Aldershot, Farnham & District AC won half of the 10 team titles on offer at the South of England cross-country championships on Saturday.

Their one individual victory came in the under-13 girls' event, but it came from Stacey Preston who has been chasing her clubmate, Emma Pallant, all season.

The manner of Preston's victory was impressive, going clear early on and ploughing relentlessly through the mud of Parliament Hill Fields, Hampstead Heath, for a margin of 32 seconds over Pallant who finished second in 14mins 22.

Laura Dowsing of West Suffolk, who had split the pair at Margate's international meeting in November, was third on 14-38.

Stephanie Twell, seventh in 15-00, and Abigail Salter, who completed the top dozen with her 15-28, formed the second half of AFD's winning side.

Martin Mashford, third at Margate, was runner-up in 18mins 21 to Adam Hickey (18-14), who won the U/15 boys' race there, and led AFD to a convincing win over the latter's club, Southend-on-Sea.

Fourth, seven seconds behind Thurrock's Andrew Livingstone (18-33), was Laurence Cox, while Stephen Blake, 10th in 19-36, and Matt Leslie, one behind in 19-39, completed AFD's quartet. The club could have counted a fifth runner (Ben Wilson, 14th in 19-54) and still won.

AFD's U/15 girls were also led home by an individual silver medallist. India Lee was on the shoulder of Nicola Sykes as they entered the home straight, but the athlete from Leighton Buzzard opened an advantage of three seconds by the line which she reached in 19mins 06.

The next four places were taken by AFD. The bronze medal went to Hannah Jones in 19-23, ahead of Leonie Smith (19-31), Laura Tanner (19-35) and Charlotte Browning (19-41).

Vicky Clews (eighth in 19-45), Charlotte Aberdeen (16th in 20-21) and Kiri Nowak (22nd in 20-46) made certain that AFD's first eight runners totalled less than half the points accumulated by silver medallists Havering Mayesbrook.

There were no individual medals for AFD in the U/20 men's contest, but Ed Jackson finished fourth with 31mins 33 in a race won comfortably by the age-group's European 5,000 metres track champion, Mohammed Farah of Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow, in 30mins 15.

Jackson was backed in his club's success by Phil Banks (seventh in 32-03), David Udal (18th in 32-50) and Dan McCarthy (20th in 33-00).

The U/17 men's victorious quartet comprised Gavin Smith (seventh in 24mins 58), Graham Russ (13th in 25-30), Mark McCulloch (16th in 25-42) and Robert McCarthy (20th in 25-54).

Team silvers for AFD came from their U/13 boys (Greg Smith, 13th in 13mins 39; Tom Goddard, 25th in 14-11; Julian Anderson, 42nd in 14-33 and Simon Gill, 44th in 14-34); U/17 women (Sarah Pickett, 11th in 23mins 55; Megan Jones, 13th in 24-10; Emma Whittaker-Axon, 27th in 25-16, and Tahli Gill, 30th in 25-48) and U/20 women (Gemma Greenfield, eighth in 23mins 53; Ava Hutchinson 13th in 24-32;Kim Bartholomew, 26th in 27-20, and Hannah Woods, 28th in 28-27).

The senior men did not make the frame, but their efforts were good enough for AFD to claim the overall men's trophy. They were led by Tim Bedford in 39th and Karl Corpes with his 47th.