Jess leads from the front

She romped to victory at the Oxfordshire Cross Country League in Cirencester

JESS Franklin romped to victory in the second round of the Oxfordshire Cross Country League in Cirencester.

The Newbury Athletic Club runner battled rain, mud and brutal hills on a tough and challenging course, but she destroyed the senior women’s field with an outstanding display of front running.

Franklin triumphed by a huge distance of well over one minute on the 7km race.

Victoria Duncan also had a great race, finishing in fourth and first senior woman, with the three ladies ahead of her all in the veteran category.

Rachel Allen made up the winning team for Newbury AC with 14th position and second in V2 category.

Jenny Eaton was also second V3, with Liz Harkness first in the V4.

Newbury AC’s senior men battled over the 9.5k course to finish second in the seven-scoring team ahead of Oxford City AC and Swindon AC, but behind runaway winners Abingdon AC.

The best performers were James Craggs in eighth and Matthew Green in ninth, while Andrew Ind and

Mike Sheridan were fifth in V1 and V3 categories respectively.

Newbury AC’s Tobias Allen continued his impressive improvement with fourth in the under-17 boys race with Kitty Shepherd-Cross third under-17 girl.