Victories for Helston’s Emma Stepto (senior lady), Issy Steele (under 17 ladies), Callum Jones (under 17 men) and young Sam Bareham (under 11) maintained Cornwall Athletic Club’s momentum in this winter's Brooks Westward Cross Country League at Exeter last weekend, writes Alan Rowling.

The senior ladies race provided a real confidence boost for Emma, who was delighted with this performance after a below par run in the previous week’s British Masters International race.

Emma beat an England colleague, Lucy Hodgson (Newquay and Par) into second place by thirty three seconds and led the Cornwall AC Senior Ladies team to their third successive team win of the season.

One of the club’s up and coming cross country star, Issy Steele, ran strongly in the senior race, finishing in sixth place, less than a minute behind Emma, and maintaining an impressive unbeaten record in the Under 17 age group.

In the Under 17 men’s races Callum Jones tracked the leader until the closing stages before unleashing a killer burst, to which David Weir (Plymouth AC) had no answer, completing a classy Under 17 double for the local club.

In the senior men’s race, it was great to see Conor Robinson back in action after an eight month break due to injury. The English Schools Cross Country international began cautiously, moving through slowly to take twelfth place helping to maintain Cornwall AC’s lead over Exeter Harriers in the overall team competition.

Cornwall AC 's rapidly improving Under 13 Girls once again performed well, finishing third on the day and moving into the lead in their age group. This proved to be the race of the day, with Ann Vance (Tavistock AC) making a break at the bottom of the last hill, followed by Katie Hughes (CAC) and Newquay and Par's Lily England. Four hundred metres later the Tavistock youngster stormed ahead of her rivals to win by eight seconds, with Katie having moved into second, beating Lily for the first time. Yo Barnsley (CAC) fell after fifty metres but got up quickly and worked her way back up the field, eventually finishing in a fine sixth position.

Two names to lookout for in the future are Sam Bareham and Sarah Wilson. Sam powered his way around the 1,600 metre Under 11 course, leaving all his rivals trailing, crossing the line seventeen seconds ahead of his nearest challenger. In the equivalent Girls race Sarah Wilson almost pulled off another win for the club, finishing in second place - one second behind the winner.