The return of the the Hertfordshire Cross-country Championships brought delight at all age groups for St Albans Striders and St Albans Athletics Club.

Both the men's and women's team of the Striders were crowned champions at Stanborough Park in Welwyn Garden City, retaining the titles won from the last running of the event in 2020.

Herts Advertiser: Will Bowran was the fastest of the men from St Albans Striders.Will Bowran was the fastest of the men from St Albans Striders. (Image: Tony Barr)

Will Bowran, Adam Yorwerth, George Withers, Jonathan Scott, Barnaby Walker and Phil Evans made up the team of six for the men while Victoria Pritchard, Hannah Burkhardt, Megan Steer and Kate Dixon were the successful quartet for the women.

Herts Advertiser: St Albans Striders' women at the Herts County Cross-country Championship.St Albans Striders' women at the Herts County Cross-country Championship. (Image: St Albans Striders)

And the younger athletes of St Albans AC were equally dominant, winning medals in seven of the age group races.

The U11 girls' started the medal rush with Annabella Kerry, Eloise Head and Sophia Neil claiming a team silver and the B team managing a bronze.

The boys went even better with second overall Conor Treloar, Joseph McGrath and Jonah McNaught claiming gold and Edward Goodwin, Isaac Gibson-Dunt and Oliver Banfield taking the silver.

County titles came the way of both the boys and girls at the U13 level.

Luke Carlin (second overall), Josh Hirst (third) and Peter Bansaghi (fifth) were successful for the boys while Georgia Tongue (first), Anna Metcalfe (second) and Gabby Read (seventh) took the honours for the boys.

There were also bronze medals for Annabelle Newman, Erin Russell and Emma Treloar in the girls and William Pope, Pranav Boodhumeah and Samuel McNaught for the boys.

There was also double success for the U15s with Tom Bailey (fifth), Sam Muldoon (sixth) and Adam Smith (seventh) triumphing for the boys and Phoebe Gill (first), Poppy Fisher (sixth) and Frankie Rollison (ninth) leading the girls to glory.

The U17 girls took silver thanks to Sarah McGrath (third), Lily Tse (fourth) and Annabel Hedges (sixth) while the U20 women claimed gold.

Keira Stern (second overall), Niamh Gallagher and Jordan Walters made up that team.

A spokeswoman for the two clubs said: "It is an awesome achievement and very well done to every single athlete."

The starring performances mean many of the athletes have now been selected to represent Hertfordshire team at the National Inter Counties event in March.