ATHLETICS: Ace Bruce crowned champion

Bruce collected his third victory from four races, which alongside his second place in round three at Horspath makes him uncatchable.

With an athlete’s best four results from the series to count, Bruce needed only a top-three finish to be crowned champion.

However, he was in no mood to settle for minor honours and triumphed by more than a minute on the challenging 5.1-mile course.

Bruce clocked 30mins 3secs, with clubmate Aaron Burgess coming second in 31.11 to climb to third place in the men’s standings.

Cirencester’s Chris Illman (31.20) was third on the day, ahead of Woodstock Harrier James Bolton (31.39).

Oxford Brookes’ Josh Entwistle (31.56), who lies second in the standings, had to be content with fifth on the day.

Cirencester’s Wendy Nicholls won the ladies’ race in 24.41, with clubmate Jo Emery second in 24.53.

Nicholls has raced only twice this season, so is ineligible for the title, which now looks set to go to Emery, who has a five-point lead in the standings.

Oxford City’s Lauren Hawtin was third on the day in 25.04, with Cirencester’s Jane Wassell (25.20) fourth and Headington Road Runners’ Jess Leitch fifth in 25.42.

OXFORD MAIL CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE STANDINGS

INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS
(best 3 out of 4 races to count)
MEN
Senior: 1 D Bruce (Oxf) 3pts, 2 J Entwistle (OxB) 11, 3 A Burgess (Oxf) 16, 4= J Bolton (Wds), M Vardy (New) 22, 6 T Wright (Ban) 23, 7 J Craggs (New) 29, 8 N Jones (New) 33, 9 M Shannon (Cir) 39, 10 A Williams (Cir) 40.
Vet 40: 1 J Atyeo (Oxf) 53, 2 H Bampton (Swh) 63, 3 S Barnes (New) 68, 4 R Gould (Alc) 77, 5 D Tame (Hkn) 87, 6 R Storey (Eyn) 90, 7 D Cantwell (Wds) 95, 8 S Pritchard (Ban) 111, 9= W Lillis (New), C Woodd (Cir) 118.
Vet 50: 1 B Gardner (Swh) 85, 2 J Nelson (Alc) 114, 3 M Richards (Hed) 124, 4 A Phelps (Hed) 172, 5 P Thomas (Did) 195, 6 J Burgess (Alc) 264, 7 N Moglia (Wit) 304, 8 A Tuttle (New) 305, 9 I Coxhead (New) 321, 10 P Ainslie (Wit) 342.
Vet 60: 1 S Thorp (Oxf) 216, 2 G Anderson (New) 289, 3 R Treadwell (Oxf) 320, 4 J Exley (Oxf) 390, 5 M Sheridan (Tkt) 500, 6 G LeGood (Wit) 516, 7 S Connolly (Swh) 537, 8 K Morgan (Wit) 571, 9 P Creasey (Eyn) 615, 10 M Search (Kid) 623.
