The seventy-second Junior Men's English National Cross-Country Championships took place at Harewood House in Leeds. This was the first time the 'National' had been held at Harewood and the race took place on grounds landscaped by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown in the 1770s. The race was 10km and consisted of one medium lap and one large lap. Saucony continued their support of the event.
First to show at the top of the course was Jeremy Dempsey (Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers). At the end of the first lap, Dempsey was joined by Nathan Dunn (Preston Harriers) and Rory Leonard (Morpeth Harriers). On the second lap Leonard took up the initiative and went on to win by 11 seconds from Dunn with Dempsey third.
Leonard told Athletics Weekly: "I won the Northern on this course last year but fell over and got concussed in the National. My plan was to wait and wait and then when I felt I could do damage halfway up the hill on the second lap I felt, 'if you've got to go, then go for it'."
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