Headington Roadrunner Pete Haarer wrapped up the overall and senior men's title a round early, when he finished second in the penultimate meeting at Cirencester Park.

Although Haarer had to concede defeat to teammate Kevin Murphy in Gloucestershire, his second-place was good enough to wrap up the championship, after his main rival and clubmate Gary Harris, suffering from a heavy cold, finished a distant 18th.

Making a rare appearance for his second-claim club, Murphy was in imperious form, and cruised away to win by a wide margin.

Murphy, who last week finished 25th in the South of England Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill in London, used his long strides to ease away and more than 400 yards ahead of Haarer in a time of 31mins 14secs.

Haarer easily held off White Horse Harriers' youngster Chris Gillespie to clinch the title by clocking 32.22.

Murphy, whose first-claim club is Wood Green in London, gave Headington a much-needed boost in the enthralling tussle for the senior men's team prize.

Headington brought all seven of their points-scoring athletes home in the top 25, with Chris Dettmar looking impressive as he finished sixth.

John Lisiewicz marked his return from a holiday in Australia with a solid run for 16th spot, while Harris's 18th helped Headington to post a record-low score of 86 points to close the gap on Woodstock to 22, with one race to go.

They will still have their work cut out at Banbury, however, where they will need to produce an even better result if they are to overhaul their west Oxfordshire rivals.

All seven of Woodstock's A team also finished in the top 25, as they were led home by Greg Dell in fourth and veteran Mike Spencer in fifth.

With Murphy hoping to make another appearance in the final round, Woodstock will be pushed all the way if they are to retain the title.

One of the closest individual battles will see Spencer and Team Kennet's Tom Munt go head-to-head in the final round in the Vet 40 category.

With Spencer finishing fifth and Munt eighth, the duo will head to Drayton School, Banbury next month, on level pegging.

Bryan Vaughan's 20th place secured the Vet 50 crown, the Woodstock runner clocking 35.18 to wrap up the title, while teammate Mike Shipway once again clinched the Vet 60 category, after finishing 76th.

White Horse Harriers' duo Owain Bristow and Gillespie will duel in the final round for the under 20 men's crown.

Bristow finished ninth, but Gillespie's storming run means he is just two points behind his teammate.

Once again the ladies' race turned into a cake-walk for Cirencester's Wendy Jones, who blitzed the field.

She romped home to win by more than a minute from her teammate Ellen Leggate, she strengthening her stranglehold on the senior women's title.

Jones should easily wrap it up if she appears in the final round.

It proved a fantastic day for Cirencester on their home course, as their three points-scorers finished first, second and fourth to all but secure the senior ladies' team title.

The battle for local supremecy will again go right down to the wire.

Witney Roadrunners will take a slender seven-point lead to Banbury, despite Headington closing the gap by 11 points.

Allison Hirst (Vet 35) led home the Headington challenge in third place, with Helen Barnes and Lucy Smith finishing eighth and ninth respectively.

Witney's trio of Nicola Gomm (Vet 35), Elysia Ridley (U17) and Veronica Boden (Vet 35) ensured they kept their noses in front in the team standings.

Gomm's sixth spot was enough to secure the Vet 35 title, while Ridley need only post a finish in the final round to clinchthe under 17 girls' title.

Oxford City's Gwyneth Hueter finished 23rd overall to secure the Vet 45 honours.

In the junior events, pride of place went to Oxford City's under 13 runner Bea Swords, who produced a superb run to win the combined under 13/15 girls' race.

Swords held off the challenge of Martha Lloyd to move well clear at the top of the under 13 girls' standings.

Tim Traynor (White Horse Harriers) produced his finest run of the season to win the under 15 boys' race and join Abingdon's George Wood at the top of the overall standings.

