SUE COOPER (SouthportWaterloo) won the British and Irish Masters’ V55 cross country title, defeating team mate Chris Kilkenny by four seconds and leading England to a convincing team victory.

David Forrester (St Helens-Sutton) set out his stall for the season by winning the junior race at the Gateshead International cross country races, finishing 17 seconds clear of the opposition.

After his victory Forrester said: “I felt really strong, I’ve been training really well doing a lot of miles and I just wanted to get out and compete.

“I want to go and win the Euros. That’s my focus, I want to go out and win in Belgium. I need to do a bit more speed work between now and then but so far, so good.”

Forrester's clubmate Chelsea Jarvis won the Under 13 race in the Manchester Area League held at Boggart Hole Clough. Rosie Johnson was second in the U11 contest while top ten places were earned by Jamie White and Jamie Webb in the U15 race as did John Ashcroft and David T Griffiths in the U17 age group.

The Saints trio of Natalie Garrity, Heather Drillingcourt and Siobhan Hattersley took the U17 team award and now hold a clear lead in aggregate battle.

Gemma Connolly was tenth in the women's race, the veteran men's quartet of Ian White, Maurice Collins, Robbie Marsh and Jim Crehan finished fourth and consolidated that place in the aggregate competition.

Paul Dodsworth (Warrington), Dave Hamilton (SouthportWaterloo) and Guy Roberts (Mossley Hill) were sixth, seventh and eighth at the Preston 10 Miles, each beating the magical hour mark.

The first of two Northern Indoor Track meetings to be held at the English Institute for Sport in Sheffield has attracted a handful of local athletes amongst the 650 entrants. They include Liverpool's Kate Anson and Oliver Black, St Helens-Sutton's Steve Moran and Matthew Stone while Andrew Williams (Warrington) and Michael Lyness (West Cheshire) will also be taking part.

The Liverpool trio of Richard Burney, Jonny Mellor and Vicky Griffiths have been selected to represent the North at the Tilberg Cross Country meeting this weekend. The Dutch meeting is a popular event in the build up to the European championships in December.

The AGM of the Young Athletes Meeting rejected proposals to reform the structure and points scoring method and has invited all clubs to submit alternative proposals to the management committee before the end of March 2009.

SouthportWaterloo have withdrawn from the National Junior League. Trafford and Wigan have been drafted in to cover the vacancy left by the Sandgrounders.

Other clubs contesting the League will be North Wales (Composite), Liverpool Pembroke-Sefton, Preston, St Helens-Sutton and Wirral AC.

This weekend sees a schools' inter-counties fixture in Birmingham and the latest round of the Sunday Cross Country League featuring Liverpool Running Club and Spectrum Striders, which is being staged in Skelmersdale.