Several St Albans Striders were involved in the prestigious South of England Cross Country Championships on Hampstead Heath.

Thousands of runners took part in challenging muddy conditions, the men racing over a 15km course, the ladies over 8km.

Paul Adams (83rd) led the way for the men with Joe Dunn, Nairn McWilliams, Mike Martin and Graham Foster making up the scoring team that finished 31st out of 70.

The ladies were led home by Lucy Waterlow, returning to form after a period of injury.

On Sunday in the Cancer Research Winter 10k in London, Blake Vivian was fifth out of 12,000 in 33:57, just 20 seconds behind the leader.

She was followed by Jim King in 38:05, Howard Bull in 43:58, Amy Heap 45:22, Jenna Pickering 57:37 and Martin Crisp 1:05:56.

The 5k St Albans park run saw Matt Hann lead the men home in 16:56 with Helen Cartlidge first lady in 20:28.