Bicester's Joe Stachowiak regained the sole lead of the under 17 boys' rankings, with Cherwell's Carl Tucker just one point behind. INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Senior men (top 50): 1 K Murphy (Headington RR) 31.14, 2 P Haarer (Headington RR) 32.22, 3 C Gillespie (WHH, U20) 32.45, 4 G Dell (Woodstock H) 33.26, 5 M Spencer (Woodstock H, V40) 33.35, 6 C Dettmar (Headington RR) 33.40, 7 T Bradford (Hook Norton) 33.44, 8 T Munt (Team Kennet, V40) 33.54, 9 O Bristow (WHH, U20) 34.04, 10 S Mead (Woodstock H) 34.06, 11 P Egerton (Abingdon) 34.12, 12 J Cooke (WHH) 34.17, 13 D Croft (Woodstock H) 34.20, 14 T Hunn (Woodstock H) 34.29, 15 T Lock (Witney RR) 34.30, 16 J Lisiewicz (Headington RR) 34.31, 17 L Newell (Abingdon) 34.58, 18 G Harris (Headington RR) 35.09, 19 K Roebuck (Witney RR, V40) 35.13, 20 B Vaughan (Woodstock H, V50) 35.18, 21 D Gavaghan (Headington RR) 35.34, 22 D Burton (Headington RR) 35.51, 23 B Green (Oxford C, V40) 35.51, 24 R Grant (Oxford C, V40) 35.56, 25 R Linnell (Woodstock H) 35.59, 26 T Dixon (Oxford C, V40) 36.07, 27 J Griffiths (Headington RR, V40) 36.09, 28 A Tilsley (Hook Norton) 36.11, 29 J Reason (Woodstock H, V40) 36.12, 30 C Hetherington (Headington RR, V40) 36.16, 31 J Burt (Swindon) 36.19, 32 D Wheeler (Oxford C, V40) 36.34, 33 S Pritchard (Banbury) 36.36, 34 M Hailey (Hook Norton, V50) 36.41, 35 P Jegou (WHH) 36.51, 36 N Ponting (WHH, V40) 36.56, 37 D Kearn (Team Kennet, V50) 36.57, 38 C Thompson (Woodstock H, V40) 37.06, 39 D Graber (Oxford Uni) 37.08, 40 I Robinson (Banbury H) 37.12, 41 R Bradley (Woodstock H) 37.16, 42 G Richards (Abingdon, V40) 37.28, 43 J Barry (Woodstock H) 37.36, 44 C Nellins (Headington RR, V40) 37.44, 45 J Percival (Alchester, V40) 37.49, 46 L Boden (Witney RR, V40) 37.57, 47 K Firkin (Cirencester, V40) 38.08, 48 L Hurman (Headington RR, V40) 38.13, 49 I Meadowcroft (Headington RR, V40) 38.24, 50 C Miles (Witney RR, U20) 38.36.

Senior women (top 30): 1 W Jones (Cirencester) 23.20, 2 E Leggate (Cirencester) 24.26, 3 A Hirst (Headington RR, LV35) 24.38, 4 C Cook (Cirencester) 25.06, 5 J Wassell (Cirencester, LV35) 25.24, 6 N Gomm (Witney RR, LV35) 25.43, 7 S Baigent (Team Kennet) 25.55, 8 H Barnes (Headington RR) 26.06, 9 L Smith (Headington RR) 26.18, 10 R Kelling (Banbury, LV35) 26.33, 11 P Jones (Headington RR) 26.48, 12 E Ridley (Witney RR, U17) 27.05, 13 V Boden (Witney RR, LV35) 27.22, 14 M Buzzard (Banbury H) 27.48, 15 H Langsam (Cirencester) 27.53, 16 J Ashton (Headington RR) 28.05, 17 S Pitts (Witney RR, LV35) 28.15, 18 R Knopp (WHH, LV35) 28.45, 19 S Zarutsky (OUP, LV35) 28.46, 20 S Mead (Abingdon, LV35) 28.54, 21 S Davies (Oxford C) 28.56, 22 K Shaw (Cherwell, LV45) 28.58, 23 G Hueter (Oxford C, LV45) 29.03, 24 D Moore (Headington RR) 29.28, 25 J Ashton (Witney RR, LV45) 29.40, 26 S Donaldson (Woodstock H, LV35) 29.48, 27 K Ingleby (Cirencester) 29.57, 28 L-J Chisnall (Abingdon, U17) 30.12, 29 J Rouse (Swindon, LV45) 30.17, 30 E Welsh (Headington RR, LV35) 30.21.

