ALEXANDRA Bell won a tight finish to become senior ladies' champion in the YORKSHIRE CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS at Lightwater Valley Theme Park near Ripon.

Bell (Pudsey & Bramley) outsprinted Claire Duck (Leeds City) and top under-20s athlete Bronwen Owen (Scarborough) in Saturday's showdown.

Susan Partridge, who was sixth in the Commonwealth Games marathon in Glasgow, was next, almost a minute behind Bell's time of 23min 02sec.

Bingley's Jo Buckley was 11th, a further minute back, just pipping Hannah Brown (Skyrac). Sally Morley of Ilkley was 18th, while the young duo of Zara Knappy and Rosie Hellawell (both Keighley & Craven) were 25th and 26th respectively.

Buckley led a Bingley team into eighth spot behind Rotherham, with Lesley Watson, Emma Green and Mandy Clarke also scoring.

Meanwhile, Alan Buckley (Leeds City) was second in the men's race but a long way behind the impressive Jonathan Thewlis.

Tom Adams was fifth for Ilkley, while Spenborough's Joshua Woodcock-Shaw – in his second senior County Championship – was a close seventh.

Woodhouse Grove teacher Phillip Tedd was 14th and evergreen fell-runner Ian Holmes (Bingley) 18th.

A good cluster of Bradford area runners gained top 50 places: Craig Shearer (Keighley & Craven, 23rd), Chris Thornton (Skyrac, 30th), Andy Brown (Bingley, 31st), Lee Athersmith (Wharfedale, 32nd), Frank Beresford (Otley, 33rd), and Wharfedale trio Christian Holmes (35th), Ted Mason (38th) and Nick Charlesworth (42nd), with Spen's Kevin Ogden in 49th.

Leeds City won by a huge margin in the men's team event, ahead of Hallamshire, but Wharfedale were a fine fourth, with Spenborough eighth and Skyrac 15th.

Podium placements in the junior races were gained by Keighley & Craven clubmates Eleanor Robinson (first, under-17 girls) and Katie Atkinson (second, under-13 girls).

Ellie Jones and Amy Francis, who were fourth and sixth, helped Skyrac to second place in the under-15 girls' race, while Merrick twins Victoria and Matthew were eighth and sixth in the under-15 events for Bingley.

But despite the increased popularity of cross-country, the 230 senior men and 165 lady entrants is down from the event's heyday. Barely a third of the 55 West Yorkshire clubs had entrants.