2 articles - last week's was not published. TATTENHALL RUNNERS Doctor Durrant demonstrates his durability Cheshire Cross-Country Championships, 13 Feb At the Cheshire Championships, held at Reaseheath on Saturday, Tattenhall had hoped for a good club turn out but, because of injuries and other reasons, only 5 men and one lady mud lark tackled the course. Sue Ellis was a little lonely during her 7.7 km trog but, as usual, she acquitted herself well in 24th place in 38:14. In the 11.6 km men’s race Rob Dunn was the star performer with a marvellous time of 40:19 and a 19th place finish. Simon Ellis wasn’t far adrift in 36th and there was the usual midfield dogfight between Nick Holmes and Steve Hammond, Nick coming out ahead this time in 78th place to Steve’s 81st with only 25 secs between the pair. ‘Doc’ Martin Durrant completed the Tattenhall contingent in 51:32 and 96th place and his efforts meant the club’s 4 veterans finished in 10th place overall. Border League, Abergele, 14 Feb There was another slightly disappointing turn out for the Border League fixture at Abergele on Sunday, a legacy of Valentines Day and the distance involved perhaps but the non-romantics who made the trip had a fairly flat 5 mile course to deal with in not-so-bad weather (for North Wales). Leading the way home, as usual, for the ladies was Marilyn Kitching in 1st place overall in exactly 29 mins and there were 2 other top 10 finishers – Jo Marsden was 4th in 31:59 and Alison Smith, with a PB, was 9th in 33:37. Completing the scoring for the club was Kath Stott in 27th and there were solid back-up performances from Grace Hart in 39th and Sharon Basford in 48th. All this meant that the ladies won this particular fixture and stand 2nd overall after 3 rounds. For the men the ever-improving Andrew Sudlow covered the distance in only 29:24 to finish 31st and he was followed in by a resurgent road race captain, Andy Blair, in 82nd and 32:38. Mark Smith, missing the hills, was 94th in 33:12 and Dave Oldfield was 4th counter for Tattenhall in 106th place. The final 3 scorers for the club were Alistair McAuliffe in 141st and 36:50, Martin Durrant, still aching from his heroic efforts of the previous day, in 142nd only 5 seconds adrift, and Steve Hornby 154th in 40 mins dead. Nick Watkins was going well but, unfortunately, could not finish the course due to an ankle injury which we hope will soon clear up. The men’s team ended up 3rd of the Division 2 teams on the day and now lie 4th from 8 with 3 fixtures remaining. TATTENHALL RUNNERS Smiths seek solace in southern sojourn: Far-sighted Tattenhall Runners couple Alison and Mark Smith, anticipating the cancellation of the Wrexham Bakery Half Marathon and another humiliating defeat in the annual club quiz, opted instead for a long trip down to the Brighton Half Marathon on Sun 21 Feb. On a wet and windy day on the south coast and in a field of over 6000 runners both ran well, Mark finishing 529th in 1:34:44 and Alison, hot on his heels, 600th in 1:35:50.

Master of the alliterative headline! good stuff Dave

Right well written! And you remembered where the BL race was!

I know it's late but i was there in Brighton with my nephew supporting Alison & Mark. It's a race i've done for the last 5 years but my calf is still not right so couldn't take part this year..... Very wet & windy especially when you are running right by the beach with a head wind. William & I got soaked whilst cheering them on at certain points.