Under 15/17 boys (top 10 - under 17 unless stated): 1 T Traynor (WHH, U15) 20.12, 2 G Wood (Abingdon, U15) 20.23, 3 J Stachowiak (Bicester) 20.36, 4 E Womersley (Oxford C, U15) 20.38, 5 M Vardy (Team Kennet) 20.39, 6 S Copley (Abingdon, U15) 21.02, 7 R Ridley (Team Kennet) 21.13, 8 J Smart (Oxford C, U15) 21.20, 9 J Ewbank (Woodstock H, U15) 21.23, 10 R Knape (Team Kennet, U15) 21.27.

Under 13 boys: 1 G Rossiter (Team Kennet) 8.40, 2 A Jones (Radley) 8.41, 3 J Charleston (Abingdon) 8.57, 4 A Simpson (Oxford C) 9.06, 5 C Hepworth (Banbury H) 9.18, 6 P Manning (Headington RR) 9.18, 7 S Miller (Radley) 9.21, 8 D Mason (Witney RR) 9.41, 9 S LeGood (Witney RR) 10.00, 10 C King (Witney RR) 10.02.

Under 11 boys: 1 H Robertson (Oxford C) 5.00, 2 J Ridley (Witney RR) 5.08, 3 J Savage (Team Kennet) 5.09, 4 R Simpson (Oxford C) 5.10, 5 R Cadle (Bicester) 5.20, 6 M Randall (Team Kennet) 5.21, 7 A Jones (WHH) 5.26, 8 A Ferguson (Team Kennet) 5.30, 9 M Derrick (Witney RR) 5.41, 10 D Warriner (Cirencester) 5.48.

Under 13/15 girls (top ten - under 15 unless stated): 1 B Swords (Oxford C, U13) 8.56, 2 M Lloyd (Oxford C) 9.10, 3 G Hood (Oxford C) 9.15, 4 S Tyers (Banbury H, U13) 9.24, 5 J Kafke (Radley) 9.29, 6 H Luke (Oxford C) 9.36, 7 C Mitcham (Radley) 9.42, 8 H Chaundy (Radley) 9.46, 9 B Hampson (Abingdon) 9.51, 10 A Lord (WHH, U13) 9.52.

Under 11 girls (top ten): 1 D Anderson (Oxford C) 4.50, 2 M Hawtin (Oxford C) 4.55, 3 B Swords (Oxford C) 5.12, 4 L Scott (Team Kennet) 5.27, 5 L Hawtin (Oxford C) 5.35, 6 E Sleight (Cherwell) 5.38, 7 L Vass (Cirencester) 5.43, 8 B Pudifoot (Cirencester) 5.43, 9 K Pontin (Team Kennet) 5.53, 10 J Anstice (Oxford C) 6.03.

TEAM RESULTS

Senior men - Division 1: 1 Headington RR A 86pts, 2 Woodstock H A 91, 3 White Horse H A 226, 4 Headington RR B 318, 5 Woodstock H B 343, 6 Witney RR 355, 7 Abingdon 410, 8 Oxford C 419, 9 Cirencester 551.

Division 2: 1 Hook Norton 481pts, 2 Headington RR C 545, 3 Swindon 595, 4 Headington RR D 672, 5 Team Kennet 673, 6 Woodstock H C 723, 7 Banbury H 737, 8 Cherwell 755, 9 White Horse H B 876, 10 Eynsham RR 898.

Senior women: 1 Cirencester A 7pts, 2 Headington RR A 20, 3 Witney RR A 31, 4 Cirencester B 47, 5 Headington RR B 70, 6 Witney RR B 81, 7 Oxford C A 86, 8= Abingdon A, Banbury H A 95, 10 White Horse H A 97.

Under 15/17 boys: 1 Team Kennet A 22pts, 2 Oxford C 23, 3 Abingdon 31, 4 White Horse H 40, 5 Witney RR 44, 6 Bicester 49, 7 Woodstock H 53, 8 Team Kennet B 55, 9 Cherwell 62.

Under 13 boys: 1 Witney RR A 27pts, 2 Radley 28, 3 Team Kennet 34, 4= Banbury H, Headington RR 35, 6 Abingdon 41, 7 Oxford C 42, 8 Cirencester 46, 9 Witney RR B 54.

