RICHARD Findlow of the Bradford Airedale club left himself with a clear chance of winning the Sport Direct West Yorkshire Cross-Country League after his decisive win in the third round at Nunroyd Park, Yeadon, on Sunday.

The Skyrac A C staged event was won by the 22 year-old former Yorkshire champion in 34.59 with Bingley Harriers Steve Hawkins, the former British fell running champion, second in 35.14.

Otley AC's Ian Fisher produced another excellent run to finish third in 35.36 with Holmfirth's Dave Watson fourth in 35.41.

Findlow, from Mirfield, had previously won the first round race at Northcliffe in October.

Watson led the Holmfirth team to victory three points ahead of Bingley Harriers with Leeds City third.

Other leading placings in the men's race were: 5, S Green (Bingley Harriers) 35.45; 6, J Taylor (Bingley Harriers) 36.06; 7, J Convery (Bingley Harriers) 36.44; 8, M Hilton (Leeds City) 36.48; 9, W Legg (Holmfirth) 36.52; 10, S Green (Pudsey and Bramley ) 37.00.

Other local placings were: 15, Gary Devine (Pudsey and Bramley) 37.46; 20, M Speight (Fellandale) 38.25; 23, Tony Gill (Leeds City) 39.05; 27, Jason Hemsley (Ilkley ) 39.27; 29, Malcolm Pickering (Ilkley) 39.39; 35, M Jowett (Otley AC) 40.11.

49, T Ashlelford (Ilkley) 40.53; 53, Billy Kerr (Ilkley) 41.00; 54, Andrew Robertshaw (Otley AC) 41.03; 57, R Sunley (Horsforth) 41.13; 60, N Pearce (Ilkley) 41.19; 75, D Foster (Otley AC) 42.06; 77, J Armitstead (Otley AC) 42.31; 78, Jonathan Lester (Skyrac) 42.31; 79, C Miller (Skyrac) 42.33; 91.

N Kirkbright (Skyrac) 43.40; 100, Ray Hawksby (Otley AC) 44.28; 101, B Ellis (Horsforth) 44.34; 103, N Taylor (Ilkley) 44.41; 115, M Springer (Horsforth) 46.06; 116, Bob Pritchard (Skyrac) 46.07; 119, Tom Hannah (Otley) 46.15.

124, D Harrison (Horsforth) 46.42; 128, M Coles (Skyrac) 47.03; 132, S Wood (Horsforth) 47.33; 142, C Best (Otley) 48.50; 145, M Jeffray (Otley) 49.20; 154, P Yates (Fellandale ) 51.08; 156, D Hainsworth (Otley) 52.00; 157, K Kaiser (Horsforth) 53.07; 163, D Cattanach (Otley) 56.46.

In the team placings Ilkley finished seventh, Otley eighth, Skyrac 13th and Horsforth 18th.

WOMEN

The senior women's race was won by Anne Buckley of Pudsey and Bramley in 27.48.

The former Northern Cross-Country champion from Burley, Leeds, had a considerable winning margin of 1.27 over Lois Joslyn of Leeds University who finished in 29.15.

Other women's placings were: 3, J Shotter (Pudsey and Bramley) 29.48; 4, S Dugdale (Skipton AC) 30.13; 5, S Cariss (Bingley Harriers) 30.18; 6, A Dennison (Bradford Airedale) 30.30.

Local placings were: 12, Alice Gull (Abbey Runners) 30.55; 18, Maxine Russell (Skyrac) 31.52; 37, J Hustwit (Horsforth) 35.51; The winning women's team was Pudsey and Bramley by a 57 points margin from Halifax with Holmfirth third.

Age group winners were:

Under-17 boys - S Mulhall (Spenborough) 26.22. Team - Spenborough.

Local placings: 3, J Coen (Skyrac) 27.08; 11, R Walker (Skyrac) 29.47.

Under-17 girls - N White (Holmfirth) 19.48. Team - Skyrac.

Local placings - 5, H Grinstead (Skyrac) 21.08; 7, K Davey (Skyrac) 21.54; 10, S Leigh (Skyrac) 22.39.

Under-15 boys - S Enwright (Halifax) 17.07. Teams - 1, Leeds City; 3. Skyrac.

Local placings - 2, R Spencer (Skyrac) 17.40; 10, T Coats (Skyrac) 18.45;13, J Riley (Skyrac) 19.01; 17, N Tugwell (Skyrac) 19.50.

Under-15 girls - A Hoban (Wakefield) 14.56. Teams - 1, Bingley; 2, Skyrac.

Local placings - 6, E Spencer (Skyrac) 15.36; 7, S Williams (Skyrac) 15.50; 14, J McVeigh (Skyrac) 16.35; 16, J Shaw (Skyrac) 17.04;

Under-13 boys - D McQuarrie (Nestle-Rowntree) 11.33. Team - Spenborough.

Local placings: 13, S Blanshard (Skyrac) 13.32.

Under-13 girls - Z Gowland (Wakefield) 13.09. Teams - 1, Wakefield; 2, Holmfirth; 3, Skyrac; 5, Horsforth.

Local placings- 6, L Kirk (Skyrac) 13.37; 8, R Drake (Skyrac) 14.28; 10. M Parsons (Horsforth) 14.46; 12, V Scott (Skyrac) 15.23; 20, S Bannister (Skyrac) 15.46; 21, K Holmes (Horsforth) 15.48; 22, I Reynolds (Horsforth) 15.53; 23, C Appleby (Skyrac) 16.03; 26, S Drake (Skyrac) 16.18; 29, R Parsons (Horsforth) 17.09).

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