RUNNERS from Woodford Green and the Orion Harriers were in action over the weekend.

Woodford Green Athletics Club enjoyed good results at the South of England Cross-Country Championships, in Uxbridge.

Katherine and Ronnie Sparke achieved a notable “first” by both winning their respective championships. Katherine won the senior ladies cup, while Ronnie triumphed in the men’s under-20 event.

There was a glittering performance from the whole women’s team too in muddy conditions as they missed out on gold by just one point. 21-year old Katherine Sparke won the race by 24 seconds.

A decimated men’s team could only finish 10th in the team race but still had 15 finishers to retain the Essex Cup for the fourth year in succession.

41-year old Linda Jackson finished 20th despite being injured, and Lauren Stewart came 31st out of 311 finishers, as Woodford secured the silver medal.

Kiwi Hywel Care finished 20th in a field of real quality and 672 finishers on the men’s front.

Ronnie Sparke showed why he will represent England next week by winning the 15 kilometre course to become South of England champion.

The U20 men’s team finished fifth overall Robbie Meadows was 18th in the U17 men’s event, while Georgie-Lou Sales came 16th in the U20 women’s event.

Meanwhile, Chingford’s Orion Harriers chased medals too.

Jack Stroud finished an impressive 13th place finish in the U20 men’s race.

U13 girl runner Georgia Tuckfield continued to hit the heights with an excellent 26th position out of a field of over 200 athletes.

She was ably supported in her race by Sydney Taylor and Yasmin Crosby.

George Hoy finished in a creditable 70th position for the U13 boys.

There were also good efforts from Jess Taylor, Jack Waller, Tom Hutchinson, Paul Inkpen and Cheyenne Antoine-Chager.

Orion’s three U15 girls all had outstanding runs. Armanni Antoine-Chager led them home in 39th place, closely followed by Lauren MacGregor in 41st and Jay Andrews in 63rd.

Their efforts secured a top 12 finish for the team in that age category.

Frankie Conway represented the under 17 Orion boys with distinction. He ended the course in 33rd position.