Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham hosted the twenty-first Junior's English Cross-Country Championships on a fairly flat moorland course of 6 miles made up of 2 x 3 mile laps, each lap contained two fords to pass the stream that fed Longmoor Pool.
First to show was Don Faircloth (Croydon Harriers) but by the time two miles had been covered Andy Holden (Preston Harriers) had taken the initiative and was heading John Bednarski (Swindon AC) and Ian Stewart (Birchfield Harriers) by five yards with John Rix (South London Harriers), Tony Simmons (Luton United AC), John Myatt (Strathclyde University AC) and Faircloth clustered a further five yards behind.
In the last two miles Bednarski hit the front and it was single file behind him. Stewart was only 20 yards adrift and with three-quarters of a mile to go Stewart began to close the gap and eventually overhauled Bednarski to win by 40 yards. Bednarski held on for second with Simmons third.
Stewart told Athletics Weekly "I didn't expect to win! After all, to win this one you really have to work hard."
Home | 1876-1914 | 1920-1939 | 1946-1999 | 2000-present