THURROCK Harriers’ Gemma Holloway won a bronze medal at the Southern Cross-Country Championships in Brighton.

The 17-year-old Palmer’s College student produced a superb run to finish third in the under-20 women’s race at Stanmer Park.

Holloway was only beaten by two runners who have earned Great Britain vests this winter and who are both a year older.

The best of the rest of the Harriers came in the under-13 age group where Harry Parker was 26th.

Parker has another year to improve on an excellent performance in this competitive age group and the lessons gained will stand him in good stead next year.

Likewise Hayley Instance, who is used to top three positions in local competitions, learned a lot from her fighting effort to finish an excellent 21st.

Amber Pullinger confirmed her rapid improvement by finishing 65th in the under-15 girls while in the age group above, the under 17s, Brooke Mensah can take satisfaction from her 75th position, as can Sam Smith 83rd in the under-17 men.

Other finishers: Under 13 boys Finlay Lowe 161st. Under 13 girls Demi Briggs 139th, Kiera Scott 158th. Under 15 boys Jack Exley 130th, Taylor Newell 168th, Reece Scott 178th. Under 15 girls Heather Peters 170th, Lucie Ball 194th.

Meanwhile, a selection of the Harriers’ sprinters and field eventers were in action at the London Cup at Lee Valley.

Joe Winn went close to his personal best (PB) to win the under-17 men’s high jump with a leap of 1.92m. The height is the third best in the UK by an under-17 athlete so far this season.

The under-17 men’s long jump saw PBs from both Nweike Nwabude and Yinka Sodipo.

Nweike went on to win a bronze medal with a jump just four centimetres short of six metres, while Yinka’s jump of 5.76m saw him finish sixth.

The 60m sprint consisted of two rounds and both Yinka and Nweike broke their PBs twice.

After a slow start in the second race, Yinka finished ninth overall with a time of 7.34 secs. This places him 29th best in England.

In the fastest heat of the day, Nweike came third in 7.25s, the 17th best time nationally.