Pete Riley was first home out of the 26 Witham Running Club members who travelled south to tackle a boggy Benfleet 15.

He powered through the mud in this 15-mile cross-country race and was rewarded with a place in the top 20 for his time of one hour 43 minutes 52 seconds, while Vicky Hunt was Witham’s first lady home in a storming 2h 11m 16s.

Hunt only narrowly missed overtaking Witham’s Tony Wallen, who finished four seconds ahead of her, and there was also a tight tussle for club honours between Andrew Lager and Mark Finbow.

Lager closed Finbow down in the closing stages and just passed him on the final hill to the finish to be 13 seconds clear at the line in 1h 59m 58s.

Other Witham runners closely packed were Colleen Rae and James Kennerley as Rae got past in the last mile to finish in 2h 33m 43s but she missed out on catching David Jobling, who put on a final push of speed in the closing miles to cross the line in 2h 31m 22s.

Anita Grainger battled through the loss of a shoe in one muddy section, with Rae stopping to assist her clubmate in getting it back on, to record the biggest personal best (PB) of the day.

She knocked more than nine minutes off her previous PB in 2h 35m 25s, with James Crisp knocking more than eight minutes from his PB and Bill Smythe and Jo Smythe also got PBs.

Witham results: Pete Riley 1h 43m 52s, James Crisp 1h 51m 8s, Leo Cole 1h 52m 24s, Dave Campbell 1h 56m 51s, Andrew Lager 1h 59m 58s, Mark Finbow 2h 11s, Scott Darney 2h 41s, Stuart Mills 2h 3m 4s, David Hunt 2h 4m 7s, Lee Pembroke 2h 7m 45s, Bill Smythe 2h 7m 59s, Sean Darney 2h 8m 58s, Tony Wallen 2h 11m 12s, Vicky Hunt 2h 11m 16s, Brigid Wallen 2h 17m 5s, Mark Lynch 2h 17m 31s, David Jobling 2h 31m 22s, Colleen Rae 2h 33m 43s, James Kennerley 2h 34m 1s, Anita Grainger 2h 35m 25s, Anthony Smith 2h 40m 20s, Ross Silverton 2h 42m 5s, Jo Smythe 2h 43m 39s, Annabelle Reed 2h 45m 4s, Tracey Denby 2h 56m 54s, David Howard 3h 23m 45s.