Under 13/15 girls: 1 Oxford C A 6pts, 2 Radley A 20, 3 Radley B 39, 4 Banbury H 40, 5 Oxford C B 46, 6 Witney RR A 53, 7 Abingdon 63, 8 Bicester A 69, 9 Witney RR B 95, 10= Radley C, White Horse H 98.

LATEST LEADING STANDINGS

INDIVIDUAL

Senior men: 1 P Haarer (Headington RR) 4pts, 2 G Harris (Headington RR) 10, 3 G Dell (Woodstock H) 13, 4 T Bradford (Hook Norton) 21, 5 T Lock (Witney RR) 28, 6 P Egerton (Abingdon) 35, 7 T Hunn (Woodstock H) 36, 8 L Newell (Abingdon) 45, 9 P Jegou (WHH) 46, 10 N Baimbridge (Woodstock H) 48.

Vet 40 men: 1= M Spencer (Woodstock H), T Munt (Team Kennet) 21pts, 3 J Griffiths (Headington RR) 69, 4 C Thompson (Woodstock H) 78, 5= R Schofield (Abingdon), T Dixon (Oxford C) 91, 7 M Creasey (Eynsham RR) 110, 8 T Glare (Woodstock H) 112, 9 G Richards (Abingdon) 117, 10 N Ponting (WHH) 119.

Vet 50 men: 1 B Vaughan (Woodstock H) 59pts, 2 D Kearn (Team Kennet) 118, 3 M Hailey (Hook Norton) 162, 4 T Greenland (Abingdon) 193, 5 G Pritchard (Banbury H) 236, 6 G LeGood (Witney RR) 257, 7 B Silto (Woodstock H) 276, 8 B Ferris (Cirencester) 277, 9 G Smith (Banbury H) 280, 10 M Rasgauski (Headington RR) 287.

Vet 60 men: 1 M Shipway (Woodstock H) 206pts, 2 E Robinson (Headington RR) 383, 3 N Lambert (Alchester) 422, 4 R Waldron (Cirencester) 427, 5 K Villiers (Headington RR) 468, 6 B Page (Alchester) 518, 7 P Hart (Cherwell) 577.

Junior men: 1 O Bristow (WHH) 16pts, 2 C Gillespie (WHH) 18, 3 C Miles (Witney RR) 109, 4 J Burke (Banbury H) 115.

Under 17 men: 1 J Stachowiak (Bicester) 7pts, 2 C Tucker (Cherwell) 8, 3 P Castle (Oxford C) 17, 4 M Vardy (Team Kennet) 18, 5 R Ridley (Team Kennet) 22, 6 G Petts (Witney RR) 37.

Under 15 boys: 1= G Wood (Abingdon), T Trainer (WHH) 9pts, 3 J Ewbank (Woodstock H) 19, 4= J Smart (Oxford C), R Knape (Team Kennet) 27, 6 I Castle (Oxford C) 31, 7 S Copley (Abingdon) 32, 8 J Moorcroft (Team Kennet) 42, 9 L Warren (Witney RR) 50, 10 H Penford (WHH) 51.

Under 13 boys : 1 G Rossiter (Team Kennet) 5pts, 2= A Jones (Radley), J Charleston (Abingdon) 6, 4 A Simpson (Oxford C) 7, 5= C Hepworth (Banbury), S Miller (Radley) 16, 7 S LeGood (Witney RR) 19, 8 D Mason (Witney RR) 21, 9= A Sambrook (Witney RR), C King (Witney RR) 25.

Under 11 boys: 1 H Robertson (Oxford C) 3pts, 2 R Simpson (Oxford C) 7, 3 R Cadle (Bicester) 8, 4 M Randall (Team Kennet) 12, 5 J Savage (Team Kennet) 15, 6 A Jones (WHH) 16, 7 M Derrick (Witney RR) 19, 8 M Taylor (Team Kennet) 26, 9 J Rhodes (WHH) 30, 10= J Liquorish (WHH), T Cunniffe (Banbury H) 32.

Senior women: 1 W Jones (Cirencester) 3pts, 2 S Baigent (Team Kennet) 20, 3 M Buzzard (Banbury H) 32, 4 H Langsam (Cirencester) 40, 5 S Evans (Woodstock H) 56, 6 K Ingleby (Cirencester) 79, 7 E McDowall (Headington RR) 112, 8 V Jordan (Team Kennet) 115, 9 A Harrison (OUP) 122, 10 C Shelley (Headington RR) 127.

