THERE were some outstanding displays by Southend AC athletes in the South of England Cross-Country Championships.

Ben Hunter’s exploits in the under-20 men’s event are detailed in the story above.

But not unexpectedly, Ben Austin led the Essex contingent home in the under-15 boys.

His 15th place was just 10 places and 21 seconds ahead of team-mate Sam Brown. Next in for the seaside club was Oliver Kyriakedes (79th) with John Kerridge, improving with every outing, claiming 104th spot. Harris Foster-Carter was 186th, and the team, comprising the leading four, were first Essex club in, finishing fifth overall.

Second, 28th, 47th and 68th was not going to be enough to win the team event, but the good finishes meant that Hunter, along with Paul Whittaker, Lloyd Hartman and Howard Clarke respectively could content themselves with sixth place in the under-20 men’s.

The under-17 men’s squad was also the leading Essex team, with great performances from seventh-placed Tom Frith, George Moxon (15th) and David Smale (56th).

Alan Britain (98th) closed the team line-up while Kyle Aldridge gave them excellent support. Their final team placing was seventh.

The under-15 girls gave a good account of themselves. While having enjoyed a winning spree in the Essex League this winter, the Southerns turned out some mightier foes and they had to content themselves with 13th place, although they were the second Essex team to close in. Aimee Garnett has performed admirably this winter and finished 29th. In 51st place was Camilla Smee; Jordan Lacey, in an amazingly tight finish between 99th and 105th — just seven seconds separated them at the funnel — claimed 101st spot. Emily Crow and Alexandra Morgan, in another close tussle with 12 girls finishing between 18:11 and 18:19, finished 145th and 148th respectively. Summer Dann, with little racing under her belt this winter, closed the squad in 181st. With a dearth of senior women, it was left to club captain Claire Cornwell to fly the flag for Southend and in an impressively large field of well above 300, finished in a very commendable 35th position. While faring better number-wise, the three under-17s were still one girl short for a team. Emily Burgess led the contingent home in 33rd spot with 25:43, followed just 11 seconds later by Holly Gillard (37th) and Amelia Kyriakides, who clocked 30:24. The Senior Men were in the same boat, having a crew of three. Adam Hickey, in 38th place, was unsurprisingly, first home for Southend. Meanwhile Steve Whittaker finished 178th and David Hurley 506th in a huge field of almost 700 finishers.