Hatti Dean says the horrendous conditions at Sunday’s National Cross Country Championships will stand her in good stead when she bids to qualify for Team GB for next months’ world championships in Spain.

Former Radley ace Dean finished an impressive second in atrocious conditions at Alton Towers, Staffordshire, just four seconds adrift of Winchester & District’s Louise Damen.

It proved a slog for the athletes on a course which Dean described as one of the toughest she has ever competed on.

With ankle deep mud, it made for slow times in both the men’s and women’s races, Dean crossing the line over the 6km course in 23mins 53secs for the runners-up spot.

And now Dean will turn her attention to the Inter-Counties Cross Country Championship at Birmingham’s Cofton Park next weekend (March 5), when she will hope for a similar performance to cement her place in the British team.

Dean said: “It was a really good race, but the conditions were absolutely dreadful.

“I was happy with second place, but I felt that my legs gave up before the rest of me.

“But it was so close at the finish, and if I can run well in conditions like that, everything should be on track for me at the Inter-Counties.”

Dean insists she needs a good display in Birmingham to guarantee a place in the British team, despite her performance at Alton Towers.

She said: “I don’t think anything is secure.

“If I had a shocker in Birmingham, then this performance would mean nothing.

“I still need a really good race at the Inter-Counties – I just want to focus on that.”

Following Steph Twell’s horrific ankle injury in a cross country race in Belgium last weekend, Dean said that she did not consider the dangers on the boggy course, which saw races reduced in distance.

“I think that injury was in some people’s heads,” she said. “But when I was racing, I didn’t think about that.

“You just have to let yourself go and be natural.”

Dean will now have a week of training before the inter-counties.

“It should be a different race in Birmingham,” she said. “It’s usually a firm, dry course with quick times, so I need to work hard again.”

Headington Roadrunners’ ladies came in 16th out of 67 teams, with Helen Barnes leading the way in 78th.

Jude Craft (119th), Charlotte Harris (144th) and Adrienne Hopkins (152nd) made up the team.

In the men’s race, Woodstock Harriers’ Steve Naylor produced a battling performance through the mud to finish a highly-creditable 42nd.

With the dreadful conditions, times were unsurprisingly slow, with Naylor crossing the line in 38.25 for 10km.

In the early stages, Naylor led the way, but he was delighted to achieve a top 50 finish.

He said: “While I seemed to spend much of the race going backwards, it was a huge experience in my second season.

“I was stunned and thrilled that I’d made the top 50.”

Steve Vernon, from Stockport Harriers, won the race in 35.11.

Naylor added: “I never expected the course to be quite as bad as it was.

“The whole event was more like a scene from Glastonbury than an athletics meeting, and in places, the course was more like a river of mud and the puddles were knee-deep.”