IN his final race of the year Ciaran Cooper raced to a morale-boosting victory in the Wiltshire Cross Country Championships, writes KEVIN FAHEY.

For the 17-year-old Swindon Harrier, cross country is a means to an end and his sights are firmly fixed on the indoor scene early in the new year.

So his performance at Bath University on Sunday was an encouraging sign.

“Cross country is not my strongest discipline so it is good to see that my current training is paying off,” said Cooper, who lives in Lower Stratton.

“It seems to be going really well at the moment and while I will do a few more races on the country I am concentrating on racing indoors and have some 800m races planned for January and February.”

Cooper, who is coached by Bryan Clinton, started steadily and didn’t panic when Birmingham University student Daniel Thomas went off really hard.

“I just stuck to his shoulder and when he began to tire went ahead on the second lap,” added Copper, who eventually finished 38 seconds clear of his rival.

Cooper was the only Harrier to finish among the medals at the event which were run alongside the Avon and Somerset Championships designed to give local runners a better standard of competition.

The next best performance came from 16-year-old Miranda King, who finished fourth in the under 17 women’s race while in the under 13 girls’ age group Dara Kelly, Anna Curtis, Sophie Hill and Sophie Capel all made the top twenty.

Elsewhere, there was a notable performance from Chloe Crippen in the under 15 girls’ race.

In only her first full season the 14-year-old Highworth Running Club member finished an excellent third behind the powerful Team Bath pair of Caitlin Wosika and Jade Littlechild.

It is her second county club medal after also finishing third in the 800m at Tidworth during the summer and shows what a talented youngster she is.

Marlborough & District Juniors (MADJA) were also represented and their best result came from Lola Gibbon, who was fourth in the under 11s novice race while Max Hughes was sixth in the under 13 boys.

In the seniors Simon Byrne was the leading Harrier in ninth while clubmates Simon Dill and Dominic Hodge also made the top 20.