Havant on Saturday 08/03/1997 6 Km (Senior Ladies)
Staunton Park, Havant, Hampshire hosted the Senior Women's National Cross-Country Championships. View From, the sports apparel company, sponsored what was the sixty-fifth running of the race. The number of finishers (416) was down by 150 from the previous 'National' at Newark. The course was a single lap of 6,000 metres.
Winner in 1990 and 1991 Andrea Whitcombe (Parkside AC) was favourite for the ladies race.
Parkside AC were unlikely to be able to extend their winning sequence of eight consecutive team titles as the ever present Alison Wyeth was expecting a baby and Katy McCandless was injured. Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers led by Lucy Elliot and Leeds City AC headed by Lucy Wright were the favourites.
Start of the ladies race with Liz Talbot - 45 (Bedford & County AC) and Andrea Whitcombe - 742 (Parkside AC) to the fore
The course was wet and muddy, Liz Talbot (Bedford & County AC) set the early pace in the race establishing a lead of ten metres after the first half mile, Whitcombe was second followed by Lucy Wright, Lucy Elliott and Sarah Singleton (Liverpool Harriers). Elliott, not a fan of the mud, retired before the halfway stage, Talbot tried to stay with Whitcombe but appeared to be struggling. Whitcombe looking comfortable and striding majestically through the mud moved ahead of her rivals. Whitcombe won by over 100 metres in 21:07 with the tiring Talbot being passed by Lucy Wright in the last few hundred metres. Sarah Singleton ran well for fourth place.
Winner Andrea Whitcombe (Parkside AC)
Andrea Whitcombe the 25-year-old bookies' accountant told Athletics Weekly: "I just thought I had nothing to lose, I took the lead just before halfway and pushed it up the hill. Gradually, the others dropped off."
Lucy Wright added a team gold medal to her individual silver as Leeds City AC broke Parkside AC's superb eight-year supremacy. Leeds beat Aldershot, Farnham & District AC by 37 points with Havant AC third. Wright was assisted by Laura Woffenden (6th), Loretta Sollars (25th) and Veronique Marot (50th). Lucy Wright told Athletics Weekly: "The medal compensated Veronique for all the trouble she'd gone to, she doesn't like mud, but she ran very well. She really put herself out for the club."