After an exciting race, Shaftesbury Barnet's Chloe Wilkinson finished third in the U17 event in the Southern Inter-Counties Championships at Bury St Edmunds on Saturday.

The winner was junior international Charlotte Moore, from Bournemouth.

Shaftesbury's Victoria Webster, in her first big race, was a promising ninth. Chloe and Victoria were both running for Hertfordshire, third in the team event.

In the U15 run, over 4200m, Lindsay Barr (Middlesex) was always close to the leaders, finishing 12th. There were also good performances from Sarah Waldron (20th) and Sian Bentley (22nd).

Sarah Heath was 18th in the senior contest over 6,500m, and helped Oxfordshire take the team honours. Kate Armstrong, 21st, represented Middlesex, who were runners-up.

Mariam Ajayi was outstanding among the eight SBH girls who competed in the Middlesex Indoor Championships, which were held at Eton College on Sunday.

Mariam, who won't be 11 until February, was a decisive winner of the U13 60-metre dash in 8.4sec. Aneka Bogle was second in 9.0sec and Youla Hajipapas fourth in 9.4sec.

Jessica Simmonds ran well to take third place in the U15 60m in 8.6sec, with Rochelle Gordon fourth in 8.9sec. Also third was Christelle Nyakera in the U17 60m in 8.4sec.

There were several good performances from Shaftesbury's boys in the north west London League cross-country meeting, held at Trent Park in Cockfosters on Saturday.

David Barr led all the way to win the U11 run. James Grant (fifth) and Neil Fordham (eighth) were also prominent.

Chris Purdue was third in the U13 race, with Rory Maple close behind in fifth. There were also excellent runs from Joe Hall, in his first race, and Josh Kemal.

David Russell followed up his fine run in the London Heathrow Youth Games with an easy victory in the U15 contest.

Watieri Kawai was fifth and they were well supported by Edward Kearon, Daniel Edwards and Matthew Grant.

December 12, 2001 18:16

JOHN POLLARD