Thompson has to settle for second despite setting pace

The fourth, and penultimate, race in the Chiltern League was held at Keysoe Equestrian Centre.

The relatively flat course, with a water jump to negotiate, suited Thompson in the under-17 race. After leading for much of the race, the Banbury Harrier tired towards the end and settled for second place.

The Banbury Harriers senior women again put out a strong team in an effort to move up from fourth place. With their best results of the season, Ros Kelling in fifth and Michelle Bartlett in sixth, were first and second in the Vet-45 category.

Lisa Ansell made up a very pleasing 33 places on her last run to give the team third place on the day but still fourth overall. That makes third-placed Bearbrook difficult to catch in the last race at Milton Keynes next month.

Dawn Breward and Gareth Bowden led Brackley & District Running Club members home at the same meeting.

In the ladies race, Breward came home in 30:03 over 6.1km course, followed by Diane Geatch, Natasha Berry, Julie Waller and Suzanne Bass-Twitchell.

In the men’s race, Bowden was the first BDRC finisher over the 10.2km, despite being late to the start line. Next to finish were Chris Noble and Michael Bishop.