A NUMBER of local club athletes ventured north to Bradford to represent Worcestershire in the British Inter-Counties and AAA Championships.

Twenty-one-year-old James Bowler from Alcester showed just how much he had improved over the last 12 months by beating a number of international runners when finishing in an excellent 28th place.

Last year, James set a personal best of 34 minutes on a slightly easier course at Bradford but this year he smashed his PB with a fantastic time of 30 mins 32 secs, to put him among the fastest U23 10k runners in the country.

The talented youngster, who set a series of PBs on the track in the summer, is looking for a good winter to consolidate his form and hopefully win a few honours.

Other Bromsgrove and Redditch runners found the level of competition, plus the hilly two-lap course, demanding but battled well for places.

Paul Collins finished 124th in a time of 33 mins 14 secs whilst Dave Kesterton's time of 34 mins 10 secs earned him 157th place.

Alan Ellesmere is finally getting back to his best and was satisfied with his run after finishing inside 40 mins, while he son Stephen completed all the hills and was only 200 metres from the finish when he had to pull out.

In the separate race for veterans, Phil Carbutt again got the better of ''coach'' Bernie Jones to finish sixth in 33mins 17 secs, with Bernie just half a minute behind.

l Bromsgrove & Redditch AC veteran ladies team followed up their recent league title success with third place in the A final at Stafford and the men backed them up with a creditable sixth place.

Both team performances showed great team spirit, especially as both teams were depleted due to injuries, illness and holiday commitments. Despite this, the ladies were rewarded with four individual wins and the men achieved five.

Yvonne Priestman was best athlete on the day and the most successful with three victories. As usual, she dominated the W45 200m and W50 100m but was delighted with her victory in the W45 high jump. Polly Gerner ran a great W34 100m to just get the benefit of the decision on the line.

For the men, strong man Mike Jones had a great double, winning his specialist event the discus in his own M60 age group with a meeting record of 37.10 and performed superbly to win the M40 shot against competitors 20 years his junior.

Dave Henley showed he is getting over his recent hamstring injury by dominating the 2k walk and Bernie Jones recorded his own double, winning both the M40 1,500 and 3,000 metres.

The day was not about individual winners, however, and many of the athletes competed in events alien to them to ensure the club earned team points. Despite being a sprinter, Priestman showed her commitment with strong runs to finish 2nd in the W50 800m and 6th in the W45 1500m. She also finished 4th in the W50 long jump.

In the W35 age group Julie Wakeman had a busy day in the field with 2nd place in the high jump, 3rd in both the hammer and long jump and 5th in the shot. Rita Brownlie was the ladies other field performer and despite being injured she managed to finish 4th in the W45 shot, 5th in the W50 discus and 7th in the W45 javelin.

Jane Anderson thought she was only running the W35 800m but ended the day having finished 4th in the 3,000m and 5th in both the 800m and 1,500m.

Alice Perrey warmed up for her 400m with a sprint from the car park to the start line, having got stuck in traffic, but did well to finish 6th, while Elaine Worth finished an excellent 2nd in the 2k walk. To round the day for the ladies, the 4x100m team of Yvonne, Polly, Alice and Julie finished 2nd.

In the men's competition, sprinter Pete Mould found the competition a little stronger than the league but did well to finish 3rd in the 200m and 4th in the 100m. Dave Cleverly tried his hand at long jump for the fist time and finished a creditable 6th. For the Jones's, Mike backed up his victories with a 5th in the M40 javelin while Bernie finished 2nd in the 800m and 5th in the high jump.

Harry West finished an excellent 2nd in the M60 shot and 7th in the M50 javelin, while the busiest man on the day was 62-year-old Dave Carney, who finished 4th in the M60 1500m and 7th in the M60 200m, M50 100m and M50 400m. He then ran the third leg of the relay with Pete Mould, Dave Cleverly and Bernie Jones,the team coming 6th.