CITY of Salisbury’s Andrew Holme defied a raw wind off the sea in the closing stretches of the Stubbington 10K to produce a rapid finish and a new personal best.

The Hampshire road race league event is a regular feature on the mid-January fixture list when wintry conditions can make the distance surprisingly tough. But Holme was undeterred by either the cold or a hard cross country race the previous day, giving the Salisbury club a good lead out with a run of 37min 7sec — shaving 40 seconds off his fastest time.

Next in was Jonathan Croom whose fine 39.33 was notable having completed a muddy multi-terrain 12mile race near Petersfield 24 hours before.

Mike White was close to his best too with a good 41.14 and the team was completed by recent signing, Ian Lawrence, with a promising 42.29.

The parkrun regular Nick Hudson clipped more than a minute off his previous best, clocking 45.21 and he was followed by John Ruskin 45.56, Liz Roberts 48.59, only ten seconds away from her best, Andy Robbins 53.23 and Jackie Chlebowski 53.24. There were more than 1,600 finishers.

Extremely heavy and muddy conditions greeted the hardy athletes who turned out for the Hampshire cross country league fixture at Reading.

Salisbury’s Emily Warren was fourth in the under-11s and her sister Rose led the club team home in the under-13s with 15th. She was followed by Isobel Gaulding in 32nd and Alicia Finnis 33rd, Emilee Berry 39th, Mia Crane 40th and Ellena Bessey 65th to complete an excellent team result.

Nile Battey was the lone under-13 boy in 14th, while in the under-15s Sam Coles was a superb ninth and Alex Osborne 51st, with Louise Webb 27th in the girls’ race. Jay Domoney was 11th and Fabrice Webb 22nd in the under-17s.

Sarah Warren was 57th, Aly Sloane 79th, Jill Coles 82nd, and Sue Hazzard 108th in the senior ladies’ event and Holme was 70th, Ed Naish 107th and Gary Domoney 155th in the men’s race.