Shaftesbury Barnet’s young distance runners braved wind, rain and mud to take top positions in the Herts and Middlesex Cross Country Championships.

Maayan Radus, aged nine, displayed a tactical sense that belied her age to take victory in the Herts under-11 race over 1,500m at Watford.

She said: "The race went exactly as I had planned it. I made a strong push at the downhill section halfway around the course, and that left just four runners in the leading group.

"With about 60 metres to go I made my final sprint to the tape."

Radus’ sister Lia, 12, came fourth in the Middlesex under-13 race over 3,000m at Wormwood Scrubs.

She said: "A leading group of five of us had broken away from the field and we were together until 400 metres to go. I finished just eight seconds behind the winner."

Earlier in the week, Radus had cut her personal best 800m time to 2:32.46 in the Lee Valley New Year competition.

David Stone, 11, was narrowly beaten into second place in the Middlesex under-13 race, finishing four seconds behind Jamie Harper, who is the fastest under-13 runner in the country over 1,500m.

Jessica Hurley, 14, came fourth in the Herts under-15 race while her sister Rebecca, 15, placed ninth in the under-17 division.

George Grant, 15, began the year with a personal best pole vault of 3.52m at the Metaswitch Games at Lee Valley.