Radley Ladies' Hattie Dean capped a great winter by finishing 47th - and being the second Briton home - in the short course race at the World Cross Country championships in France.

Competing against a top-class field which included Ethiopia's world 5000m champion Tirunesh Dibaba, Dean also had to contend with temperatures of 26C in the last race of the championships staged in St Galmier, near St Etienne.

But she shrugged off the potential problems posed by the weather and produced a smart run in only her third ever race at the 4km distance.

The 22-year-old set off conservatively on the first of two 2km laps of the twisty, flat course and at the end of the first lap was placed in the high 50s.

However, her early caution paid dividends on the second lap and as she came storming through to beat leading British duo Hayley Yelling, the European cross-country champion and Commonwealth 1500m bronze medallist Helen Clitheroe.

Dean was delighted to finish inside the top 50 and said: "I feel really pleased as I know I gave it everything.

"I was hoping to be one of the four British scorers (in the team of six).

"I ran the race quite intelligently. I started the race quick and hard but I held something back for the second lap.

"To be honest, I don't have a lot of memories of the race, but I do remember coming out of the muddy section; I tried to sprint but I had nothing left."

The Sheffield University Masters student was also unfazed by the sweltering conditions.

"It was not the best of conditions, although I didn't flap," she added."My mouth was really dry and I've only ran in conditions like this in the summer on the track."

Dean described the experience of competing in her first major senior international championship as 'brilliant' and said her performance was one of the highlights of a successful season.

The 1999 English Schools' cross-country champion took a break from athletics but has returned to the sport with huge success.

She won the British Universities' cross country title in February and qualified for the world cross by finishing third at the UK 4K Championships in Nottingham earlier this month.