Marl Pits Stadium, Rawtenstall on Saturday 24/02/1973 3.8 Km (Intermediates)

The Intermediate Women's National Cross-Country Championships were held at the Marl Pits Stadium, Rawtenstall in Lancashire. Rossendale AC marked out the course which consisted of one small lap and one large lap, the route was described as tough and contained several steep hills.

Moira O'Boyle (Victoria Park), Christina Boxer (Aldershot, Farnham & District AC) and Mary Stewart (Birchfield Harriers) set the early pace and at the end of the first small loop they were clear of the rest of the field. On the second lap O'Boyle and Boxer opened a gap on Stewart of 20 metres. The sharp hills changed the shape of the race with Stewart regaining contact with O'Boyle and Boxer falling back. Shiree Hines (Thurrock Harriers) ran well on the downhill sections to catch the leaders. Mary Stewart was the strongest as the runners approached the finish winning in 14:42, 40 metres clear of runner up O'Boyle with Hines in third. Christina Boxer told Athletics Weekly afterwards: "When I saw them I just seemed to lose heart. I just didn't have it today".

The team race was won by Sale Harries for the second year running, Sale beat Rossendale AC by 7 points with Havering AC taking third. Counters for Sale Harriers were Barbara Schofield (9th), Tina Wild (20th), C Nicholls (32nd) and L Hughes (49th).