JONATHAN Cornish fought off a strong challenge to be crowned senior men’s champion after taking third in the final round at RAL Harwell.

The White Horse Harrier, who led the standings by 11 points ahead of Sunday, completed the 8,500m course in 30mins 8secs.

He finished just over 40 seconds behind winner Ben Cole, of Swindon Harriers, who led clubmate Nyle Clinton.

And his third-place finish was enough to beat nearest rival David Bell, of Cirencester, who came fifth, to the title by 13 points.

Oxford City’s Tegid Jones and Aaron Burgess finished third and fourth in the standings and also helped their club retain the Division 1 honours by a convincing 730 points.

At Harwell, City took the team honours thanks to the efforts of Aaron Burgess, Simon Fisher, Jones, and Ewan Gault, who all finished in the top 15.

Paul Fernandez took the vet 40 crown by 16 points from City’s Les Newell after crossing sixth on Sunday.

The Abingdon runner also guided his club to the Division 2 title.

Headington’s Andy Phelps bounced back from coming second in last year’s vet 50 title race to claim the honours by just a point from Abingdon’s Nigel Bunn.

Phelps came 42nd at Harwell, pipping Bunn by just three places and ten seconds.

Stewart Thorp was the first vet 60 home on Sunday in 92nd, helping him retain the title.

Radley’s Alex Miell-Ingram claimed the under 20 honours.

Ben West, of Bicester, enjoyed his first victory of the season to land the under 15 trophy.

He led the way in the combined under 15/17 race, crossing in 18.27, four seconds ahead of Abingdon’s Jack Shayler, who was beaten to the older age group title by Will Crisp, of Swindon Harriers.

The under 13 crown went down to the wire and Skip Snelson, of Banbury, overhauled Radley runner Ben Cumberland’s one-point lead to take the honours.

Snelson won the final race in 8.51 as Cumberland crossed in fourth place, but the latter’s efforts did help Radley to the team title.

Meanwhile, in the under 11 race, three Radley athletes covered the top four, but it was third-placed Henry Channon, of Oxford, who topped the overall standings by four points.

William D’Arcy, who came second in the leaderboard, won the last round, while clubmates Quinn Miell-Ingram and Johnny James were second and fourth respectively.

RESULTS

INDIVIDUAL
MEN
(senior unless stated)
1 B Cole (Swh) 29.23, 2 N Clinton (Swh) 29.46, 3 J Cornish (Whh) 30.08, 4 A Burgess (Oxf) 30.18, 5 D Bell (Cir) 30.19, 6 P Fernandez (Abn, V40) 30.28, 7 S Fisher (Oxf) 30.41, 8 T Jones (Oxf) 30.59, 9 T Wright (Ban) 31.05, 10 S O’Neill (Hed) 31.21, 11 T Hemming (Swh) 31.48, 12 J Craggs (New) 31.55, 13 S Kerr (Hed) 32.15, 14 E Gault (Oxf) 32.17, 15 M Baker (Eyn) 32.23, 16 P Key (Swh) 32.30, 17 A Fulford (Swh) 32.37, 18 J Thomas (Cir) 32.43, 19 R Gould (Alc, V40) 32.44, 20 P Marshall (New) 32.48.
Under 15/17: 1 B West (Bic, U15) 18.27, 2 J Shayler (Abn, U17) 18.31, 3 B McIntyre (Swh, U15) 19.09, 4 H Insley (Rad, U15) 19.45, 5 D Bunn (Abn, U15) 19.56.
Under 13: 1 S Snelson (Ban) 8.51, 2 M Nicolle (Bic) 9.03, 3 G Ferguson (New) 9.09, 4 B Cumberland (Rad) 9.11, 5 J Newson-Errey (Oxf) 9.11.
Under 11: 1 W D’Arcy (Rad) 6.09, 2 Q Miell-Ingram (Rad) 6.11, 3 H Channon (Oxf) 6.18, 4 J James (Rad) 6.33, 5 S Lawton (Abn) 6.50.

