NORTH EAST WALES runners were in fine form at the opening round of the North Wales Cross Country League in Baschurch.

Buckley Runners finished third in the men's Division One standings as Elliot Cox clocked 32:39 on the Shropshire course to place 17th in the men's race, just ahead of clubmate Jez Brown (32:42) in 18th.

Wrexham AC ended the day second in Division Two with Gareth Chaloner (34:15) 34th outright, followed by clubmates Gary Norgrove (35:13), Clive Bolton (35:32) and Finley Boulton (36:01) and Deeside AC pair Leon Hodgson (36:19) and Steve Crowe (36:29).

Sioned Cordiner shone for Wrexham AC in the senior women's race, placing third with her time of 24:09 putting her three places ahead of clubmate Emma Crowe (24:30) and Deesider Rheagan Edwards (24:43).

Deeside AC pair Beth Dowsett (25:19) and Lauren Watchorn (25:21) finished 15th and 16 respectively, with Buckley's Hayley Evans (25:34) home in 18th place.

Further success followed in the junior section where Deeside's Harri Evans (21:47) finished third in the U17M race, just ahead of clubmates Euan Coney (22:36), Dan Parkinson (22:58) in fifth and Wrexham's fellow top 10 finisher Kai Walsh (24:17).

James Mills flew the Wrexham AC flag admirably at the Chester Marathon, clocking an impressive 2:35:50 to finish 15th from almost 3,000 runners.

The club's other finishers included Ryan Davis (2:51), Daniel weston (2:53:08), Gwyn Roberts (3:10:07), Deb Pugh (3:38:55) and Neil Bull (4:01:10).

Buckley Runners were also well represented at the race with Simon Roberts (3:01:59), Jen Adams (3:14:23), Chris Shaw (3:19:32), Tracy Rogers (3:54:20), Daniel Hughes (3:58:09), Simon Mara (4:05:18), Evelyn Aindow (4:10:52), Alison Barton (4:15:23), Charles Barton (4:17:39) and Chris Hunt (4:33:34) all finishing.

Unaffiliated Deeside runner Stephen Jolly shaved five minutes from his marathon PB clocking 3:29:08,

Chester Road Runners were in strong form too with finishers including Amanda Newall (3:59:22), Martin Highett (3:58:05), Andrew Jones (4:09:41), Ben Williams (4:12:03), Laura Davies (4:13:52), Sarah Mills (4:15:07), Rob Hughes (4:25:54), Nathalie Rees (4:29:25), Sue Gallagher (4:36:05), Helen Dolby (4:36:24), Claire Lockerbie (4:37:38), Ben Bartlett (4:48:34), Brian Edwards (4:48:57), Mark Langley (4:49:46), Rosie Winter (4:56.00) Dermot Enright (4:57:00), Rosie Allsop (5:06:16), Drew Skinner (5:25:42), Faye McHugh (5:41:54), Craig Dempsey (5:43:51), Gemma Rourke (6:12:22), Susanne Bailey (6:12:22), Owen Currie (6:19:58).

Wrexham man David Millington impressed in Chester's Metric Marathon event, where a time of 1:51:58 saw him place 21st.

Clubmates Robert Jones (1:54:58) and David Ford (2:07:31) were also among the fastest 100 finishers.

Wrexham AC's Laura Westwood completed her 100th ParkRun at Erddig, where a time of 39:31 brought up a century of 5k races.

Iwan Morris (20:25) was the club's fastest finisher on the day, with clubmate Callum McGrath (23:47) finishing just outside the top 20.

Buckley Runners' Rob Mahoney (22:14) was sixth at the latest Wepre with Deeside juniors Maisy Parry (23:08)and Ellie Small (23:34) close behind.

Sunday's race action gets underway at 10am with the Farndon 10k, before the next stage of the Borders Road Race League starts at 11am on the Wirral.