York Acorn Running Club had a successful trip to Ripon for the Jolly Holly Jog with Becky Penty retaining the women's title she won last year.

And as a further fillip, the club's women were also triumphant in the team competition.

The course was a new one, organisers Ripon Runners having taken the decision to take the start off road to minimise the possibility of conflict between runners and traffic.

The course was therefore almost totally off road, but still through the scenic grounds of Studley Royal Park, where recent rain made the course quite muddy in parts.

The overall winner of the race was Ricky Stevenson of New Marske Harriers. He won by two and a half minutes and also spearheaded his club to team victory as they had five of the first six runners home.

York Acorn's Penty was almost as dominant among the women, winning by one and half minutes. She was well backed up by Dawn Gibbs, who was third woman home and first in the over-45 age group, and Angela Peace, who finished 12th overall.

For Acorn's men's team, Andy Normandale was tenth overall and second in the over-45 category. Club-mates Mark Harney and Steve Collett finished 46th and 80th respectively out of nearly 500 finishers.

The club also had success in the fun run which preceded the main event.

New member Rowan Palmour finished 15th overall, but was first in her age group for girls aged nine to 11.

Charlotte Mason was fifth overall and second in the girls aged 12-16 class, while James Proctor was 13th and fourth boy aged 9-11. Shannon Ellerton finished 58th.

The following day a couple of club members were in action in the Auld Lang Syne fell race over nine miles from Haworth.

Andy Hilton finished tenth in a high-standard field, while Pete Murray also ran.