EIGHT City of Salisbury athletes flew the flag for Wiltshire at the national inter-counties cross country finals in Birmingham.

Against the best mud-runner specialists in the UK, the whole squad found the soft and undulating course a real test of both strength and character.

Sarah Warren sustained an ankle injury on the way round but battled on all the way to finish the senior ladies’ race in 240th spot, while Emma Clarke was forced to pull out at the halfway stage due to a sickness bug.

Nile Battey was 161st and Oliver Phillips 225th in the under-13s; Rose Warren, also injured, came 290th in the girls’ event; Louise Webb was 266th in the under-15s; and with a good finish Jay Domoney took 107th with Fabrice Webb 230th in the under-17s.

On the road, among the massed ranks of runners at the Eastleigh 10k, a less than fully-fit Stuart Holloway crossed the line in 33min 58sec for 40th place among more than 2,300 who finished behind winner Adam Hickey of Southend AC clocking a rapid 29.24.

Mike Brewster was next of the Salisbury contingent in 35.22, then came Andrew Holme improving his best to 36.47 and Ian Lawrence 40.57 to round off the men’s A team.

Darren Clissold was timed at 43.21, then came Nick Hudson with a pb 43.54, Phil Perry 45.30 and Andy Robbins 50.35 to complete the B team.

Liz Roberts notched up the third of the day’s personal bests with a fine 47.44, an improvement of more than a minute, Jackie Chlebowski clocked 52.57 and Mel Holloway completed the set with 54.46.