The Junior Men's English Cross-Country Championships were held at Roundhay Park in Leeds, the junior men's event was the thirty-first running of the race. The weather on the day was fine and bright and the going was good, the course consisted of two large laps of three miles each and included the famous Hill 60.
After half a mile Tony Milovsorov (Tipton Harriers) led the race with Northern champion Nicky Lees (Derby & County AC) breathing down his neck, these two were followed by Paul Venmore also from Tipton Harriers. Lees began to push and he and Mick Morton (Blackburn Harriers) opened up a 25 metre gap on the chasing pack. 'Hill 60' caused Morton to falter and at the halfway point Lees led Morton by 40 metres. 20-year-old Lees continued to increase his lead on the second lap and ran out a winner in 29:28.
At the 5-mile point southern champion Dave Clarke (Hercules-Wimbledon AC) caught Morton and the two battled shoulder to shoulder for the silver medal. Morton prevailed by using his finishing speed and Clarke had to be satisfied with bronze.
After the race Lees told Jon Wigley at Athletics Weekly: "That's the way I wanted to do it - kill them! Once I got out there, it was a question of pushing it on. Once I was away I paced my own race".
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