Runners from all over Surrey and South London will be converging on Croydon’s Lloyd Park on Saturday to take part in the Surrey cross country championships.

In addition to chasing medals, the runners will also be battling for places in the Surrey teams to compete in the UK Inter-Counties cross country championships taking place in Birmingham in March.

More than 60 places are up for grabs across the 10 age groups.

Twelve months ago, heavy snow forced the postponement of the championships to the second half of February but organisers are confident this year’s races wil gol ahead as planned.

South London Harriers’ Tom Holden is favourite to take the boys’ U15 title and will be hoping there is no repeat of the misfortune he suffered last year when he was favourite for the boys’ U13 championship.

Holden took a tumble soon after the start and trailed in a disappointed 19th.

However, he made amends a few weeks later when he led Surrey to team success in the UK Inter-Counties championships with an emphatic individual win.

Croydon Harriers’ Peter Chambers, who was runner-up in the boys’ U15 race last February will be hoping for another strong performance despite moving up an age group to the men’s U17 event.

South London Harriers’ Helen Wilson, who gained medals in both the Surrey County and Surrey Schools 1500m championships on the track last summer, will be hoping to go one better than her runners-up spot in 2010 when she turns out in the women’s U17 championship.

She has also performed strongly in cross country events this winter helping Surrey to team success in the South of England inter-counties event at Biggleswade last month, where she was the third Surrey finisher in fifth place and taking seventh spot against runners much older than herself in the South of the Thames five miles race on Wimbledon Common a fortnight earlier.

However, she faces tough opposition at Croydon with last year’s U17 winner Katie Snowden from Herne Hill and the 2009 girls U15 winner Susan Shiel-Rankin also in the women’s U17 race.

Belgrave’s Paskar Owor and Serpentine’s Nick Torry, the two leading finishers in the senior men’s race are expected to battle it out again this time while Army champion Sophie Morris is due to return to defend her senior women’s title.

The first race for boys under 13 is at 11am followed by the girls under 13 (11.20), boys under 15 (11.40), girls under 15 (12noon), men under 17 and under 20 (12.25pm), women under 17 and under 20 (12.55pm), senior women (1.20) and senior men (2pm).

The races start and finish near the pavilion close to the Lloyd Park tramlink stop on Coombe Road.