Oswestry's Marches School hosted the final race in the North Wales Senior Cross Country League calendar for 2023.

The weather conditions were perfect, staying dry throughout and there was a great turnout overall, with 14 men and 14 women completing the course for the club.

Tom Heard raced home securing 9th place overall and first place in the M40 age category.

The approach to the finish line was particularly intense as Oscar Simmons, Ian Gibson and Tim Tansley all pushed for 30th, 32nd and 33rd place.

Teamwork pulled them through and Tansley also secured second place in his age category (M50).

Border Counties Advertizer: Oswestry Olympian men's team at the North Wales Cross Country Championships finale.

Oswestry Olympian men's team at the North Wales Cross Country Championships finale.

The Olympian women finished the season in style and their force could be felt across the course.

Nicola Ship came in 12th place with a particularly impressive time of 20:19 while also winning the W45 age category while Yvonne Hill came first in the W55 age category.

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Overall, the men came in third place with the masters also coming third while the ladies excelled, coming third overall and winning the masters.

A club spokesman said: "We would also like to send special thanks to those who organised and co-ordinated the race at Oswestry, including the marshals and volunteers.

"We are also very proud and send huge congratulations to Margaret Morris on receiving the highly coveted Bebbington Shield - the Special Endeavour Award for the North Wales Cross Country League.

More than £400 was also raised through donations for refreshments following the race. The club have donated this to the Earthquakes Disasters Committee following the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

Border Counties Advertizer: Oswestry Olympian women's team at the North Wales Cross Country Championships finale.

Oswestry Olympian women's team at the North Wales Cross Country Championships finale.

Meanwhile The Village Bakery Half Marathon took place in Wrexham with Oswestry Olympians turning out in full force and achieving some amazing results with 11 achieving a personal best for

their half marathon time.

Matthew Collins, Florence Roberts, Simon Lewis, Sean Jones, Richard Collins, Charlotte Hunter, Mike Kirk, Richard Manford, Dale Walton, Mark Jones and Shaun Harrison all set new PBs

Matthew Collins also broke the club’s senior men's half marathon record with a time of of 1:08:02, smashing the previous record set by Kevin Smith in 1988.

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