OWAIN Jones ensured a Bristol & West AC senior double by winning the men’s event in the Gwent Cross Country League at Blaise Castle and proving that at the age of 40 he is racing as well as ever.
Jones finished eight seconds clear of fellow veteran Phillip Matthews of Parc Bryn Back Runners with West of England Uni student Luke Burgess third.
Jones’ victory ended a five-year wait since his last triumph when he won at Newport on February 12th. Since then he has had a couple of third places, a fifth and a sixth on the rare occasions he has lined up so Saturday’s win just serves to underline the class of the runner.
But unlike the senior women’s race there was no similar B&W dominance of the men’s race though Tony Orvain (sixth) and Andy Watt (ninth) also made the top ten.
Nonetheless, B&W still won the team event with the above trio backed up by Peter Baines (19th) and Aled Anderson (29th) to finish 59 points ahead of Park Bryn Bach Runners and cement their place at the top of the overall standings.
Other good performances came from Westbury Harriers’ Ben Rawlins in fifth and North Somerset’s Joe Gentry in 10th place.