At the Essex Cross Country Championships, at Mistley, the Springfield Striders were out in force.

The ladies were first to compete on a tough five mile course of mud and hills.

The flu bug had taken its toll, but there were still fine performances from Liz Turk and Denise Reed, with Ann Claydon, Theresa Tremain and Suzanne Kuyser making up the scoring team.

The men's event over a seven mile course saw the best ever Strider performance in these championships with Paul Dobson finishing in a superb ninth position.

He thoroughly enjoyed his first Essex Championships and is now looking forward to the Southern Counties at Parliament Hill.

Kev Harris, recovering from illness, made a good return with a top 20 placing, while Vic Spain is still managing to hold off the challenge of team captain,

Mark Healey. Lindsay Broadbridge and Paul Harris were the other scorers, leading in another ten Striders who included Pete Tremain, who was making a welcome return to competition.

The Springfield Striders' positions at the Essex Championships were: (Men): (9th) Paul Dobson (20th) Kev Harris (41st) Vic Spain (49th) Mark Healey (67th) Lindsay Broadbridge (72nd) Paul Harris (85th) Andrew Mason (90th) Richard Taylor (97th) Alan Wheelhouse (98th) Alec Coleman (104th) Rob Rodie (105th) Julian Catmull (106th) Graeme Romain (115th) Pete Tremain (117th) Ken Edwards and (132nd) Kev Wright. (Ladies): (23rd) Liz Turk (33rd) Denise Reed (59th) Ann Claydon (65th) Theresa Tremain and (66th) Suzanne Kuyser.

Kev Harris, who made a good return to competive cross country running at the Essex Championships.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.