THOUGH Louise Damen opted not to defend her title after running for England the previous week, Susie Hignett came close to continuing Bournemouth AC's sequence of medals in the South of England Cross-Country Championships, report Scott Neil and Nigel Harding.

English Schools' 3000m Champion Hignett placed fourth in the junior women's race, just eleven seconds behind the bronze medallist.

She clocked 19:58 around a particularly slithery 5km circuit of Parliament Hill Fields in a race won in 19:21 by Nicola Sykes of Bedford and County AC.

Stepping up after winning the under-15 championships last year, Matthew Clark of Poole Runners did well to achieve a top-10 finish against men a year older than himself in an under-17 race won by age group international Adam Hickey of Southend.

Poole AC's South-West silver medallist Harriet Hughes placed 12th in the under-15 girls' race with club-mate Becky Neal just three places and as many seconds behind, while Bournemouth AC under-13 Tomas Moore was 14th in his event.

Janice Palmer (77th) led an all veteran Poole Runners team to 19th in the senior women's race.

By the time the 830-strong senior men's race got underway the course at Hampsted Heath had become a quagmire in places. When recently crowned Dorset cross country champion Ceri Rees pulled up on the first of three laps it was left to Dorset's strongest road racer, Purbeck-based Carl Morris, to finish best local in 78th.

Mike Grist (140th) led Poole Runners to a 28th team place, while the club's under-15 boys were the best local team of the day, taking eighth place.

South Of England Cross-Country Championships - Junior Women (5km): 1 Nicola Sykes (Bedford) 19:21, 2 Hayley Beard (Stevenage) 19:43, 3 Jennifer Pereira (Medway and Maidstone) 19:47, 4 Susie Hignett (BAC) 19:58, 19 Vicki Ingham (PR) 22:04.

Other Local Results - Under-13 Girls (3km): 37 Nicole Bissett (PR) 14:20, 51 Rebecca Cutts (PAC) 14:34, 56 Alex Ingham (PR) 14:40, 152 Danielle Malcolm (PAC) 17:27.

Under-15 Girls (4km): 12 Harriet Hughes (PAC) 18:59, 15 Becky Neal (PAC) 19:02, 72 Charlotte Ingham (PR) 20:40, 77 Chloe Dowson (BAC), 90 Vicky Grey (PAC) 21:03, 113 Rebekah Ferenczy (PR) 21:54, 145 Emma Partridge (PR) 22:58, 149 Rachael Cheney (PR) 23:10. Team: 17 Poole Runners 479.

Under-17 Women (5km): 25 Amanda Bailey (SB) 22:18.

Senior Women (8km): 77 Janice Palmer (PR) 38:55, 101 Yvonne Tibble (PR) 39:56, 121 Heather Khoshnevis (PR) 41:10, 158 Carol Doe (PR) 42:49, 183 Helen Ambrosen (PR) 44:03, 205 Sarah Barrett (BAC) 45:01, 279 Jemma Bates (BAC) 52:10, 283 Angela Brown (PR) 53:30. Team: 19 Poole Runners 457.

Under-13 Boys (3km): 14 Tomas Moore (BAC) 12:09, 26 Conor Mugan (BAC) 12:24, 35 Jack Partridge (PR) 12:33, 52 Frank Bailey (SB) 12:52, 60 George Atkins (PAC) 12:57, 77 Paul Green (PR) 13;11, 83 A Welch (BAC) 13;17, 100 Adam Carpenter (PAC) 13:32, 102 Matthew Dear (PAC) 13:34, 104 Leif Chandler (PR) 13:36, 133 Tom Starr (PAC) 14:03, 153 S Taylor (BAC) 14:29, 155 Joe Price (BAC) 14:30, 162 D Taylor (BAC) 14:37, 177 Connor Ozanne (PR) 15:12, 191 Dominic Harding (BAC) 17:22. Team: 11 Bournemouth AC 276, 20 Poole Runners 393, 21 Poole AC 395.

Under-15 Boys (4.5km): 21 Torsten Chandler (PR) 18:47, 29 Richard Saunders (BAC) 18:54, 32 E Fensom (BAC) 18:55, 50 Harvey Jones (PR) 19:26, 51 Ryan Trew (PR) 19:28, 66 Richard Felton (BAC) 19:47, 121 James Coates (PR) 20:57, 122 Daniel Boyd (BAC) 21:00, 124 Jake Atree (PAC) 21:03, 125 Bradley Marsh (PR) 21:05, 136 Greg Adamson (BAC) 21:17, 155 Shane Munford (PR) 21:55, 165 Stephen Nation-Grainger (PAC) 22:40, 176 J Ferns (PR) 23:09. Team: 8 Poole Runners 243, 11 Bournemouth AC 249.

Under-17 Men (6km): 8 Matthew Clark (PR) 22:29, 28 Chris Wilson (PAC) 23:41, 63 David Russell (PAC) 24:46, 113 Andrew Smith (PAC) 26:18 148 Nick Harding (BAC) 29:06, 154 James Ozanne (PR) 30:38.

Junior Men (6km): 29 Daniel Cheney (PR) 31:52, 38 Mike Hammacott (BAC) 33:02, 66 Jason Freshwater (PAC) 45:13.

Senior Men (15km): 78 Carl Morris (Wells) 53:24, 140 Mike Grist (PR) 55:45, 147 Jim Aylmore (PR) 55:58, 171 Peter Grist (PR) 56:32, 239 Graham Jex (PR) 58:47, 392 Scott Neil (PR) 62:37, 409 Peter Ferenczy (PR) 63:05, 424 D Mason (BAC) 63:27, 435 Jason Clark (PR) 63:41, 522 Richard Atkins (PAC) 66:22, 587 Dave Neal (PAC) 68:31, 621 Paul Cutts (PAC) 69:28, 655 Peter Mattacks (PAC) 70:40, 656 Nigel Harding (PAC) 70:42, 716 Simon Speed (PAC) 73:19.

Teams: 28 Poole Runners 1492, 60 Poole AC 3748.

Key to Clubs: BAC - Bournemouth Athletic Club, PAC - Poole AC, PR - Poole Runners, SB - Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers.