included Miriam Lamb (54th in 49:31), Jayne Noble (66th in 52:59) and Mary Radford (69th in 54:35).
Tattenhall Runners were also out in force at Sunday's race and their men's and ladies' teams team ended the day third in Division Two and Division One respectively.
Peter Benyon led Tattenhall home, finishing 16th in 33:45, while Mark Smith was next (65th in 37:21).
The first Tattenhall lady finisher was Sarah Hammond (68th in 37.29, fifth lady over-all) and she was followed home by clubmates Andrew Payne (71st in 37:43), Justin Realff (77th in 37.59), Steve Hammond (86th in 38.29), Dave Sykes (108th in 39.10), Alison Smith (109th in 39.17),
Mike Whiteside (111th in 39.28), Mike McCorkell (166th in 42:42), Rob Webster (167th in 42:43), Amanda Davies (168th in 42.58), Dave Clarke (179th in 43:48), Jo Jord (180th in 43.51), Matt Bardell (182nd in 43:56), Owain Williams (186th in 44:12), Marjolein van Kralingen (190th in 44:50), Cath Jones (202nd in 45:55), Geoff Cornfield (211th in 47:05), Ian Simpson (215th in 47:15), Dave Carnelley (230th in 48:41), Martin Hilton (240th in 50:08), Sharon Basford (254th in 51:25) and Lesley Clague (265th in 62:02).
For Helsby Running Club, the ladies team of Kathryn Roberts (8th in 38:22), Holly Taylor (12th in 39:47), Helen Dawkins (14th in 40:27) and Carol Shaw (20th in 42:27) came second in Division One.
In the men's race, Helsby's Richard Mitchell came 60th in 37:21, Adair Broughton 64th in 37:42, Graham Lowe 87th in 38:47, Mike Searle 105th in 39:42, Phil Gillard 126th in 41:09, Andy Smith 131st in 41:51, Ian Hilditch in 162nd in 45:13, Mick Charman in 189th in 50:50 and Joe Beswick in 191st in 53:10
Steve Crowe from Ellesmere Port Running Club won the race in 31:35, well clear of runner-up Brendan Rothery (Eryri), who posted 31:55.
Helen Lawrence, of Wirral AC, won the ladies race in 33:35, ahead of Wrexham AC's Emma Parry, second in 35:31.
