The one hundred and fifth English National Cross-Country Championships took place at the Newark and Notts Showground in Newark. This was the third time the race had been held at these showgrounds after visits in 1984 and 1988. This was the last race under the auspices of the ECCU and the English Cross-Country Association would look after cross-country for the men and women going forward. The race was run for the first time in seventeen years without a major sponsor. The nine mile course was completely flat and around a disused airfield and consisted of three laps plus the start and finish straights.
Favourite for the individual race was Eamonn Martin (Basildon AC), who won the title at Newark in 1984, Eamonn said of his victory "When I won it in 1984 it was the pinnacle for me, I first watched the race as a 14-year-old and you never imagine that one day you will win it". Billy Dee (Luton United AC), the Inter-Counties champion, was also thought to be a strong contender. Richard Nerurkar (Bingley Harriers) champion in 1990 and 1991 gave the race a miss to concentrate on marathon training in Kenya. Dave Clarke who also won the National at Newark described his run as "bouncing from one rut to another" also decided not to compete.
Tipton Harriers had a very strong nine for the race and Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers were hoping to mount a challenge. The reigning champions Bingley Harriers were without the individual champion, Richard Nerurkar, and looked to be struggling to retain their team title.
It took Martin less than a mile to move away from the pack as he made a blistering start. In the chase group were Dee, Steve Tunstall (Preston Harriers) and Mark Dalloway (Stourport AC), a second group comprised Julian Goater (Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers), Dave Lewis (Rossendale AC), Paul Dugdale (Horwich RMI Harriers) and Kevin Lamb (Wolverhampton & Bilston AC).
On the second lap Martin continued to dominate the race with only Dee and Tunstall getting close. Into the final lap Martin had the race sewn up and in the battle for the medals Dee used his marathon strength to overhaul Tunstall and barefooted Sam Carey (Warrington AC) charged through to also pass Tunstall for the bronze.
Martin won in 40 minutes 29 seconds, 27 seconds ahead of Dee. After the race Eamonn Martin said "I came with one race plan. To win, the 'National' is still tops for me. It's the best race." and Billy Dee remarked "I thought if I get a top three place I would be happy, but if I'm truthful the course there didn't suit me because it was treacherous and bordering on silly."
In the team race David Payne led Tipton Harriers to the title with a fine sixth, other counters for the Black Country team were Mike Cadman (25th), Mark Burnhope (32nd), Chris Sweeney (42nd), Andy Wilton (61st) and Lee Wooldridge (63rd). This gave Tipton a 145 point victory over Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers, Les Johns the assistant team manager for Tipton said "It was a good team performance, I think Andy Wilton and Lee Woolridge won the race for us. Wilton rung up at 9.30am with a sore throat and wanted to pull out and Lee has just come back from serious injury. Andy virtually collapsed after the finish. It was a gutsy performance, but that's what the club is all about."
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