St Albans Athletic Club’s James McMurray came home in fifth in the 1500m on his British Championship indoor debut in Sheffield.

A brilliantly run heat, timed at a personal best of 3:49:29, got him through as a fastest loser but it was Charlie Grice who took the win in the final and the seat on the plane to Portland for the World Indoor Championship.

Elsewhere the club were involved in national cross-country action at Donnington Park along with over 500 other teams.

Tabitha Weddell, Sophie Olney, Alex Bentley, Georgia Lucy Robin and Jessica Barnes were the first to race over a gruelling course.

Weddell came home in 92nd and Olney in 122nd, with the team finishing 15th.

The largest contingency for the club were the U15 boys.

Oliver Davis, Jed Lumb, Callum Walsh, Cameron Clark, Will Bowran and Jack Chakraverty.

Davis, who is next in action at the intercounties championships and has also just been selected to represent the East of England in the London Mini Marathon, came 105th.

Rachel Parlour had another encouraging run in the junior women team, finishing in 32nd position.

The U13 girls ran 3km and it was Christy Durbin who was first home in 162nd.

The club were represented in the U17s by Ben Pattison and Andrew Doughty.

Keira Stern was another high-placed athlete finishing 33rd out of 354.

Oliver Poulain placed 209 and Jamie Abbiss 636 to finish the top placed senior men in the Striders team out of a staggering 1,730 men.