AMY Fulford of Ludlow made a triumphant return to competition by winning the Herefordshire Cross County League’s second race of the season.

The race, held at Croft Castle, was the 33rd to be hosted by the classic course.

A fantastic total of 236 runners observed a minute’s silence on Remembrance Sunday before the races started.

The big story came in the women’s events as our local runners navigated the testing course, which includes long uphill hauls and muddy descents, brilliantly.

Ludlow Runners' reigning league champion Fulford suffered a fall in the summer but came back stronger than ever and just did enough to hold off Croft’s Gemma Mallett with a time of 34.38 in her first event of the season.

Mallett had completed seven marathons in seven days during the previous week and didn’t quite have enough in the tank to catch Fulford.

The Croft Ambrey Running Club’s female contingent showed great strength in depth as they finished four teams of three runners in the top six positions.

Mallett’s battling second place was bolstered by good performances from Emma Morris in fifth and Irina Dale in sixth.

Those results meant the Croft team secured its second successive victory as they finished eight points ahead of reigning champions Wye Valley Runners.

Wye Valley won’t have given up hope of retaining their crown, however, following solid runs by Laura Tootell in third, Juliet Moxon in seventh and Becky Ansfield in 11th.

Croft Ambrey's B string completed the top three team positions again led home by Kelly Bowen in ninth and well supported by Robyn Gore in 12th and Katie Jones in 13th.

After two races in the five race series, Croft Ambrey hold a 14 point advantage.

It wasn’t such a good day for the Ludlow and Croft Ambrey men, however, as they struggled to compete against the strength of their fellow runners.

The men raced over three laps of the muddy course with Builth Running Club duo Tim Iveson and Robin Woods setting the pace.

In-form Iverson comfortably moved ahead and won his second successive victory ahead of Woods in second and Hereford Couriers’ Matt James in third.

James led his Couriers team to an improved third place backed by an excellent sixth place from Barry Reynolds, on his league debut, with Mike Link in 17th and the evergreen Tim Taylor in 23rd providing back up.

Mark Thomas of Croft finished his first cross country race for his new club in 12th place.

Craig Collier, who finished 16th, led his Ludlow team home in fifth position thanks to Matt Jenneson, Paul Lewis and Dan Fisher all finishing in the top 34.

The next race in the series will be held at Monkhall Farm on Sunday, December 3.