IT was a day to remember for Lucy Hodgson and Miranda Heathcote as they made history for the Newquay and Par Athletic Club at Brighton on Saturday.

They finished 10th and 11th respectively in the prestigious South of England Cross Country Championships and but for a foot injury, it could have been even better.

With the established Championship course at Parliament Hill, on Hampstead Heath booked for the National clubs Championships at the end of February, the South of England AA pulled a real cracker of a course out of the bag at Stamner Park just north of Brighton.

It not only tested the athletes to the full but was set in the stunning parkland surrounds of the historic Stamner Manor, providing a mixture of open undulating grassland and woodland paths.

The programme left the two Senior races until last with past and present Internationals lining up in both.

The first of these was an 8km race for the Women where Lucy and Miranda were flying the flag for the Cornish club, their sights set on high placings after recent quality performances.

After 400m the race hit a steep climb on the first short lap, Miranda was already challenging the leaders with a third place and Lucy tucked in behind the group.

As the race headed out towards the house at the far end of the course both were still in contention. It was on the second of these large laps that Miranda started to show the signs that all was not well and Lucy had decisively moved into a clear tenth placing. Coming out of the woods for the final time down a slippery section heading towards the finish both were holding their positions with fast chasing athletes behind who were unable to make up the deficit, providing the club with it's highest placings of the day and the best ever at Senior Women's level.

The Men's race is now the longest on the cross country calendar at nine miles but this seems to be the incentive for large entries from clubs ranging from Norfolk down to Cornwall.

The heady days of well over 1000 athletes has passed but there were still 745 that completed the course, including three from the club.

John Scott, who was running in the vest of his first claim club of Enfield and Haringey, has been coaching many of the Newquay Road runners who are competing for N&P at cross country with the knock on effect of rejuvenating his own training and the added impetus of reaching the M45 age group category, which is bringing it's own rewards.

Although these Championships do not have veteran categories, where both Lucy and Miranda would have picked up medals, it still gives an indication of where they will be in the Masters National Championships. And John's placing of 120th would have produced a silver medal for his age group.

In the middle of the pack and making steady progress through the field, Graham Hodgson was bouyed up by his wife's earlier performance, spurred on by his own coaching, which produced the biggest grin of the day every time he passed the cheering small band of N&P supporters/athletes!

Graham finished 402nd while another athlete that appeared to appreciate the support was Simon Howard, also running well to finish 523rd.

Earlier in the day, the only full team for the club, the under 13 Girls enjoyed an early start over a 3km varied course and a terrific team effort to finish 12th out of 29 'complete' teams.

They started with the same short lap and hill followed by one medium lap. All four held their positions after the opening lap, working hard to gain any placings in a tightly packed race where just a few seconds meant the difference between 10 places.

Lily England was the front runner for the club and picked off a group as she headed for the line to cross in 28th place, she was quickly followed by Abby Cayton-Smith at 54th and Ami Brown at 75th with less than 30 seconds between them. The crucial fourth place for the team was scored by Lieacha Cundy at 189th.

Charlotte Cayton-Smith also used the long down-hill finish to pick up valuable places after competing twice over the same medium lap making up the 4km course for the Under 15 Girls.

Sprinting to the finish line in 33rd to claim the second placing for a South West athlete, with Lowenna Hawkey in at 135th.

Lucy Bowden was the only other club athlete to make the long trip, taking on the Under 17s over 5Kms.

She looked to have secured a top 50 placing for one of her best performances when stitch hit on the last section and she dropped a few places heading down to the finish but still maintained an excellent 59th.