Shrewsbury Athletic Club brought their North Wales Cross Country League season to a memorable conclusion at Oswestry on Saturday, with the Men's team crowned 1^st Division Champions for the third consecutive year. With all the team scorers in the top 20 places, the side was led home by Matt Hall in 3^rd place, having had his best ever season in the League, Paul Jones followed in 6^th place, Pete Middleton 10^th, Dan Elliot 15^th and team scorer in his debut League race for the Club, cross country captain Luke Butler 17^th and Simon Adney 20^th. There were individual successes for the Series, with Matt Hall 2^nd Senior Man, Paul Jones 1^st Veteran Over 45, Kevin Francis 1^st Veteran Over 50 and Pete Savill 1^st Veteran Over 60. The Men's Masters team won the Masters Series.

The Women's team, depleted through illness and injury put in a brave performance, but 7^th position on the day meant that they will be competing in Division 2 next season. Individual successes for the Series went to Sara Willhoit, 2^nd Senior Lady and Gill Evans 2^nd Lady Veteran Over 55.

Oswestry XC Results:

Men: 3 Matt Hall 37/35, 6 Paul Jones 39/03, 10 Pete Middleton 39/48, 15 Dan Elliot 40/53, 17 Luke Butler 40/59, 20 Simon Adney 41/21, 25 Robert Fox 41/36, 35 Paulo Pinheiro 43/14, 42 Graham Jones 43/44, 48 Andy Birch 44/12, 51 Stewart Farley 44/19, 73 Pete Savill 46/40, 76 Haydn Jones 46/45, 93 Mike Thomas 49/13, 107 Andy Lewis 51/24. Women: 8 Sara Willhoit 24/54, 47 Gill Evans 29/31, 84 Sheila Richards 45/14.

The Club's junior runners were in action earlier in the day at the same venue at the Shropshire Schools Cross Country Championships, with successes for Lydia Carter, 1^st Senior Girl, Adam Edwards 2^nd Junior Boy, Jess Gunner, 6^th Intermediate Girl and Iris Downes 3^rd Junior Girl, thus qualifying for the English Schools Cross Country Championships at Leeds next month. There were good performances by Alfie Dean, Jack Beard, Izzy Boden and Joe Gilling.

Matt Hall finished 34^th in 45/02 in the Midland Counties Cross Country Championships at Nottingham.

There were some notable performances by Club runners at the Alsager 5 Mile Road Race in Staffordshire, with personal best times for James Hickinbottom, 22^nd in 26/43 and Carl Aveyard, 55^th in 28/51. Kevin Francis finished 90^th and 2^nd Veteran Over 50 in 30/37 and Richard Jones 110^th in 31/25.

The Club's popular Eastridge Trail Half Race, a race of approximately 13 miles and 2324 feet of ascent around the Eastridge Woods and Stiperstones Hills, which is being staged for the 5^th year on Saturday 7^th July 2018, starting at 10.30am, will this year, for the first time include the Trail 5 Race, following the first 5.3 miles of the Trail Half route with 1073 feet of ascent and starting at 10.00am. Online entries are available at www.runbritain.com and postal entries will be available soon at www.shrewsburyac.org.uk. The first 100 entries will receive a free gift.

Photo:

Back L to R: James Hickinbottom, Paul Jones, Andy Lewis, Connor Middleton, Matt Hall, Luke Butler, Pete Savill, Haydn Jones, Stewart Farley, Steve Waters, Paulo Pinheiro, Robert Fox.

Front L to R: Dan Elliot, Tony Scales, Graham Jones, Gill Evans, Kevin Francis, Sara Willhoit, Anne Byrne, Derek Owen, Sheila Richards.