Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies men’s team finished fifth in the South of England Cross Country Championships in Brighton on Saturday.

Around 900 men began the race, over three laps of an extremely testing 4km circuit. With each club’s first six men counting towards the team competition, Woodford had 20 finishers and their sixth man came 109th. Fifty-five clubs managed to close six men, including fellow local clubs Orion Harriers (41st) and Eton Manor (51st).

The club’s first man home was Martyn Cryer in 40th. Twenty-two seconds behind Cryer was Harold Wyber, pictured, in 45th. The scoring six was completed by Tom Beedell (60), Donatas Tumaitis (82), Angus Holford (89) and Darren Southcott (109).

The club easily retained the Essex Cup, awarded to the first Essex club to close 12 men. The six involved in securing this honour were Kevin Murphy (135), Bertie Powell (144), Tony Russell (173), Daniel Steel (204), Joe Everitt (210) and Simon Beedell (218).