Headington Roadrunners senior men's sealed an exciting victory over Witney Roadrunners in the Oxfordshire Road Relays Championships at Hook Norton.

The team kicked off their road race season as they finished the cross country campaign, by battling back from behind. Trailing Witney and Woodstock Harriers for much of the day, Headi- ngton's greater strength in depth paid dividends in the closing stages.

Gary Harris clinched victory for his team in the last leg in the worst of the conditions as gale force winds and hailstorms battered the three-mile course.

It was Witney who got off to a flying start, as Mathew Ashton stormed to the quickest time of the day to put them into a first-leg lead.

His time of 16mins 18secs in the atrocious conditions was over a minute ahead of second-placed Marcus Maxwell (Woodstock) and only one second outside the course record.

Jerry McCarthy, making a welcome return to Witney colours, held on to the lead over the second leg, although the overall team lead was cut to 38 seconds.

Witney slipped to second place after Trevor Hunn's third leg brought Woodstock Harriers into the lead, handing over a 44-second advantage to Dean Sheppard.

Woodstock still led after leg four, but Chris Dettmar of Headington produced a terrific run as his team moved ominously into second place.

The fifth leg began with Woodstock still leading the way, although now having only by two seconds over Headington and by six seconds over a resurgent Witney, after Mike Baillie's run, the final result remained in doubt.

Anchor man Tony Lock (Witney) soon passed Brian Vaughan (Woodstock) to attack the lead of Gary Harris (Headington) in the final leg, but it was not to be, as Harris held on to clinch team gold in the second fastest time of the day, crossing the line in a hailstorm in 17mins 5secs.

Headington added the veteran men's title, as they led from start to finish to record an overall time of 1hr 59mins 58secs.

They finished five minutes ahead of Abingdon Amblers, with Banbury Harriers taking third place.

The women's title went to Witney Roadrunners' veterans, who finished 32 seconds ahead of Banbury Harriers.

Banbury took the consolation of clinching the senior ladies' title.

The fastest time of the day went to Helen Barnes, of Headington, who headed Nicola Gomm (Witney) by just six seconds on leg one.

However, Sally Pitts, taking over on leg two, took Witney into what proved to be a winning lead.

This was confirmed by Veronica Boden on the final leg, despite Banbury's Lorna King closing the gap in the latter stages.

The junior events over a shorter course through the village saw Abingdon take the under 15 boys, title and Banbury the under 15 girls' prize RELAYS RESULTS TEAM

Senior men: 1 Headington RR 1.49.00 (C Riley 17.55, K Havaney 19.32, C Hetherington 17.59, C Dettmar 17.45, D Burton 18.44, G Harris 17.05), 2 Witney RR A 1.49.52 (M Ashton 16.18, J McCarthy 19.13, L Boden (V40) 19.18, C Miles 19.02, M Baillie 18.08, T Lock 17.53), 3 Woodstock H A 1.50.16 (M Maxwell 17.34, R Bradley 18.35, T Hunn 17.56, D Sheppard 18.52, R Linnell 18.56, B Vaughan (V50) 18.23), 4 Banbury Harriers 1.54.51 (I Robinson 19.18, S Pritchard 18.16, S Devonish 19.18, P Concannon 17.50, S Taylor 20.45, J Burke 19.24), 5 Hook Norton Harriers 1.58.33 (B Nolan 19.14, O Villiamy 20.41, J Brookes 20.39, M Brown (V50) 21.04, A Tilsley 19.15, T Bradford 17.40), 6 White Horse Harriers 1.59.52 (P Jegou 18.11, N Ponting 18.43, D Murfin 20.03, J Cooke 17.39, P Moloane 23.06, G Smith 22.10. 7 Alchester 2.03.02 (A Hucker 20.07, P Vallance 19.13, D Herriot 21.46, G McCready 22.21, J Percival 19.20, G Clench 20.15). 8 Woodstock H B 2.04.26 (M Townsend (V40) 20.03, K Adams 19.24, S Caswell (V40) 23.20, T Maddison 21.05, J Ashworth 19.54, H Warren (V40) 20.40).

