CITY of Salisbury athletes turned out in force for the Hampshire cross country league fixture at Popham airfield, near Basingstoke.

Up against many of the region's top cross country specialists, Ben Brewster took a well-earned 17th place in the 10k senior men's race to lead his Salisbury clubmates to their best team performance in many weeks.

Next came Steve Herring in 32nd, Gio Downie 98th in his league debut, Andy Budgell 160th, Sean Gibson 174th and veteran Gary Domoney came in 220th.

For the senior ladies, Alex Mundell took a fine 14th place and she was followed over the finish line by Sarah Warren in 50th and Jill Coles 89th, both of whom improved by around 30 places on their last outing.

Anne Marie Hazzard was 105th and her mother Sue 108th.

Abby Burn celebrated her birthday with an excellent fourth position in the under 13 age group, and this was enough to ensure she remains equal first in the age group tables.

She was well supported by Louise Webb in 24th, Coco Smyth 37th and Rose Warren 43rd. Oliver Liston and Oliver Phillips were 35th and 53rd in the under 13 boys.

Heidi Porter and Tash Mundell came 37th and 42nd in the under 15 section and, in the same age group, the club's Josh Shuter was 18th, Alex d'Arbost 19th and Sam Coles 24th, securing the best team mark of the day with fifth overall.

Continuing to improve in the under 17s, Ella-May Hards notched up 22nd and at the same age Jay Domoney matched her success with 16th among the boys.

  • The Dorset coastal trail 34mile race was Liz Roberts' latest challenge in her multimarathon season and it proved every bit as tough as any of her other epics. Based on 3,000 feet of climbing, each summit followed by a series of dizzying descents, the course was a real test of endurance which she finished in 15hours 38mins 09sec.