Strong winds meant that very fast times were out of the question and the race developed into a close battle between Bannister and Altrincham's Dave Norman.

Only in the last 200 metres did Bannister finally break Norman whilst Leeds City's Chris Birchall was not far back in third place.

Birchall is in fine form at present and he led Leeds City to a team win, backed up by Scott Mitchell (15th) and Arthur Cooke (19th)
There was double success for Leeds, Susan Partridge taking the women's award. She finished 20th overall in a field of 1100, clocking 34:02.

Results
1 D Bannister (Shafsbury Barnet) 31:03; 2 D Norman (Altrincham) 31:06; 3 C Birchall (Leeds City) 31:18; 4 L Cragg (Mansfield) 31:37; 5 I Fisher (Otley) 32:07; 6 C Brookes (Knavesmire) 32:26; 7 P Lowe (North Yorks Moors) 32:38; 8 S Cook (York Acorn) 32:43; 9 J Bulman (North Yorks Moors) 32:47; 10 C Ryde (Doncaster) 32:52
Teams: 1 Leeds City; 2 North Yorks Moors; 3 York Acorn
Women: 1 S Partridge (Leeds City) 34:02; 2 P Powell (Blackburn) 34:53; 3 J Briscoe (Wakefield) 36:09. Teams: 1 Valley Striders; 2 Wakefield; 3 Bingley.

Midlands champion James Walsh finished 20th and led Leeds to sixth place in the European Clubs Cross Country Championship in Portugal on Saturday.

It is the club's best-ever placing in this prestigious race. Walsh was supported by Simon Deakin (27th), Mike Burrett (55th) and Darran Bilton (67th).

Rory Fraser (Leeds Metropolitan University) finished fourth in the British Universities Cross Country Championships at Swansea on Saturday.

Other leading performances included Alistair Brownlee (Leeds Univ) fifth, John Heneghan (Sheffield Univ) sixth and Adam Grice (Leeds Univ) ninth.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Brownlee (Bradford) retained his senior title at the West Yorkshire Schools Cross Country Championships, beating James Wilkinson (Leeds). Chloe Patchett (Kirklees) retained her senior girls title.