By Matthew Kiernan

Sophie Bates spearheaded the Croydon Harriers challenge at the latest round of the Surrey women’s league at Nonsuch Park on Saturday thanks to a top 50 finish.

Bates finished 50th in the 342-strong field, clocking 26 minutes, 52 seconds over the 6km course. She followed this up with a bronze medal at the Kingston 10K 24 hours later.

In the young athletes races at Nonsuch, Stevie Lawrence finished fifth in the U17 women’s race. In the U15 category, Naomi Carty was 32nd, Josie Kavanagh 36th and Fiona Kirby-Walker 46th grouped well out of 49 finishers. The team placed sixth overall.

Ellie McCormack kept the flag flying in the U13 girls’ race, finishing 27th in the field of 39.

On Sunday, a further 12 young athletes were in action at the Epsom Downs cross-country league with Emily Howe finishing runner-up (U15 girls), while Angus Harrington (U13 boys) and Rob Spalding (U15 boys) both finished fourth.

The U13 and U15 teams are both third in the overall team standings with two fixtures remaining.

At the Pirie 10 mile race at Farthing Downs, David Brown was 17th in 1:03.36

In the pick of the parkrun action, Peter Chambers won the Dulwich meeting by more than half a minute, triumphing in 16.02.