Under 20: 1 S Marshall (Whh) 52, 2 J Cornish (Whh) 63, 3 M Raymond (Swh) 113, 4 D Tuttle (New) 114, 5= M Lomas (Whh), A Bampton (Swh) 121, 7 R Meredith (Oxf) 137, 8 O Stepney (Abn) 138, 9 A Holmes (Whh) 196, 10 J Fawcett (Swh) 327.
Under 17: 1 N Gillis (Tkt) 3, 2 M Marshall (Oxf) 7, 3 T Kelly (Whh) 9 , 4 J Currah (Wit) 12, 5 W Ballard (Swh) 14, 6= A Hanson (Tkt), C Cooper (Swh) 24, 8 T Fabes (Abn) 42, 9 N Magrane (Abn) 44, 10 W Tyson (New) 52.
Under 15: 1 N Jones (Oxf) 24, 2 B Claridge (Whh) 25, 3 H Thomas (Abn) 39, 4 E Lassiter (Mar) 43, 5= J Zietman (Ste), G Kelling (Ban) 57, 7 T Gould (Bic) 59, 8= J Hancox (Rad), M Fabes (Abn) 64, 10 R Crowther (Oxf) 68.
Under 13: 1 W Crisp (Swh) 3, 2 S Hart (Tkt) 8, 3= J Mitchell (Rad), N Wiltshire (Abn) 9, 5 D Stokell (Rad) 12, 6 M Crowther (Oxf) 18, 7 B Fry (New) 20, 8 G Mayer (Wit) 21, 9 A Scott (Rad) 24, 10 J Reeves (New) 27.
Under 11: 1 A Pennington (Abn) 4, 2 H Insley (Rad) 6, 3= B Rodriguez (Oxf), S Snelson (Ban) 9, 5 J Richardson (Oxf) 11, 6 O Knox (Ban) 18, 7 J Sunderland (Oxf) 19, 8 E Fry (New) 20, 9 J McLaughlin (Tkt), 10= S Clarke (Tkt), T Couzens (Bic) 28.
LADIES
Senior: 1 J Emery (Cir) 7, 2 J Leitch (Hed) 12, 3 M Pank (Alc) 20, 4 F Snare (Wit) 27, 5 H Preedy (Tkt) 35, 6 M Grimsley (Hig) 52, 7 N Smith (Hed) 59, 8 A Lyng (Hed) 62, 9 L Purbrick (Abn) 67, 10 C Coxhead (New) 89.
Vet 35: 1 S Cox (Alc) 29, 2 S Usher (Alc) 37, 3 S Francis (Tkt) 39, 4 A Hopkins (Hed) 45, 5 E Bailey (New) 64, 6 R Shaw (Hed) 66, 7 D Bridges (Eyn) 78, 8 A Finnigan (Kid) 82, 9 F Gordan (Swi) 83, 10 E Fidler (Alc) 92.
Vet 45: 1 R Kelling (Ban) 28, 2 S Van Huysteen (New) 60, 3 R Biegel (Ban) 130, 4 A Barry (Hed) 168, 5 R Burgess (Whh) 179, 6 C Marshall (Oxf) 191, 7 J Pinnock (Eyn) 195, 8 L Mander (Hig) 196, 9 P Morgan (Swh) 239, 10 M Fischer (Hed) 254.
Vet 55: 1 S Fowler (New) 141, 2 G Hueter (Oxf) 158, 3 K Williamson (Eyn) 180, 4 K Shaw (Chw) 191, 5 S Haines (Wds) 262, 6 J LeGood (Wit) 304, 7 P Wheeler (Cir) 316, 8 R Todd (Hed) 332, 9 S Grylls (Hed) 381, 10 R Fulford (Cir) 389.
Under 20: 1 C Parker (Abn) 55, 2 V Duncan (New) 90, 3 J Lithgow (Whh) 113, 4 B Pull (Ban) 129.
Under 17: 1 B Hawtin (Oxf) 10, 2 J Harrison (Whh) 19, 3 C Huynh (Swh) 39, 4 E Clark (Oxf) 46, 5 R Walter (Tkt) 67, 6 S Van Huysteen (New) 73, 7 B Meadowcroft (Hed) 78, 8 J Pudney (New) 87, 9 E Seymour (Tkt) 98, 10 H Pitter (Rad) 100.