Veteran men: 1 Headington RR A 1.59.58 (J Griffiths 18.43, C Nellins 19.42, H Nickau 20.57, I Meadowcroft 19.10, A Phelps 19.40, I Smith 21.46), 2 Abingdon A 2.04.49 (T Greenland 20.37, D Roberts 22.50, S Cartwright 19.33, J Oliver 21.17, I Richardson 21.02, R Schofield 19.30), 3 Banbury H 2.07.22 (B Hendrie 20.13, P Coy 19.56, G Pritchard 21.25, G Smith 20.22, R Haddrell 21.31, P Bevis 23.55).

Under 15 boys: 1 Abingdon 18.44 (S Copley 6.00, B Schofield 6.35, J Charleston 6.09), 2 Banbury H 19.35 (S Hepworth 6.21, J Simmons 6.18,J Gunn 6.56).

Senior women: 1 Banbury H 1.03.10 (R Andrews 21.03, M Buzzard 21.12, L King 20.55), 2 Headington RR 1.05.56 (H Barnes 20.12, D Moore 22.30, A Niklasson 23.14), 3 White Horse H 1.11.50 (S Bailey 23.15, J Bailey 26.52, R Knopp 21.43).

Veteran women: 1 Witney RR 1.02.38 (N Gomm 20.18, S Pitts 21.19, V Boden 21.01, 2 Headington RR 1.11.05 (J Bell 23.20, A Hack 23.47, Fischer) 23.58.

Under 15 girls : 1 Banbury H A 20.30. Leg 1 S Tyers 6.17, Leg 2 A Gunn 6.59, Leg 3 J Tyers 7.14. 2 Banbury H B 23.02. Leg 1 A Gallagher 7.15, Leg 2 C Drummond 7.48, Leg 3 E Boyd 7.59

INDIVIDUAL

Senior men (top 30): 1 M Ashton (Witney RR) 16.18, 2 G Harris (Headington RR) 17.05, 3 P Egerton (Abingdon) 17.08, 4 M Maxwell (Woodstock H) 17.34, 5 J Cooke (White Horse H) 17.39, 6 T Bradford (Hook Norton) 17.40, 7 C Dettmar (Headington RR) 17.45, 8 P Concannon (Banbury H) 17.50, 9 T Lock (Witney RR) 17.53, 10 C Riley (Headington RR) 17.55, 11 T Hunn (Woodstock H) 17.56, 12 C Hetherington (Headington RR, V40) 17.59, 13 M Baillie (Witney RR) 18.08, 14 P Jegou (White Horse H) 18.11, 15 S Pritchard (Banbury H) 18.16, 16 B Vaughan (Woodstock H, V50) 18.23, 17 R Bradley (Woodstock H) 18.35, 18 N Ponting (White Horse H) 18.43, 19 J Griffiths (Headington RR, V40) 18.43, 20 D Burton (Headington RR) 18.44, 21 D Sheppard (Woodstock H) 18.52, 22 R Linnell (Woodstock A) 18.56, 23 C Miles (Witney RR) 19.02, 24 I Meadowcroft (Headington RR, V40) 19.10, 25 J McCarthy (Witney RR) 19.13, 26 P Vallance (Alchester) 19.13, 27 B Nolan (Hook Norton) 19.14, 28 A Tilsley (Hook Norton) 19.15, 29 I Robinson (Banbury H) 19.18, 30 L Boden (Witney RR, V40) 19.18.

Senior women (top 20): 1 H Barnes (Headington RR) 20.12, 2 N Gomm (Witney RR, LV35) 20.18, 3 L King (Banbury H) 20.55, 4 V Boden (Witney RR LV35) 21.01, 5 R Andrews (Banbury H) 21.03, 6 M Buzzard (Banbury H) 21.12, 7 S Pitts (Witney RR, LV35) 21.19, 8 R Knopp (White Horse H) 21.43, 9 D Moore (Headington RR) 22.30, 10 A Niklasson (Headington RR) 23.14, 11 S Kerswell (Woodstock H, LV35) 23.15, 12 S Bailey (White Horse H) 23.15, 13 J Bell (Headington RR, LV35) 23.20, 14 A Hack (Headington RR, LV35) 23.47, 15 Fischer (Headington RR, LV35) 23.58, 16 Z Barrell (Woodstock H, LV35) 24.50, 17 S Ferrer (Abingdon) 24.55, 18 B Hampson (Abingdon, U15) 25.34, 19 A Galvin (Abingdon, U17) 25.58, 20 J Bailey (White Horse H) 26.52.