ATHLETICS: WEST Cheshire AC youngsters demonstrated their strength and stamina in wet and muddy conditions in the first round of the West Cheshire AC open junior cross country series at Whitby Park, Ellesmere Port, last weekend.

Bradley Edwards, Abbie Noble, Michael Lyness, Georgina Wright, Tom Lowndes, and Rebecca Grimes all secured success in their age group races.

But Neston Primary pupil Alex White showed the way home in the opening race with a fine win in the Under 9s event.

She rounded the 800m lap in a time of four minutes 10 seconds, finishing six seconds clear of Harry Ellis, from Woodfall Lane Primary, with West Cheshire AC's Lucy Earl next home in a time of 4:20, and Rosie Bancroft (West Cheshire AC), securing the bronze medal in the girls' race in 4:31.

Bradley Edwards enjoyed a gun to tape victory to earn his gold medal in the Under 11s boys competition in six minutes 38 seconds, beating Joe Wynne, of Wrexham AC, who clocked 6:51, and Chris Potter, of Halton and Frodsham AC, who posted 6:55.

Abbie Noble spearheaded a West Cheshire AC one-two-three in the Under 11s girls race, finishing in seven minutes 42 seconds, ahead of Alice Jennings in 7:45 and Danielle Street, who clocked 8:11.

Michael Lyness fought out a close contest in the Under 13s boys event and had to literally throw himself over the finishing line to beat Ellesmere Port Catholic High School pupil, Callum Freeman.

Both boys were credited with the same time of 12 minutes 36 seconds for the 1.5 mile race and Whitby High pupil David Sparks finished third with 11:01.

Georgina Wright controlled the Under 13s girls race from lap one and won in 10 minutes 34 seconds, ahead of West Cheshire AC colleague Laura Stott, who posted 11:02, and Deeside AAC's Ruth Denholm in 11:08.

Tom Lowndes dominated the Under 15s boys race with a winning time of 13 minutes 39 seconds for a two-mile course, ahead of Deeside's Michael Hopwood in 14:31 and Alan Littler, of West Cheshire AC, in 12:24.

Rebecca Grimes also took an early hold in the Under 15s girls race over the same distance. The West Cheshire AC member scored a 14 minutes 28 seconds victory to beat Deeside AAC duo Hannah Daly and Hannah Robb who posted times of 14:56 and 16:08, respectively.

The second round takes place tomorrow at Whitby Park, Ellesmere Port (10am start). Further details from Dennis Wall, on 0151 201 1254 (evenings).

West Cheshire cross country duo Charlotte Roach and Kerry Riley competed for Cheshire schools at Coventry last weekend and both secured fourth counting positions in their respective Under 17s and Under 15s age groups.

Hannah Pierre-Louis, Danielle Erskine, Abbie Noble, Rhiannon Finnigan-Jones, and Jenny Potter, of West Cheshire AC, pushed their county sportshall team to victory against Merseyside, St Helens, Knowsley, Wirral, Greater Manchester, Liverpool, and Lancashire, on Sunday, at Wigan.

The West Cheshire AC trio of Sam Pierre-Louis, Bradley Edwards, and Tom Deponeo hoisted their Cheshire team to third position on the day.

Fixtures this weekend include the third round of the Borders Road Running League at Caernarfon, (11am start).

West Cheshire AC will hold their annual meeting at the EPIC Leisure Centre's Park Suite today (7.30pm start).

Guest runner Andrew Clague clinched a hat-trick of victories in the Tattenhall closed cross country race around Bickerton Hill in 23 minutes 25 seconds, nine seconds faster than last year.

Ian Lancaster was the first Tattenhall Runners' member home and leads the championship series with a time of 23:45 followed by Nick Holmes in 26:39, Matt Treby in 27:22, Dave Ratcliffe 28:10, Greg Berti 29:58, Geoff Cornfield 32:21 and Derek Clague 35:47.

The women's race was won by Alison Smith for the second year in a row in 22:09 from Sue Ellis 22:17, Caroline Howard 22:37, Sandra Owen 23:39, Tessa Swaine 26:19 and Lesley Clague 31:02.

Peter Avery led Tattenhall's contingent in the Llandudno 10-mile race in one hour 12 minutes. Helen Lester and Sarah Atkinson had a dead heat in 1:13:48, while there were debuts over the distance for Laynie Stothart-Wilde in 1:14:56 and Peter Maddock in 1:21:00.