Paul Adams led St Albans Striders domination of the Hatfield 5.
He came home in front of everybody else at the University of Hertfordshire in a time of 26 minutes 14 seconds as the club filled three of the top five positions.
Will Bowran’s 26:38 got him third while Steve Buckle was fifth 20 seconds further behind.
Mark Kennedy, Michael Martin, Doug Hobson, Jim King and Stephen Hosty all finished in under 30 minutes.
Only 30 seconds separated the first four Striders women with Jen Conway (32:44), Jenny Maddocks (32:48), Wendy Walsh (33:01) and Helen Cartlidge (33:14) all securing top-10 finishes in the women’s field.
Walsh and Cartlidge were second and third in the W40 category while Deborah Steer (35:11) and Zoe Lowe (35:29) were first and second W50s ahead of Nicky Laitner (35:39) in fourth.
Steer’s time was quick enough to set a new W55 club record for the five-mile distance.
Unsurprisingly these performances meant Striders picked up every available team prize and the overall strength of the club was demonstrated by the men packing over 11 runners in the top 50 places in the men’s race and 12 in the women’s.
Around 100 Striders took part overall in what is one of the most popular events in the club’s racing calendar and they were joined by several members of St Albans Athletics Club.
The cross country season resumes with a double header as Striders compete in the third Chiltern League XC fixture in Luton on Saturday followed by round two of the Sunday League at Trent Park.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here