St Albans Striders teamed up with St Albans Athletic Club for the second cross-country fixture of this winter’s Chiltern League.

The venue was a hilly and muddy course at Shotover near Oxford. The Striders consolidated their ffith place out of 14 clubs in the First Division.

In the senior ladies race Wendy Webster finished eighth with Lucy Waterlow 12th, Deborah Steer 22nd and Liz Mckie 32nd. The veteran ladies Steer, Mckie, Wendy Walsh and Deirdre Heydecker were third veterans team.

In the senior men’s race Paddy Brice was the first Strider home in 37th followed by Steve Buckle 38th, Andy Auld 45th, Jonathan Scott 64th, Adam Dunajko 70th, Graham Smith 71st, Ed Blake 74th, Mark Castleton 76th, Cathal Gallagher 77th, Steve Cockrell 79th, Jack Simpson 94th, Craig Dowie 98th. The veteran men Brice, Auld, Smith and Dowie were second team.

In the Under 17s men Jacob Hine was 20th and Sam Jones 23rd, Michael Carr 34th and Edward Anders 47th. In the Under 15s Conor McCallion was 32nd, Andrew Doherty 38th, Josh Ali 39th, Ben Mitchell 41st. In the Under 13s Callum Walsh finished 6th with Jed Lumb 9th, Harry Bentley 12th and Oliver Davis 13th.

In the Under 17 girls Rachel Parlour was 13th, Lauren Eckley 26th, Laura Edwards 32nd. In the Under 15s Eleanor Hobbs was 22nd, Sophie Olney 23rd, Caitlin Eckley 24th and Lizzie Markwell 26th. In the Under 13s Emily Anders was 3rd, Megan Mitchell 33rd Aoife Linzell and Emily Rayden 49th.

Further afield, Jack Brooks ran the Athens marathon in 4 hours 14 minutes, his 4th marathon in four weekends.