ADAM Hickey had to show some quick footwork at the end of the senior men's race at the English Cross-Country Championships just to stay on his feet and claim an impressive 13th place finish.

The 23-year-old Southend AC athlete was flying towards the finish line in what he described as "one of my best sprint finishes", just as a rival went down in front of him.

"I had to jump over him" laughed Hickey, who finished 75 seconds down on winner Keith Gerrard. "I'm not sure what caused him to come down but I almost went with him. Luckily I managed to get over him though. Usually when things like that happen I end up down as well."

Hickey, who had targeted a top 20 finish at Parliament Hill, admitted he was delighted with his run.

"I was really happy," he said. "I had been feeling a bit bunged up for a couple of weeks and it seemed to clear at just the right time.

"I tried to hang on to the leaders for the first of the 6km laps, but the pace was so fast and I was not feeling so good on the second lap. I'm not used to 6km laps!

"The course was really quick and though there were muddy patches, nowhere near as bad as usual.

"But I'm happy and hopefully I can take the form into the intercounties in Birmingham.

"That's going to be a very different race. It's going to be really fast and have a bit more quality in it. I just want to get into the front group an hang on for as long as possible"