Association/Federal Express cross-country season as Tyler Hall and Kavin Smith tied for first place at Saturday's event at Chaplin Bay hosted by Swan's Running Club.

Each clocked 34 minutes, 15 seconds over the six-mile course with defending champion Tracy Wright a distant third in 35:36.

There was no such parity among the women, who raced over three miles, as Anna Eatherley announced herself as the one to beat.

Eatherley was timed in 18:39, more than a minute ahead of second place finisher Jane Christie (20:01). Female triathlon champion Julia Hawley was third in 20:22.

The BTFA/Minute Maid Junior Cross-Country Series got off to a great start with the first race of what is also to be a seven-race series.

Sixty youthful competitors from both secondary and primary school level participated with challenging runs.

Collin Anderson led the senior boys through the three-mile course to finish ahead of Trevor Hedges, with the former timed in 18 minutes, 22 seconds and the latter clocking 19:21. Mark Constable was third in 19:42.

Among the girls, it was Suella Matthews romping through the 1.8-mile layout to victory in 14:50.

Heidi Madeiros (15:18) was second and Freedom Trott (18:07) third.

The primary school races had Phillip Thomas and Velvet Smith garnering significant success in their first outings.

Thomas led home a field of 25 runners in 9:58, just holding off Frazer Hunt (10:02) and Joel Duffy (10:21).

Meanwhile, Smith, last year's runner-up, demonstrated her desire to improve on that position as she triumphed over Sherrie Seymour. The former came in 10:59 and the latter 12:05, while Tahmeaka Thomas placed third in 12:14.