ELLIE Wallace and Floren Scrafton both made strong starts to the cross country season as the Gwent League got underway at Cardiff on Saturday.
Wallace (pictured right) has already looked impressive on the road this autumn and she carried that form onto the country at Llandaff Fields as she finished fourth in the senior women’s race, which also included the opening round of the British Athletics Cross Challenge.
The field had a predominantly strong Welsh turn-out with Cardiff AC internationals Charlotte Arter and Jenny Nesbitt leading the way and Cari Hughes, a GB under 23 international, third.
Wallace, competing for North Somerset AC, was only 12 seconds behind Hughes which is a good sign for the European Cros Country trials next month when they will be rivals to win a place in the GB Under 23 team.
Hughes did that two years ago when selected for the fixture where she failed to finish. On the evidence of Cardiff Wallace should be right in the mix to make the team.
That age group has passed Westbury Harriers’ Scrafton (pictured below) by now but she can take great heart from her seventh place. She finished 17th in the same fixture two years ago.
Clubmate Catherine Treble also made the top twenty in 14th place, which made her top veteran over 35 while Bristol & West AC’s leading scorer was Francis Arnott in 18th with Jessica Mackie (23rd) and Hannah Dyer (26th) also making the top thirty.
Bristol & West AC also had Katrina Entwhistle (35th) and the super vets pair of Claire Jolliffe (37th) and Sarah Everitt (38th) scoring well to ensure they finished second women’s team (1463pts) behind Cardiff (1506) with Chepstow Harriers third (1394).
B&W’s B team placed fourth (1381) with Westbury sixth (1312).