Borders League

The Borders Road Running League was formed in 1983 by a number of new running clubs in North Wales and the western part of Cheshire. The aim was to provide inter-club competition between teams of member clubs on a competitive yet friendly basis. This philosophy continues today - find out more here!

Results 2022-23

Season 2022-23

Race 6 – Nova, Prestatyn, 17th May 2023

  Hosted by Prestatyn RC, problems with the availability of the course had forced this race to be rescheduled at fairly short notice. Despite the problems this caused for a number of clubs, the field which crammed itself behind the start line on the coastal embankment still numbered more than 300.
  In the Mens’ race, Joe Boden (Wallasey AC) – already assured of the Mens’ Overall title – flew round the 3.65 mile course in a time of 18:11 to clinch his 4th win of the season, by a 12 second margin from Buckley’s Ricky Challinor.
  Behind these two came a remarkable team achievement from Wrexham AAC, who provided the next 5 finishers, had 8 finishers in the first 13, and brought all their 10 counters home in the first 31. Their team score of 110 duly assured them of victory on the day in Division 1 and clinched their first League title since 1996-97. It also represented the lowest score by a 10 man team since 1995-96.
  Buckley RC were 2nd on the day, with their 10th finisher 52nd – and this performance ensured they finished as League runners-up.
  2nd place in the Mens’ Overall individual standings was shared by Ryan Davis (Wrexham AAC) and Jamie Richardson (West Cheshire AC).
  The Womens’ race saw a first League win for Tracy Rogers (Buckley RC), in a time of 21:32. Fay Hughes (UTS RC) finished 15 seconds further back in 2nd place. This performance was good enough to assure her of the Womens’ Overall title, ahead of Jennifer Rambaldi (Buckley RC), 5th on the day.
  Those 1st and 5th places were key to a Buckley RC team performance which gave them victory on the day in Division 1 (ahead of Wirral AC) and saw them leapfrog Deeside AAC to take the Division 1 title.
   The promotion issues in the respective Division 2s had been all but decided prior to this race, but Ellesmere Port RC‘s victory on the day over Chester Tri confirmed that they took the Mens’ Division 2 title ahead of the triathletes. Prestatyn RC‘s 2nd place on the day on Womens’ Division 2, behind champions UTS RC, was insufficient to prevent Ellesmere Port RC from clinching promotion.
  Wirral AC took the Veteran Mens title, and UTS RC took the Veteran Womens title, to crown a highly successful debut season – for one half of that club at least.
   Results below have now been finalised, with some very minor changes.
Individual Results 
Team Results
Individual Standings
Team Standings
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Race 5 – Delamere Forest, 23rd April 2023

This race was staged at short notice by West Cheshire AC. Given it took place on the same morning as the London Marathon, a turnout of more than 260 runners to take on this 3 lap, 9.4K course came as a pleasant surprise.
On this occasion Joe Boden (Wallasey AC) was unchallenged, and cruised serenely around the mere to take the Mens’ race by a 55 second margin. Having previously recorded two wins and a second place this season, victory here also meant that he had successfully defended his title as Mens’ Overall champion for 2022-23, with a race to spare. He was followed home by Wrexham AAC’s Benjamin Goodfellow.
The Womens’ race was much more closely contested. In the end , Wirral AC’s Rachel Theobald just shaded it from Buckley’s Jennifer Rambaldi – the former’s second League victory.
The two clubs they represented were also the best performers on the day in both Division 1s – with the Welsh club’s Men grabbing their first win of the season, the English club’s women likewise.
In Division 2, UTS RC’s women finished a narrow second to Ellesmere Port on the day, but in doing so, guaranteed finishing as Division 2 champions. They cannot now be overtaken in the final race of the season.
Ellesmere Port’s men are almost there too – their win over Chester Tri on the day means the triathletes would require an improbable performance to snatch the Division 2 title away.
Results have now been finalised. The disqualifications referred to previously were not challenged.

Individual Results
Team Results
Individual Standings
Team Standings

Race 4 – Mold, 16th April 2023

What had originally been intended to be race 6 of 7 turned out in the end to be the 4th race of 6. After a four month hiatus, a field of more than 270 runners assembled on the start line of the familiar hilly 5 mile Nercwys course, on an increasingly damp and drizzly day.
 Joe Boden (Wallasey AC) and Scott Overall (Deeside AAC) were quickly out of sight of the rest of the field in the Mens’ race, with the former Olympian eventually coming through to win by an 8 second margin.
  Deeside made it a double, with the Womens’ race seeing a first BL victory for Martha Owen. Just over a minute further back was Fay Hughes (UTS RC), continuing her consistent season.
  Wrexham AAC placed 4 runners in the top 10, 9 in the first 51, and this consistency ensured them another victory on the day in Mens’ Division 1, as well as their continued presence at the top of the Division. Almost as consistent were Deeside AAC, second on the day with their best performance so far.  Their women went one better, with a victory on the day ahead of Buckley RC leaving them favourites to take the Division 1 title.
   Ellesmere Port RC and UTS RC, leaders of Mens’ and Womens’ Division 2 respectively, both had comfortable victories on the day to consolidate their leads. Prestatyn RC‘s men moved into promotion contention with their 2nd place finish.
  Results from this race have now been finalised and will be submitted to RunBritain for upload.
Individual Results
Team Results
Individual Standings
Team Standings

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Race 3 – Trac Mon, Anglesey, 18th December 2022

