Marr and Pugh celebrate Herefordshire Cross Country League titles (From Hereford Times)

Marr and Pugh celebrate Herefordshire Cross Country League titles

8:00am Wednesday 17th March 2010 in

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BUILTH & District Runners’ Jon Pugh and Wye Valley Runners’ Susan Marr were crowned league individual champions after the final race in the 2009/2010 Herefordshire Cross Country League season at Presteigne.

On a testing, muddy and hilly woodland course with lots of steep climbs and tricky descents to challenge the hardy runners, Wye Valley Runners and Hereford Couriers clinched the respective men’s and women’s team titles.

In the men’s race, over 6.8 miles, Pugh took control of the race on the first steep ascent and continued to extend his lead.

He was competing in his first season in the Herefordshire League, having previously excelled as a multi-Welsh champion mountain biker.

Pugh built a commanding lead and looked very relaxed as he crossed the finish line to win the race by the big margin of 1 min 20 secs.

This was his fourth emphatic win of the series and he was later presented with the winner’s trophy as a worthy champion.

Tim Clarke of Hereford Couriers and John Pullen of Wye Valley Runners continued their series-long battle of the veterans with Clarke finally prevailing to finish in second place. His success brought him the over-40 medal.

Pullen led his Wye Valley team to their fourth victory in the series as he was well supported by Luke Mason in fifth, Mike Fawcett in eighth and Christian Jones in 11th.

Couriers finished second team on the day thanks to Clarke’s second place, youngster Eliot Taylor in 10th, Mike Link 13th and Neil Lewis 24th.

Ledbury & District Harriers finished in third place with Cliff Berry in seventh place, Barry Thompson 17th, Chris Ford 18th and Steve Rooke 22nd.

These three teams also took the honours in the battle for the league title with Wye Valley being crowned champions for the second successive season with Couriers as runners-up and Ledbury celebrating their first top-three placing.

In the women’s race over 4.25 miles of the same course, Hereford & County AC’s talented youngster Clara Evans sped away from the gun to establish a clear lead.

Unfortunately she took a wrong turning and lost her lead but retraced her steps, kept a clear head and determinedly overhauled Susan Marr.

Evans continued to relentlessly extend her advantage and eventually claim a resounding victory by more than 40 seconds.

Wye Valley’s Marr continued her good form to finish in second place a minute clear of Croft Ambrey RC’s Welsh Masters international Susan Davies.

Hereford Couriers continued their team domination with a clean sweep of wins throughout the five-race series with the consistent Alison Cooke in fifth place followed closely by Amy Carwardine and Nikki Edwards in 7th and 8th.

Wye Valley finished just two points adrift thanks to Marr’s second place, with strong support from Tracey Edwards in ninth and Kylie Mansfield 11th.

Croft Ambrey finished third team with Sue Davies backed by best-ever league positions from Liza Austin in 13th and Rachel Nelson 15th.

Marr’s outstanding performances throughout the series won her the individual women’s title.

Marr considers herself to be a road runner and this was her first attempt at tackling cross country with the added difficulty of the notoriously hilly and challenging Herefordshire courses.

Hereford Couriers won the women’s team title for the fifth successive year and for the eighth time in the last 10 years as they maintained a tight grip on the trophy.

Wye Valley finished a clear second overall with an exuberant Hereford Triathlon Club taking the third-team trophy.

Medals were awarded to the first three runners in each age group based on the best four positions in the five league races with Pugh, Ledbury’s Cliff Berry, Croft Ambrey’s Guy Whitmarsh, Wye Valley’s Harry Franklin and Hereford & County’s Daniel Cox all going through the season undefeated in the men’s events.

Carwardine, Davies, Marr, Couriers’ Jayne Littlewood, Rhayader AC’s Nondus Banning-Boddy and Wye Valley’s Christine Motteram and Clara Evans recorded the same dominance in the female categories.

The next event on the Herefordshire League calendar will be the relay championships which will be held at Westhope on May 5 with the four-race Summer Off-Road League starting in June.