LIZZIE Hall has helped the Great Britain women s cross-country team win world gold. The Stotfold athlete, who runs for Herts Phoenix, celebrated team gold on Friday in Alger, Algiers at the World University Championships. The GB women s cross-country team

LIZZIE Hall has helped the Great Britain women's cross-country team win world gold.

The Stotfold athlete, who runs for Herts Phoenix, celebrated team gold on Friday in Alger, Algiers at the World University Championships.

The GB women's cross-country team beat Algeria and Italy for first place for the team event.

Britain won individual silver and bronze while Lizzie (Brunel University) came in ninth place.

There was a successful end to the cross-country season for coach Paul Keeble's Stevenage and North Herts AC squad.

They now look forward to the track and field season which starts soon.

Two boys and six girls represented Hertfordshire at the last big event of the season, the English schools' cross-country, at Mansfield on Saturday.

Sara Bailey and Joanne Mansell once again had excellent runs.

In a field of 284 finishers, senior girl Sara was placed 24th. In the intermediate girls, Joanne was 41st in the race of 321 finishers. Also in Joanne's race was Sam McCormick, called in as a late replacement, and she finished in 192nd place.

There was another late replacement, this time in the junior girls, where Natasha Little replaced her twin Victoria who was absent through illness. Natasha finished in 147th place in a field of 332 finishers.

Senior girls Becky Newstead (185th) and another late replacement, Tilly Scheuber (246th), ran well in the windy and sometimes wet conditions.

The boys involved were junior boy Lewis Keeble (247th out of 332 finishers) and intermediate boy Josh Saydraouten (222nd out of 305 finishers).

Fairlands Valley Spartans' Simon Bell was a superb third in Sunday's Sandy 10 mile road race.

Simon, who has recently joined the club, had a time of 58:40. Only four of the 419 finishers beat the one-hour barrier.

There were 16 Spartans running the race and another new member, Sarah Jackson, ran her first 10-mile race with her brother Simon in a great time of 1-24:59.

Times: Simon Bell 58:40, Declan Clynes 1-03:27, Mark Collins 1-07:05, Jim Brown 1-07:52, Tim Pine 1-10:27, Paul Maguire 1-11:48, Kevin Smyth 1-12:16, Chris Newbitt 1-17:09 pb, Tony Osborne 1-17:57, Ruth Bradford 1-18:39, Mike King 1-18:40, Frances Ridgway 1-20:39, Ken Meenan 1-24:23, Sarah Jackson 1-24:59, Simon Jackson 1-25:00, Carol Paul 1-27:00.

The club's Thursday night handicap 5k road race produced an excellent turnout of 26 Spartans on the Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage course.

First to the finish line, and thus winner, on handicap was Kevin Williams with an actual time of 28 minutes exactly.

Fastest runners on the night in an equal time of 18:22 were Andrew Patterson and Todd Gray.

Two Spartans took part in the Rome Marathon in the Italian capital. In warm conditions, their times were: Michaela Norton-Lay 4-44:30, Mark Sanders 4-57:03.

Six Spartans were at the Daffodil Dawdle, a 27.2 mile off road event from Stetchworth, near Newmarket.

Times: Mike Newbitt 4-56:21, Sharon Crowley 5-08:30, Paul Holgate 5-18:10, Roger Biggs 5-51:58, Dave Paul 5-55:25, Dave Carter 7-03:22.

There was success for North Herts Road Runners at the Sandy 10 with an individual victory for veteran Paula Adams.

She finished as first lady with a personal best time for the distance of 65:09.

Adams won by a minute over a hilly course that had the added challenge of a strong wind to provide North Herts with their first ever winner at the event.

The popular race that attracted a record 500 entrants also saw Pete Sibbett finish sixth (60:16), Gary Cook eighth (60:26), John Franklin 20th (64:58) and Clive Adams 22nd (65:46) to take home the prize for being the first men's team.

The Letchworth club had 30 runners out and despite the wind there were personal bests for Marc Trussell (69:35), Neil Ward (79:19), Jon Hunt (80:02) and Marie Shonk (85:56).

Five members of the the club tackled the Rome Marathon on Sunday.

Mike Mello ran a superb race and was first home for the club finishing with a personal best of 3-20.

For Duncan Hooker (3-29), Jo Summers (3-40) and Keiron McGill (4-00) it was the first time they had attempted the distance and all were pleased with their performances over 26.2 miles.

Tim Emler (3-49), campaigner of several European marathons, completed the quintet.

FVS TRI had a golden end to the Milton Keynes Big Cow Winter Duathlon Series.

They were not only the biggest team but also won the overall series, the junior series and the female vet series.

Top FVS TRI triathlete Steve Harrison cruised home to a win on the day to lift the main series prize of a week's training camp in Italy.

He was also approached by the GB elite duathlon team manager with a view to potentially racing internationally at the elite level.

His excellent form has recently attracted a support deal from local bike and triathlon shop Trisports Letchworth who will be supplying a Ridley Carbon Race Bike for the 2006 season.

In the category races, FVS TRI were strongly represented with Lesley Dutton taking the female veteran series gold and Sean Bradley winning the junior race and the overall junior gold.

With the second fastest club time on the day, Steve James' consistent form paid off earning him a bronze in the male vets series.

Jan Forrester collected bronze in the female vet series following a strong performance in the last race.

New members Martyn Hynes and James Grierson made their competitive debuts for FVS TRI. They finished an excellent 21st and 24th overall, 13th and 16th in the male senior race and second and third home for the club respectively in the senior event.

Four members raced the Sandy 10 and they were led home by Steve Wells with an excellent 12th overall in a time of 1:01:32.

Times: Steve Wells 1-01:32, Simon Patenall 1-10:10, Dave Farthing 1-19:02, Gary Shanahan 1-19:16.