TEAM
MEN
Senior – Div 1: 1 Oxford City A 116, 2 Swindon Har A 123, 3 Headington A 181, 4 Newbury A 267, 5 White Horse A 305, 6 Eynsham A 408, 7 Cirencester A 575, 8 Witney A 731.
Div 2: 1 Alchester A 395, 2 Abingdon A 420, 3 Kidlington A 608, 4 Woodstock A 660, 5 Oxford City B 748, 6 Newbury B 789, 7 Headington B 806, 8 Team Kennet A 899. 
Div 3: 1 Swindon Har B 806, 2 Abingdon B 826, 3 Cherwell A 841, 4 Hook Norton A 874, 5 Didcot A 892, 6 Eynsham B 943, 7 Highworth A 1081, 8 Banbury A 1085.
Under 15/17: 1 Abingdon A 15, 2 Swindon Har A 21, 3 Radley A 31, 4 Bicester A 33, 5 Witney A 46, 6 Banbury A 47.
Under 13: 1= Banbury A, Radley A 32, 3 Bicester A 33, 4 Newbury A 41, 5 Oxford City A 50, 6 Team Kennet A 55.

INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS
MEN
Senior: 1 J Cornish (Whh) 9pts, 2 D Bell (Cir) 22, 3 T Jones (Oxf) 30, 4 A Burgess (Oxf) 37, 5 D Blake (Wit) 42, 6 T Wright (Ban) 43, 7 J Craggs (New) 52, 8 E Gault (Oxf) 59.
Vet 40: 1 P Fernandez (Abn) 15, 2 L Newell (Oxf) 31, 3 J Atyeo (Oxf) 87, 4 B Pollard (Eyn) 89, 5 R Gould (Alc) 94.
Vet 50: 1 A Phelps (Hed) 200, 2 N Bunn (Abn) 201, 3 J Nelson (Alc) 261, 4 A Twyford (New) 333, 5 I Lambourn (Whh) 386.
Vet 60: 1 S Thorp (Oxf) 380, 2 B Vaughan (Wds) 541, 3 J Burgess (Alc) 631, 4 G Le Good (Wit) 722, 5 P Coy (Ban) 739.
Under 20: 1 A Miell-Ingram (Rad) 101, 2 B Upjohn (Oxf) 148, 3 H Hart (Eyn) 150, 4 C Cooper (Swh) 193, 5 P Wright (BLI) 460.
Under 17: 1 W Crisp (Swh) 4, 2 J Shayler (Abn) 12, 3 O Onay (Whh) 28, 4 M Lock (Wit) 50, 5 T Gould (Bic) 60.
Under 15: 1 B West (Bic) 7, 2 J McLaughlin (Tkt) 20, 3 H Insley (Rad) 25, 4 B McIntyre (Swh) 28, 5 E Pierce (Swh) 33.
Under 13: 1 S Snelson (Ban) 6, 2 B Cumberland (Rad) 8, 3 M Nicolle (Bic) 9, 4 R Miell-Ingram (Rad) 17, 5=G Ferguson (New), L Buck (Cir) 24.
Under 11: 1 H Channon (Oxf) 4, 2 W D’Arcy (Rad) 8, 3 Q Miell-Ingram (Rad) 9, 4 J James (Rad) 16, 5 R Snelson (Ban) 31.

TEAM STANDINGS
MEN
Div 1: 1 Oxford City A 547, 2 Newbury A 1277, 3 Headington A 1369, 4 Cirencester A 1727, 5 Swindon Har A 1793, 6 White Horse A 1859, 7 Eynsham A 2353, 8 Witney A 3032.
Div 2: 1 Abingdon A 1929, 2 Alchester A 2330, 3 Woodstock A 3039, 4 Oxford City B 3299, 5 Kidlington A 3406, 6 Newbury B 3439, 7 Headington B 4038, 8 Team Kennet A 4277.
Div 3: 1 Cherwell A 4236, 2 Abingdon B 4311, 3 Didcot A 4794, 4 Hook Norton A 5210, 5 Alchester B 5218, 6 Eynsham B 5960, 7 Radley A 6057, 8 Highworth A 6349.
Under 15/17: 1 Swindon Har A 114, 2 Abingdon A 125, 3 Radley A 164, 4 Banbury A 231, 5 Bicester A 250, 6 Team Kennet A 259.
Under 13: 1 Radley A 117, 2 Bicester A 145, 3 Banbury A 224, 4 Newbury A 249, 5 Team Kennet A 297, 6 Great Milton A 308.