YOUNG City of Salisbury athletes pulled on their county running vests for the national schools’ cross country championships near Birmingham last weekend.

Alex Mundell was highest placed Salisbury girl in the senior event, her 77th place in one of several massive fields representing a considerable achievement. Georgie Fenn was 99th, Hermione Seymour 124th and Emma Clarke 147th.

Wiltshire county honours went to a string of Salisbury athletes at the inter-counties cross country fixture, also held in the Midlands. Abigail Burns was 128th in the under 13s; Sam Coles running for Hampshire was 167th in the boys; Maisie Grant was 165th in the under 15s; Jay Domoney 159th in the boys; and Alex Mundell a notable 43rd in the seniors.

The event also incorporated the final race of the British Athletics cross challenge series, after fixtures in Bristol, Antrim, Liverpool and Cardiff, only Domoney having run enough races to qualify for the final. His performance on the day was good enough to earn him a fine fifth place in the overall standings of the series.

Among the boys' events, Jack Bennet was 210th and Finn Lloyd-Gilmour 214th in the juniors, and Jay Domoney was 253rd in the intermediates.

On the road in the final Boscombe 5k of the winter series, Simon Wiltshire clocked 19min 5sec and his super-vet father clinched a series win in his category, running a remarkable 29.02 in the 75-79 age group.

In the Exbury Gardens 10k on a wonderful spring morning, Lizzie Guasch finished well up the field with 37.47.

At the Fleet half marathon Darren Clissold completed the distance in 96.53.