CATIE O’Donoghue produced another strong performance to help deliver a gold medal for her team at the 2019 South West Inter Counties Cross Country Championships.

The 26-year-old, from Lakeside, joined her Bristol & West AC clubmates to defend their team title won over the same Aldon Hill course, near Yeovil, last year, and on the day, got her tactics spot-on.

With two tough climbs to negotiate on each of the two laps, pace judgement is essential, and O’Donoghue judged her effort so well that she ran almost a minute quicker than 12 months ago and improved by one place to finish 11th.

“It is a tough course so I am pleased with that,” said O’Donoghue.

O’Donoghue finished second scorer for the four-strong team as they just edged out Cornwall AC by 17 points to retain the title and bragging rights as the top cross country outfit in the west country.

Team manager Keith Brackstone added: “The team followed a race plan of taking the first lap steadily and then pushing on through the second lap. The tactic worked as the team all moved through to pick up the places that made the difference between being winners and runners-up.

“It is a hard trick to pull off as many athletes run in county colours so it is difficult to tell how individual club teams are doing.

"At Bristol & West, we always choose to run in club colours to reinforce our club team identity.”

In the senior men’s race, Swindon Harriers’ county medallist Simon Byrne was racing the event for the first time since 2015 and it is a measure of his improvement in what was a strong field that he leapt from 42nd to 27th and first Wiltshire senior man to cross the line.

Club-mate Sergio Martinez-Gonzalez was almost a minute quicker than last year, but dropped nine places to finish 40th, while junior Ethan Pierce was 66th – and 16th in the U20s age group – with dad Mark Pierce 122nd.

In the U17 women’s race, the Harrier quartet of Rachel Oran (22nd), Sophie Capel (27th), Anna Curtis (40th) and Maddy Tonkin (41st) placed fourth with 133 points.

Kiya Dee, of Highworth Running Club, impressed in the U15 girls’ event as she finished runner-up behind Salisbury’s outstanding Bea Wood, with her sister Taya Dee 11th.

The Swindon Harriers pair of Kelly-Marie Marsh and Lavinia Rai both made the top 40 in 32nd and 35th respectively, while in the U13s age group, Jacob Pritchard of Marlborough & District Juniors placed 14th.

2019 South West Inter Counties Cross Country Championships, Aldon Hill, Yeovil

Senior men: 1 Owain Jones (B&W) 29:38; 2 Phil Wylie (Chelt, M40) 29:46; 3 Finn Birnie (N&P, U20) 29:53.

M40: 1 Wylie; 2 Mark Jenkin (Bide); 3 Phil Burden (Taun); 6th Simon Gilbert (Devizes RC).

M50: 1 Paul Whear (CAC); 2 Alec Woods (SWVets); 3 Guy Woods (SWVets).

M60: 1 Jonathan Goodland (B&W); 2 Tom Hutchison (TB); 3 Peter Wheddon (Clev).

Teams: 1 Bristol & West AC 33; 2 Team Bath AC 175; 3 Cornwall AC 178; 7th Chippenham Harriers 500.

Counties: 1 Avon 34; 2 Devon 105; 3 Cornwall 112; 5th Wiltshire 178.

U20 men: 1 Birnie; 2 Max Davis (AVR) 30:46; 3 Sam Goodchild (CAC) 30:55.

Counties: 1 Cornwall 23; 2 Devon 39; 3 Avon 42.

U17 men: 1 Oliver Smart (TRP) 17:51; 2 Flynn Jennings (Bide) 17:55; 3 Abdi Hasan (WH) 18:05.

LOCAL: 29 Archie Pierce (Swin).

Teams: 1 Cornwall AC 56.

Counties: 1 Devon 15; 2 Cornwall 35; 3 Avon 40.

U15 boys: 1 Joe Ponter (Taun) 13:53; 2 Isaac Murray (CAC) 14:01; 3 Thomas Heal (Taun) 14:09.

LOCAL: 14 Jacob Pritchard (MADJA); 22 Matt North (Madja); 28 Samuel Rai (Swin); 35 Thomas Nicholls (Swin).

Teams: 1 Taunton AC 42; 2 Wells 49; 3 Cornwall AC 94.

Counties: 1 Somerset 20; 2 Devon 31; 3 Dorset 71.

U13 boys: 1 William Rabjohns (Poole) 11:29; 2 Charlie Hague (Ex) 11:41; 3 Jacob Webb (CAC) 12:13.

Teams: 1 Cornwall AC 52; 2 Exeter 73; 3 Taunton 99.

Counties: 1 Devon 24; 2 Cornwall 28; 3 Somerset 50.

Senior women: 1 Heidi Tregenza (CAC) 20:03; 2 Grace Copeland (Wimb) 20:26; 3 Elise Thorner (Wells, U20) 20:40.

Teams: 1 Bristol & West AC 62; 2 Cornwall AC 79; 3 Avon Valley Runners 128; 4 Westbury Harriers 158; 8 Clevedon AC 246.

Counties: 1 Devon 52; 2 Avon 80; 3 Cornwall 85; 4 Wiltshire 149.

W45: 1 Cleo Perry (EVH); 2 Julie Dixon (Bide); 3 Katie Hughes (WH).

U17 women: 1 Molly Canham (Ex) 15:16; 2 Chloe Olford (NAbbot) 15:36; 3 Rosie Hamilton-James (WH) 15:38.

Teams: 1 Westbury Harriers 46; 2 Exeter 56; 3 Newquay & Par AC 82.; 4 Swindon Harriers 133 (25 Rachel Oran, 27 Sophie Capel, 40 Anna Curtis, 41 Maddy Tonkin).

Counties: 1 Devon 27; 2 Avon 46; 3 Cornwall 52; 5th Wiltshire 77.

U15 girls: 1 Bea Wood (Sals) 13:17; 2 Kiya Dee (HRC) 14:00; 3 Emily Shaw (Wimb) 14:03.

LOCAL: 11 Taya Dee (HRC); 32 Kelly-Marie Marsh (Swin); 35 Lavinia Rai (Swin).

Teams: 1 Cornwall AC 36; 2 Exeter 81; 3 Poole AC 114.

Counties: 1 Cornwall 35; 2 Avon 44; 3 Dorset 44; 5th Wiltshire 76.

U13 girls: 1 Scarlett Livingstone (Ex) 12:30; 2 Iona Farquharson (Torbay) 13:00; 3 Sophie Nicholls (Sals) 13:16.

LOCAL: 27 Ella Spencer (Swin); 29 Maisie McCalla (Swin); 43 Katie New (Swin).

Teams: 1 Westbury Harriers 72; 2 Newquay & Par 137; 3 Cornwall AC 160.

Counties: 1 Avon 24; 2 Devon 29; 3 Dorset 55.