Under 15: 1 M Humphreys (Oxf) 4, 2= Y Ryder (Tkt), F Bunn (Abn) 9, 4 M Wilson (Oxf) 13, 5 E Evans (Oxf) 18, 6 V Tilling (Abn) 27, 7= F Insley (Rad), C Huxley (Oxf) 28, 9= I Rodriguez (Oxf), G Harvey (Abn) 29.
Under 13: 1 I Fry (New) 4, 2 C Ridewood (Oxf) 6, 3 E Houston (New) 10, 4 H Batstone (Rad) 11, 5 T Williams (Ban) 12, 6 E Thompson (Ban) 16, 7 S Drake (Tkt) 18, 8 A Morris (Oxf) 24, 9 G McErlain (Rad) 30, 10 J O’Connor (Oxf) 36.
Under 11: 1 M Brown (Tkt) 4, 2 R Burton (Rad) 8, 3= A Scrivener (Oxf), A Gould (Bic) 11, 5 M Silvester (Bic) 14, 6 C Barwick (Abn) 16, 7 M Adams (Rad) 20, 8 B Darwent (Abn) 24, 9 D Palmer (Oxf) 26, 10 S Paton (Rad) 30.
TEAM STANDINGS
MEN
Div 1: 1 Newbury A 665, 2 Oxford City A 768, 3 Swindon Har A 1057, 4 Headington A 1258, 5 Abingdon A 1445, 6 Cirencester A 1652, 7 Woodstock A 1669, 8 White Horse A 1827.
Div 2: 1 Oxf Brookes A 1944, 2 Witney A 2242, 3 Alchester A 2395, 4 Newbury B 2412, 5 Headington B 3010, 6 Eynsham A 3090, 7 Hook Norton A 3232, 8 Banbury A 3601.
Div 3 (top eight): 1 Kidlington A 2971, 2 Didcot A 3560, 3 Cherwell A 3674, 4 Swindon Har B 3744, 5 Team Kennet A 4167, 6 Witney B 4302, 7 Swindon Str A 4342, 8 Woodstock B 5199.
Under 15/17: 1 Swindon Har A 139, 2 Abingdon A 153, 3 Team Kennet A 161, 4 Witney A 175, 5 Oxford City A 183, 6 White Horse A 211, 7 Radley A 292, 8 Banbury A 333.
Under 13: 1 Radley A 66, 2 Abingdon A 126, 3 Swindon Har A 134, 4 Newbury A 146, 5 Oxford City A 163, 6 Team Kennet A 237, 7 Cirencester A 251, 8 Witney A 261.
LADIES
Div 1: 1 Headington A 116, 2 Cirencester A 220, 3 Newbury A 266, 4 Witney A 351, 5 Abingdon A 376, 6 Oxford City A 379, 7 Oxf Brookes A 451, 8 Newbury B 515.
Div 2: 1 Alchester A 146, 2 Headington B 326, 3 Banbury A 347, 4 Team Kennet A 588, 5 Newbury C 692, 6 Eynsham A 746, 7 Swindon Str A 924, 8 Highworth A 983.
Div 3 (top eight): 1 Kidlington A 505, 2 Alchester B 605, 3 White Horse A 636, 4 Headington C 641, 5 Woodstock A 781, 6 Swindon Har A 782, 7 Abingdon B 843, 8 Hook Norton A 852.
Under 15/17: 1 Oxford City A 52, 2 Abingdon A 94, 3 Team Kennet A 143, 4 Radley A 184, 5 Team Kennet B 279, 6 White Horse A 305, 7 Swindon Har A 310, 8 Newbury A 319.
Under 13: 1 Banbury A 91, 2 Oxford City A 119, 3 Radley A 123, 4 Team Kennet A 129, 5 Newbury A 154, 6 Radley B 248, 7 Abingdon A 256, 8 Bicester A 307.

