BEN West showed his class with a top-ten finish in the South of England Inter Counties Cross Country Championships at Horspath.

Competing in the under 17 men’s race, the Bicester AC runner led the Oxon team home in seventh place by clocking 15mins 13secs for the 5k course.

Nine Bicester athletes were selected to run for Oxfordshire.

Amelia Cox produced a top-drawer run to finish 38th in the under 15 girls’ contest with a time of 15.43 for the 4k distance.

Max Nicolle was supported by two Bicester teammates in the under 15 boy’s race, also over 4k .

He finished 43rd in 14.03, while Edward Joliffe came 91st (15.00) and Samuel Worfolk 94th (15.05).

Oliver Conway was a highly promising 59th in the under 13 boys’ race, contested over a 3k circuit (11.20), while Timothy Jones came 108th (12.26).

Bicester also had two runners in the under 13 girls’ race, where Imogen Cox in 102nd (13.02) just got the better of Anna Joliffe, who was 105th in the same time.

l Dave Kuester produced his best overall points score for nearly 18 months when winning a title at the Midland Masters Christmas Throwers Pentathlon at Derby.

Defying the cold and damp conditions, the Bicester AC and Oxford City AC veteran won the 70-plus age group with 2,793 points and was second overall in the 17-strong field.

Kuester’s results – hammer 1st 29.95m (599pts); shot put 1st 8.85 (602); discus 1st 26.26 (535), 1st javelin 24.82 (467); 1st weight 10.92 (590). Overall: 1st 2,793pts.