Marl Pits Stadium, Rawtenstall on Saturday 24/02/1973 5.2 Km (Senior Ladies)
The forty-first Senior Women's National Cross-Country Championships were held at the Marl Pits Stadium, Rawtenstall in Lancashire. Rossendale AC marked out the 3¼ mile course which consisted of two laps, the route was described as tough and contained several steep hills.
Rita Ridley (Essex Ladies AC) was looking to set a record of five consecutive wins in the pursuit for the individual title. Other runners anticipated to be up front were 34-year-old Joyce Smith (Barnet & District AC), Jean Lochhead (Airedale & Spen Valley AC) and Northern champion Liz Connors (Preston Harriers).
The weather for the race was fine but snow lay on the ground and there was plenty of mud as the sun melted the snow.
Smith and Ridley set the pace early in the race and by the halfway point these two were clear of the pack with Penny Yule (Brighton & Hove AC) and Carol Gould (Barnet & District AC) giving chase.
Rita Ridley - 169 (Essex Ladies AC) and winner Joyce Smith -26 (Barnet & District AC) head up a sharp slope just ahead of Penny Yule (Brighton & Hove AC) and Carol Gould - 22 (Barnet & District AC)
On the second lap Joyce Smith broke away from Rita Ridley and went on to win in 22:10, 70 yards ahead of Ridley. Penny Yule won the battle for bronze edging Carol Gould by 20 yards.
Joan Allison (Cambridge Harriers) told Athletics Weekly "It was terrible running on that stuff, and I only kept going for the club". Her perseverance was rewarded as Cambridge Harriers won the team event with 71 points, half the total of runners-up Birchfield Harriers. Barnet & District AC were third with 153 points.