Leitch, who was fourth lady home in the Thames Trot ultra marathon the day before, lies second behind Emery.

Despite having the first two men home, City were fielded a depleted side and saw Newbury take what looks a decisive lead in the Division 1 team standings.

White Horse Harriers’ men’s team posted their worst total in more than 25 years of running in the league with 675 points.

Despite Cirencester’s dominance on the day, Headington have a 104-point lead in the Division 1 ladies’ team rankings.

White Horse Harrier Sam Marshall heads clubmate Jonny Cornish by 11 points in the under 20 men’s competition, while Abingdon Ambler Cordelia Parker has a big lead in the under 20 ladies’ event.

OXFORD MAIL CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE RESULTS

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
Men (top 30, senior men unless stated): 1 D Bruce (Oxf) 30.03, 2 A Burgess (Oxf) 31.11, 3 C Illman (Cir) 31.20, 4 J Bolton (Wds) 31.39, 5 J Entwistle (OxB) 31.56, 6 M Vardy (New) 31.57, 7 A Williams (Cir) 32.07, 8 T Wright (Ban) 32.15, 9 M Robinson (Hed) 32.16, 10 J Craggs (New) 32.21, 11 M Shannon (Cir) 32.45, 12 D Bell (Cir) 32.52, 13 T Jones (Wit) 32.57, 14 J Cornish (Whh, U20) 32.59, 15 J Atyeo (Oxf, V40) 33.01, 16 T Bradford (Hkn) 33.06, 17 R Gould (Alc, V40) 33.25, 18 S Byrne (Swh) 33.37, 19 N Jones (New) 33.41, 20 D Tame (Hkn, V40) 33.44, 21 D Cantwell (Wds, V40) 33.45, 22 M Raymond (Swh, U20) 33.52, 23 B Leggate (Cir) 33.57, 24 S Barnes (New, V40) 34.03, 25 D Tuttle (New, U20) 34.13, 26 R Storey (Eyn, V40) 34.21, 27 C Woodd (Cir, V40) 34.24, 28 M Dilks (Kid) 34.33, 29 G Hope (Kid) 34.35, 30 N Bunn (Abn, V40) 34.38.
Under 15/17 (Under 17 unless stated): 1 N Gillis (Tkt) 17.06, 2 W Ballard (Swh) 17.10, 3 M Marshall (Oxf) 17.40, 4 J Currah (Wit) 18.09, 5 A Hanson (Tkt) 18.12, 6 N Jones (Oxf, U15) 18.25, 7 B Claridge (Whh), U15) 18.36, 8 T Fabes (Abn) 19.06, 9 E Lassiter (Mar, U15) 19.16, 10 N Magrane (Abn) 19.49.
Under 13: 1 W Crisp (Swh) 8.06, 2 S Hart (Tkt) 8.36, 3 J Mitchell (Rad) 8.50, 4 G Mayer (Wit) 8.56, 5 M Crowther (Oxf) 9.08, 6 A Scott (Rad) 9.11, 7 J Reeves (New) 9.19, 8 S Wright (New) 9.28, 9 J Moore (Abn) 9.33, 10 D Bunn (Abn) 9.36.
Under 11: 1 A Pennington (Abn) 4.09, 2 H Insley (Rad) 4.12, 3 B Rodriguez (Oxf) 4.16, 4 J Richardson (Oxf) 4.19, 5 S Snelson (Ban) 4.20, 6 O Knox (Ban) 4.21, 7 T Couzens (Bic) 4.27, 8 S Clarke (Tkt) 4.29, 9 E Fry (New) 4.31, 10 B Cumberland (Rad) 4.33.
Ladies (top 30, senior ladies unless stated): 1 W Nicholls (Cir), LV35) 24.41, 2 J Emery (Cir) 24.53, 3 L Hawtin (Oxf, U20) 25.04, 4 J Wassell (Cir) (LV45) 25.20, 5 J Leitch (Hed) 25.42, 6 M Pank (Alc) 26.05, 7 S Crumly (New) 26.26, 8 F Snare (Wit) 26.31, 9 C Dullaghan (OxB, U20) 26.31, 10 S Cox (Alc, LV35) 26.39, 11 R Kelling (Ban, LV45) 26.41, 12 A Hopkins (Hed, LV35) 26.46, 13 H Preedy (Tkt) 26.59, 14 E Bailey (New, LV35) 27.22, 15 A Edwards (Hed) 27.23, 16 S Usher (Alc, LV35) 27.32, 17 S Davies (Oxf, LV35) 27.41, 18 M Grimsley (Hig) 27.52, 19 L Purbrick (Abn) 27.55, 20 S Van Huysteen (New, LV45) 28.06, 21 Denise Bridges (Eyn, LV35) 28.11, 22 N Smith (Hed) 28.15, 23 S Francis (Tkt, LV35) 28.33, 24 C Williamson (OxB, U20) 28.47, 25 S LeGood (Wit) 29.04, 26 S Howard (Wit, LV35) 29.06, 27 C Coxhead (New) 29.08, 28 A Finnigan (Kid, LV35) 29.20, 29 H Wardell (New) 29.33, 30 A Smith (Rad, LV35) 29.38.
