Morton mark eludes Twell

Monday 13th April 2009, 2:29PM BST.

Steph Twell runs alongside fellow Aldershot team member Steve Conway in the early stages of the Keith Falla Memorial Cross-Country. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0755183)

THE course record eluded her, but Steph Twell again produced the outstanding performance on day two of the Easter Festival.

Over the 4.75-mile traditional L’Ancresse cross-country course, the big new hope of British women’s distance running chased the top men in the annual Keith Falla Memorial event.

But Lesley Morton’s formidable 1991 course mark of 25min. 57sec. proved just out of reach for the 19-year-old from Aldershot on a breezy morning out on the common.

Not that she was particularly chasing the record, she said afterwards.

‘I didn’t really want to focus on the record and I just wanted to race,’ she said, before admitting she lost a few seconds after straying off course on a couple of occasions.

‘Myself and Andy Conway went slightly off course and it probably cost us about five or six seconds.’