MATTHEW Watson finished Yorkshire's top runner in the senior men's race at the English National Cross-Country Championships last Saturday (writes Roger Ingham).

The Bingley Harriers runner from Embsay came 13th out of more than 2,000 competitors in the event on London's Parliament Hill.

Watson was placed as high as seventh at one stage and in close proximity to winner Peter Riley, of Leigh. But he slipped back in the final surge for the line, possibly as a result of missing training earlier in the winter due to a virus.

Former Skipton Athletics Club member Tink Taylor, now with the combined Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow Club, also finished 13th in the corresponding women's event.

On the junior front, Skipton AC's under-13 boys' team took pride of place, finishing in a highly creditable eighth place which saw the club's name featured on national television.

The team - which won the North of England title - consisted of Billy Pinder, Will Crisp, Joel Griffith, Danny Bowditch and Will Marshall, with Pinder finishing the highest individual in 25th.