Anglesey had been far less affected by the recent cold snap than the rest of the country, and it’s unlikely race 3 would have gone ahead had it been staged anywhere else. More than 280 runners were able to make the long journey to the island’s motor sport circuit, to be greeted instead by strong winds and blustery showers. Cybi Striders were nonetheless able to stage a successful race despite the testing conditions.
Ryan Davis (Wrexham AAC) beat the elements to clock a time of 26:17 over the 5 mile course, and record his first ever Borders League victory in the Mens’ race. 26 seconds further back was West Cheshire AC’s Jamie Richardson in 2nd.
Hannah Cowley‘s 30:25 (Helsby RC) assured her of her 5th BL victory, by a margin of well over two minutes in the Womens’ race, ahead of Anna Begbie from Deeside.
Several clubs were missing a number of their regular runners. Wallasey AC‘s men were as depleted as any other team, but nonetheless had enough strength in depth to record a victory on the day in Division 1, by 144 points from Wrexham AAC. This also enabled them to regain the top spot in the team standings.
Meanwhile, Deeside AAC’s women recorded their best result in their Division 1, and leapt to the head of the standings in doing so. Helsby RC, 2nd on the day, remained 2nd in the standings.
Division 2 Men saw the host club Cybi Striders manage their best ever turnout and a win on the day ahead of Chester Tri. Ellesmere Port RC, in 3rd place on the day did enough to remain top of the standings, ahead of the triathletes. The Womens division saw Ellesmere Port finish ahead of UTS on the day, and close the gap between the two clubs at the top of the Division 2 standings.

The results have at last been finalised. Individual standings also appear below for the first time this season.
The following statement from the League Chair, Robert Mackey, makes clear the reason for the delay in publishing the final results:
“After Race 3 an official complaint was received by the league that an athlete had been deliberately pushed by another athlete. Following extensive investigations, and referring to an independent arbiter, the complaint was upheld. As a consequence, the athlete responsible for the pushing was deemed to have acted in breach of UKA rules on fairness in competition and has been disqualified from the race, banned from the next BL race and barred from receiving any BL awards this season.
League officials also investigated the incident that led up to that event. The allegation was that the athlete had been unfairly cut-up and impeded following being overtaken. We questioned why there was any need to cut in at all under the circumstances. As we could find no independent witnesses to clarify what had happened, no action has been taken although the athlete was reminded of the need to respect other athletes.
It was also noted that a verbal altercation took place between the athletes using foul language. Both athletes were reminded that this is a breach of UKA rules on fairness in competition.“

Individual Results
Team Results
Individual Standings
Team Standings
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Race 2 – Tattenhall, 13th November 2022

Chester Tri hosted race 2 at this ever-popular venue. 400 runners were rewarded for their efforts with ideal autumn weather and some excellent post-race refreshments.
Joe Boden (Wallasey AC) once more finished well clear of the field in the Mens’ race, his nearest rival Jamie Richardson (West Cheshire AC) nearly 40 seconds behind. This theme was echoed in the Womens’ race, with last month’s winner Hannah Cowley (Helsby RC) triumphing here too, by a similar margin over League debutant Lindsay Fisher (West Cheshire AC).
With Wrexham AAC‘s Men not able to field the same strength in depth they were able to at New Brighton, Wallasey AC took advantage to clinch a convincing win on the day with all their counters home in the first 55 finishers. The Division 1 League table looks interestingly poised, with those two clubs and Buckley RC all within 34 points of each other.
Hannah Cowley’s performance spearheaded a win on the day for Helsby RC‘s women, and brought them up to 2nd place in Womens’ Division 1 behind leaders Buckley RC, second on the day.
Mens’ Division 2 saw a dominant performance from Ellesmere Port, which leapfrogged them to the top of the table. The performance of newcomers Pensby – 2nd on the day – was good enough to take them into 2nd place in the League table also.
Just as dominant was the performance of UTS RC in Womens’ Division 2, their second successive win on the day putting them into a sizeable lead over Ellesmere Port RC in the League table. Chester Tri, 2nd on the day, gained a little ground on the latter.
The results have now been finalised. No corrections were received, and of two missing results, only one was identified. Taking a disqualification into account, this means we have 399 finishers.

Individual Results
Team Results
League Standings
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Race 1 – New Brighton, 16th October 2022

With two new clubs joining the League, and a third reappearing for the first time since pre-Covid days, an increased turnout was expected for this race. However, no-one expected that turnout to come close to breaking the League record, with almost 450 runners toeing the start line at the end of Ian Fraser Walk in New Brighton, on a pleasant autumn morning. Hosts Wirral AC had their work cut out, but in the end, an excellent race was enjoyed by all.
  The Mens’ race saw Joe Boden (Wallasey AC) cruising to his tenth BL win, with Ryan Davis (Wrexham AC) some 20 seconds behind him and the rest of the field well adrift.
  The previous three Borders League seasons had all seen Hannah Cowley (Helsby) win the first Womens’ race, and she duly made it four in a row here, more than a minute ahead of Sara Avery (Ellesmere Port). The latter’s achievement, recording a 2nd place for the second time in the V55 category, is worthy of note.
   Luke Northall at Wrexham AC has been steadily building a strong squad of runners in the last couple of seasons, and his team dominated the Mens’ Division 1 race. In getting their first 8 counters home in the top 19, the challenge to last year’s champions Wallasey AC, as well as second placed Buckley RC, was made clear.
   Buckley RC did however make it a winning start in the Womens’ Division 1 race, gaining an early advantage over defending champions Wirral AC, who finished second on the day.
  In Mens’ Division 2, Chester Tri, just pipped for promotion last season, got their campaign under way with a victory on the day over Prestatyn RC. Meanwhile, the Womens’ Division saw the newcomers from UTS RC claim a debut win over Ellesmere Port.

  The finalised results are available at the links below. Some registration errors have been corrected. Also, inspection of the finish line camera footage has resulted in some minor amendments to the final placings.
Individual Results
Team Results

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You can find results of previous years’ races in our Results Archive.

Updated 21/05/2023