Under 15/17 (Under 17 unless stated): 1 M Humphreys (Oxf, U15) 14.46, 2 B Hawtin (Oxf) 14.58, 3 M Wilson (Oxf, U15) 15.20, 4 Y Ryder (Tkt, U15) 15.26, 5 F Bunn (Abn, U15) 15.28, 6 E Evans (Oxf, U15) 16.05, 7 J Harrison (Whh) 16.22, 8 V Tilling (Abn, U15) 16.35, 9 I Rodriguez (Oxf, U15) 16.54, 10 C Huxley (Oxf, U15) 17.01
Under 13: 1 I Fry (New) 9.05, 2 C Ridewood (Oxf) 9.20, 3 T Williams (Ban) 9.28, 4 E Houston (New) 9.39, 5 E Thompson (Ban) 9.44, 6 A Morris (Oxf) 9.46, 7 H Batstone (Rad) 9.56, 8 S Drake (Tkt) 9.57, 9 A Mckay (Tkt) 9.57, 10 J O’Connor (Oxf) 10.02.
Under 11: 1 A Scrivener (Oxf) 4.30, 2 M Brown (Tkt) 4.35, 3 A Gould (Bic) 4.37, 4 C Barwick (Abn) 4.49, 5 M Adams (Rad) 4.56, 6 M Silvester (Bic) 4.57, 7 D Palmer (Oxf) 4.59, 8 R Burton (Rad) 5.00, 9 S Paton (Rad) 5.01, 10 M Couzens (Bic) 5.01.
TEAM
RESULTS
Men – Div 1: 1 Cirencester A 124pts, 2 Newbury A 172, 3 Swindon Har A 263, 4 Oxford City A 312, 5 Headington A 387, 6 Woodstock A 421, 7 Abingdon A 570, 8 White Horse A 675.
Div 2: 1 Witney A 434, 2 Alchester A 445, 3 Oxf Brookes A 534, 4 Newbury B 551, 5 Eynsham A 633, 6 Hook Norton A 737, 7 Banbury A 875, 8 Headington B 1012.
Div 3 (top eight): 1 Kidlington A 600, 2 Didcot A 634, 3 Cirencester B 766, 4 Swindon Har B 778, 5 Team Kennet A 799, 6 Witney B 910, 7 Swindon Str A 940, 8 Woodstock B 1227.
Under 15/17 (top eight): 1 Oxford City A 25, 2 Team Kennet A 26, 3 Abingdon A 29, 4 Swindon Har A 43, 5 Witney A 48, 6 White Horse A 51, 7 Marlborough A 67, 8 Woodstock A 71.
Under 13 (top eight): 1 Radley A 20, 2 Swindon Har A 36, 3 Newbury A 39, 4 Team Kennet A 41, 5 Abingdon A 43, 6 Witney A 51, 7 Oxford City A 53, 8 Banbury A 54.
Ladies – Div 1: 1 Cirencester A 7, 2 Headington A 32, 3 Newbury A 41, 4 Witney A 59, 5 Oxford City A 69, 6 Oxf Brookes A 84, 7 Newbury B 87, 8 Abingdon A 115.
Div 2: 1 Alchester A 32, 2 Headington B 116, 3 Newbury C 121, 4 Banbury A 124, 5 Team Kennet A 162, 6 Highworth A 163, 7 Eynsham A 184, 8 Swindon Str A 217.
Div 3 (top eight): 1 Kidlington A 103, 2 2 White Horse A 127, 3 Hook Norton A 157, 4 Newbury D 167, 5 Alchester B 169, 6 Radley A 186, 7 Headington C 189, 8 Witney B 202.
Under 15/17 (top eight): 1 Oxford City A 6, 2 Abingdon A 24, 3 Oxford City B 25, 4 Team Kennet A 38, 5 Radley A 42, 6 Newbury A 64, 7 Radley B 71, 8 White Horse A 73.
Under 13 (top eight): 1 Oxford City A 18, 2= Banbury A, Newbury A 21, 4 Radley A 30, 5 Team Kennet A 34, 6 Radley B 57, 7 Abingdon A 62, 8 Bicester A 72.
KEY
TO CLUBS
Abn=Abingdon, Alc=Alchester, Ban=Banbury, Bic=Bicester, Chw=Cherwell, Cir= Cirencester, Did=Didcot, Eyn=Eynsham, Hed=Headington, Hig=Highworth, Hkn=Hook Norton, Kid=Kidlington, Mar= Marlborough, New= Newbury, OxB=Oxford Brookes, Oxf= Oxford City, Rad=Radley, Ste=St Edward’s School, Swh=Swindon Harriers, Swi= Swindon Striders, Tkt=Team Kennet, Wit=Witney, Wds=Woodstock, Whh=White Horse Harriers.