Headington Road Runners' women pulled off one of the best results in the club's history on Saturday, when they claimed fifth place in the South of England Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill in London.

Led home by Kirstie Anderson in 31st, and Allison Hirst in 34th, they beat most of the big name clubs in the south over the muddiest conditions seen for years in a major cross-country race.

A good result had been anticipated, but a recent injury to star runner Jude Craft made the task much harder.

However, Sally Howard in 92nd and Helen Turley in 133rd put in determined efforts to complete a great team performance.

In the men's race, Headington packed well for a solid 21st place in the main competition with Garry Harris leading the way in 88th position.

They did even better in the 12-man team competition with seventh place.

But the outstanding individual performance came from Jethro Lennox, running for his first claim club Ealing, Southall and Middlesex who finished in 36th.

White Horse Harriers youngster Josephine Rhodes was the best-placed individual Oxfordshire athlete with a brilliant fifth place in the Under 15 Girls race.

In the Under 15 Boys race, Chris Gillespie and Owain Bristow of White Horse Harriers were 31st and 90th respectively.

Their senior men struggled to field a team for the 15,000m race. Injury and warm weather training abroad meant that only six men lined up the minimum number to score in the team event.

Paul Jgou headed the team home in 175th place, closely followed by Dave Wright in 193rd.

Radley Ladies' star was Carolyn Plateau who pushed herslf all the way on one of the most demanding courses in the country to finish 14th in the Under 13 Girls race, which had more than 400 starters.

Teammate Hayley Chaundy finished a creditable 105th in her first major championship race. In the Under 15 race, Rose Cormack Lloyd finished 120th.

CLUB TIMES

Headington Road Runners

Senior Women individual: 31 K Anderson 39.29, 34 A Hirst 39.36, 92 S Howard 43.49, 133 H Turley 45.57, 243 J Meredith 53.32, 250 M Fischer 54.04. Teams: Headington 5th out of 34

Senior Men individual: 36 J Lennox 57.04, 88 G Harris 59.36, 168 R Thetford 63.14, 204 D Gavaghan 64.35, 246 J Thorn 66.07, 247 P O'Brien 66.08, 285 J Mueller 67.19, 305 C Nellins 67.48, 375 W Atkinson 69.57, 410 G Chapman 71.04, 441 H Nickau 71.53, 498 M Rasgauski 73.40, 520 F Howard 74.15, 729 P Read 81.47. Teams: 21 Headington RR 1227 pts, 42 White Horse Harriers 2360.

White Horse Harriers

Under 15 Girls: J Rhodes 20.53. U15 Boys: 31 C Gillespie 20.50, 90 O Bristow 22.16. Senior Men: 175 P Jgou 63.27, 193 D Wright 64.02, 424 C James 71.27, 478 H Grundy 72.54, 510 C Jones 74.01, 604 N Ponting 77.12. Men's team: 42nd.