Colchester and Tendring Athletic Club's ladies had a memorable victory as they hosted the fourth Essex Cross-Country League event at Hilly Fields.

The senior ladies enjoyed a terrific team victory in their section against tough opposition to maintain number one position in the league and their nearest rivals are now Benfleet, Basildon and Southend.

The women’s race was over a testing seven-kilometre course in icy cold and windy conditions, with the in-form Nicola Rogers challenging for the lead on the first lap.

She eventually finished in a superb second place in 22 minutes 52 seconds to establish herself as one of the top cross-country runners in Essex.

The much-improved 21-year-old Danielle Tatum continued to make great progress with a splended sixth in 24m 07s, ranking her third overall in the league as a reward for consistently turning out for her club.

Super-vet Margaret Deasey produced another inspired run for seventh in 25m 15s and there was excellent team packing from the club’s best turnout for a number of seasons.

Becky Adams was 22nd in 27m 23s, Sian Gifford 29th in 28m 17s, Ellie Cumner 30th in 29m 19s, Lauri Douglas 39th in 30m 08s, Diane Wooller 40th in 30m 52s and Sue McCann 50th in 32m 11s.

The senior men were well represented as well, having their best placing in the league for a number of years.

They finished eighth, led by the talented David Gibbon, who paced himself brilliantly to finish sixth overall and second under-20 in 31m 23s.

He was followed by track specialist Lloyd Heard, who was 20th in 33m 02s, with excellent backing from James Ried in 54th with 36m 09s and Doug Herbert in 68th with 37m 33s.

Kevin Frost was 86th in 39m 48s, Roger Alexander 106th in 43m 14s and Brian Condron 109th in 46m 03s.

The under-17 women also had their best team performance of the season, finishing third and led by the gritty Laura Condron in eighth with 23m 19s.

Good back-up came from Laura Hillyard in 13th with 24m 12s. Stacey Ayres was 18th in 25m 34s and Lucy Bareham was 27th in her first run for the club in 36m 23s.

In the under-15 boys, Michael Porter showed up well in 12th position with 17m 42s, with a gallant Tom Gifford 22nd in 19m 34s, while Mark Hobbins was 26th in the under-17 men’s race.

The under-13 boys saw another determined run from Joe Alexander as he finished sixth in 12m 34s and good support came from Dean Frost (14th in 13m 08s) and Jack Barrington (26th in 14m 57s).

In the girls, Ellie Clarke was 21st in 15m 23s and Hanna Banks was 22nd in 15m 24s.