A SLOG through a muddy course proved worthwhile for Stan Ogden, Dave Gill and Mervyn Ward as they brought home gold medals from their latest cross country race.

The Warrington Athletics Club trio combined to take team gold in the 6km over 65s men’s race at the British Masters Cross Country Championships on Saturday, which was held at Corwen in North Wales.

Indeed, their combined times meant they finished more than seven minutes ahead of their nearest rivals as they stormed to victory.

Ogden was first home, running excellently to place eighth overall by completing the course in 29mins 47secs.

Gill was not far behind him – despite concerns about a hamstring injury, he finished 10th in 31mins 52secs while Ward completed the trio by finishing 12th in 32mins 51secs.

Runners aged between 35 and 64 completed a slightly longer, 8km course and the first Warrington runner to finish was Dave Watson, whose time of 34mins 50secs was the fifth-fastest in the over 50s age group as he placed 44th overall.

Steve Watmough (54th, 35mins 47secs) was close behind as he finished 11th in his over 60s age group while Dave Norman (61st, 12th in age group, 36mins 41secs) and Steve Burthem (83rd, 19th in age group, 40mins 51secs) rounded off an effort that saw the quartet place fourth in the 55-64 team event.

Mark Gregory completed the club contingent, placing 88th overall and 17th in the over 55s age group as he clocked 42mins 9secs.

Also on Saturday, some of the club’s younger members were representing Cheshire at the English Schools Cross Country Championships at Pontefract Racecourse.

The best individual finish came from Jack Marwood, who led the Cheshire team home by finishing 39th in the intermediate boys’ race in 16mins 12secs. Jacob Pryor was the sixth counting runner for Cheshire in the same race, coming home 260th in 17mins 57secs.

Imogen Wharton placed 60th in the intermediate girls’ race as she clocked 14mins 2secs. She and Hannah Hull (217th, 15mins 10secs) were the second and fifth counters for Cheshire respectively.

The junior boys’ race saw Oliver Davenport finish 175th in 11mins 25secs while Evie-May Williams (217th, 13mins 5secs) and Eva Hayes (320th, 14mins 1sec) took part in the girls’ race.

Alex Rix was the second counter for Cheshire in the senior boys’ race, placing 203rd with a time of 22mins 44secs.

On the track, talented hurdler Lewis Shaw continued his good form at the first Trafford AC medal meeting of the season, winning his under 17s 100m hurdles race in 13.59secs while he also came fourth in the 100m in 12.08secs.

Leah Poole had a busy meeting in the under 13s age group, just missing out on a personal best in the 75m as she clocked 11.18secs to finish fourth in a mixed girls and boys race.

She then finished fifth in her 150m race in 22.07secs before taking to the long jump, where she recorded a new outdoor personal best of 4.07m to finish second in her pool.

On her club debut, Rosie Carters won her 150m race in 24.72secs and finished fourth in a mixed 75m race in 12.35secs, placing third overall in both events in her under 11s age group.

On the roads, there was a 10km personal best for Warrington AC’s Jack Pilkington at the High Legh Robert Moffat Memorial race – he placed seventh overall, stopping the clock at 35mins 5secs.

Second-claim member Georgina Walker, who was running for first-claim club Lymm Runners, was the first to finish in the women’s over 40s age group – her time of 44mins 4secs placed her 96th overall.

Youngster Alfie Furnival made the long trip to Leicester for the Podium Festival of Running, which took place at a course known as one of the fastest in Britain.

Taking part in the junior race over two laps of the 976-metre course, under 11s athlete Alfie ran excellently to finish third overall behind two under 13s runners as he posted a time of 7mins 15secs.

Meanwhile, Caroline Jones was competing much further afield as she raced in the Joe Shwellhorn 5km road race in Falesia, Portugal, last week.

Her time of 24mins 42secs saw her place 60th overall and fourth in an over 50s age group won by former Team GB marathon athlete Mara Yamauchi.