Six Stevenage and North Herts AC members turned out on a cool but mainly dry morning to tackle the tough Ampthill cross-country courses. The club were pleased to pick up three trophies from their half a dozen runners who took part. Three ran in the junior

Six Stevenage and North Herts AC members turned out on a cool but mainly dry morning to tackle the tough Ampthill cross-country courses.

The club were pleased to pick up three trophies from their half a dozen runners who took part.

Three ran in the junior race over 1.5k for under-13s and 3k (two laps) for under-18s over a tough undulating course.

Sarah Pike was first under-13 girl in 9:46, Karen Meadows was sixth under-18 girl in 20:33 and Paul Spicer was 20th under-18 boy in 19:20.

In the senior race over 8k, 146 entered, including international athletes. and this was again a tough undulating course.

Tilly Scheuber decided to enter this race rather than the junior race and was rewarded as first female under-18 in 93rd place overall (15th female) in a time of 44:11.

Dan Poulton had an eventful race, at one time he was in sixth place but fell heavily and was forced to drop back to around 20th.

He finished strongly and gained ninth place overall in a time of 32:51 - first under-20 male.

The St John Ambulance personnel patched him up after the race and he was able to hobble to collect his trophy.

Adam Searle ran strongly early on and finished in 17th place overall in a time of 34:06.

Two North Herts Road Runners bounced back from recent setbacks to record new personal bests for 26.2 miles at the Abingdon Marathon in Oxfordshire on Sunday.

Clive Adams, who was forced to pull up through illness during the London Marathon earlier this year, produced a fine performance to come home in 3-12.

Mike Mello, who recently pulled up during the Amsterdam Marathon, was able to reduce his previous best time by two minutes to finish in 3-18.

A further nine Squirrels competed over a hilly, five mile cross-country course in the Ampthill Trophy, also on Sunday.

Over two laps, Gary Cook was the leading club member home, finishing in eighth place with a time of 32:43.

With colleagues John Franklin (35:52) and Martyn Annetts (36:42), the trio were runners-up in the team event.

Also running were Johnny Spinks (36:52), Jaime Gaveria-Valez (37:12), Duncan Hooker (37:57), Derek Myall (39:51), Jo Harbon (43:21) and Dave Ross (43:35).

Top FVS TRI triathlete Steve Harrison returned to cross-country and won the opening league fixture.

This helped the FVS TRI men's team to second place overall despite several key athletes missing with injury or competing elsewhere.

With 38 triathletes competing for FVS TRI against most of the major specialist run clubs in the area, the club was pleased to take second overall based on a combined second in the men's and third in the women's.

In addition the FVS TRI men's B team lead the second competition rankings with the Masters team made up of veteran athletes also in second spot for both men's and women's after race one of the five-race series that ends in February.

With eight men to score, Steve Harrison led home Gavin May, Paul Gibb, Mark Grayson, James Brooks, Mike Russell, Mark Young and Gerry Corrance.

Jackie Perry was the lead female in ninth and with five in the team, Leslie Dutton, Kate Turner, Helen Shulver and Penny Wylie were the other scorers in the A team match.

With North Herts Road Runners not competing in the Sunday cross-country league, this meant that the members of NHRR who also compete for FVS TRI were able to support their second claim club. Karen Dodsworth, Anna Priestley, Mark Young and Mick Humphris all proved welcome additions to the team scores.

There were competitive debuts from a host of new members with Mark Young, David Welch, John Humphris, Stewart Kay, Max Lepoutre, Kate Turner and Penny Riley all featuring.

Men (around five miles): 1 Steve Harrison 27:25, 12 Gavin May 29:36, 13 Paul Gibb 29:47, 34 Mark Grayson 31:39, 41 James Brooks 32:04, 42 Mike Russell 32:09, 51 Mark Young 32:40, 55 Gerry Corrance 32:54, 56 Kevin Ash 33:01, 59 Sean Bradley 33:17, 71 Michael Humphris 33:52, 810 Andrew Mussett 34:31, 84 Ian Owens 34:43, 86 David Hard 34:50, 92 Dave Welch 35:32, 95 Andy Proctor 36:01, 97 Peter Eames 36:05, 102 Rob Bester 36:23, 103 John Humphris 36:33, 107 Stewart Kay 36:51, 110 Keith Perry 36:59, 122 Tony Shortland 38:43, 124 Richard Thomas 38:49, 125 Max Lepoutre 38:53, 130 Ian Hobbs 39:18, 134 Mick Clark 39:40, 140 Paul Dutton 40:15, 143 Drew Lowrie 40:34, 151 Matt Hickman 42:08.

Women (around three miles): 9 Jackie Perry 22:38, 12 Leslie Dutton 23:05, 17 Kate Turner 23:28, 29 Helen Shulver 24:34, 30 Penny Wylie 24:39, 32 Karen Dodsworth 24:52, 47 Ellie Burton 26:01, 55 Anna Priestley 27:18, 58 Penny Riley 27:21.

Three members of FVS TRI competed in the Heartbreaker Duathlon in Milton Keynes which also served as a World and European Championship qualifying event.

FVS TRI run coach and duathlon specialist Brian White was first home for the club in a time of 2-14:09 for the 10k run/40k run/5k run event. Nick Downing finished in 2-17:51 and Dave Coard 2-25:06.

Jon Gillham and Chris Yuill competed in the Extreme Terrain Duathlon in Camberley over the 5k run/12k mountain bike/2k run off road course. Chris was second female in a time of 1-19:50 with Jon seventh male in 1-12:39.

Tony Hinchliffe completed the Leicester Half Marathon in 1-48:42.