Vet 35 women: 1 N Gomm (Witney RR) 12pts, 2= J Wassell (Cirencester), R Kelling (Banbury H) 17, 4 V Boden (Witney RR) 23, 5 S Zarutsky (OUP) 45, 6 S Pitts (Witney RR) 48, 7 S Donaldson (Woodstock H) 61, 8 Ros Knopp (WHH) 66, 9= E Welsh (Headington RR), Fischer (Headington RR) 81.

Vet 45 women: 1 G Hueter (Oxford C) 46pts, 2 K Shaw (Cherwell) 55, 3 J Ashton (Witney RR) 71, 4 J Rouse (Swindon) 83, 5 H O'Shea (Abingdon) 114, 6 M Roberts (WHH) 132, 7 S Briggs (Woodstock H) 147, 8 J Larbaleister (Eynsham RR) 164, 9 J LeGood (Witney RR) 168, 10 S Smith (Banbury H) 193.

Vet 55 women: 1 R Webb (Radley) 213pts, 2 M O'Sullivan (Headington RR) 224, 3 N Blatchford (Abingdon) 232, 4 K Sole (Hook Norton) 243.

Junior women: 1 R Cormack-Loyd (Radley) 66pts, 2 S LeGood (Witney RR) 91, 3 C Goodwin (Banbury) 193.

Under 17 women: 1 E Ridley (Witney RR) 26pts, 2 C Eadle (Oxford C) 45, 3 L-J Chisnall (Abingdon) 72, 4 P Sprinz (Oxford C) 102, 5 V Lord (WHH) 130, 6 H Roberts (Radley) 155, 7 R Chicken (Bicester) 165, 8 S Daly (Radley) 175.

Under 15 girls: 1 M Lloyd (Oxford C) 4pts, 2= G Hood (Oxford C), H Chaundy (Radley) 10, 4 H Luke (Oxford C) 12, 5 J Kafke (Radley) 14, 6 C Mitcham (Radley) 22, 7= B Hampson (Abingdon), Kimberley Daly (Radley) 26, 9 Kelly Daly (Radley) 37, 10 A Gunn (Banbury) 39.

Under 13 girls: 1 B Swords (Oxford C) 7pts, 2 S Tyers (Banbury H) 16, 3 E Grant (Radley) 30, 4 A Lord (WHH) 34, 5 A Parsons (Witney RR) 40, 6 J Hewlett (Witney RR) 42, 7 E Patrick (Oxford C) 45, 8= J Hart (Oxford C), M Roberts (Radley) 49, 10 E McDonnell (Gosford) 63.

Under 11 girls: 1 D Anderson (Oxford C) 3pts, 2 M Hawtin (Oxford C) 6, 3 B Swords (Oxford C) 9, 4 L Sleight (Team Kennet) 10, 5 E Sleight (Cherwell) 15, 6 C Drummond (Banbury H) 18, 7 L Hawtin (Oxford C) 20, 8 L Vass (Cirencester) 22, 9 E Boyd (Banbury H) 26, 10 B Pudifoot (Cirencester) 32.

TEAM

Senior men - Division 1: 1 Woodstock H A 394pts, 2 Headington RR A 416, 3 Abingdon A 1153, 4 Woodstock H B 1221, 5 White Horse H 1271, 6 Headington RR B 1359, 7 Witney RR A 1570, 8 Cirencester 2327, 9 Oxford City 2840.

Division 2 (top ten): 1 Banbury H 1773pts, 2 Hook Norton 2106, 3 Headington RR C 2331, 4 Woodstock C 2667, 5 Team Kennet 2711, 6 Swindon 2853, 7 Eynsham RR 2854, 8 Cherwell 3030, 9 Headington RR D 3054, 10 Abingdon B 3349.

Senior women: 1 Cirencester A 79pts, 2 Witney RR A 127, 3 Headington RR A 134, 4 Oxford C 233, 5 Banbury H A 285, 6 Radley A 318, 7 Woodstock H A 342, 8 Headington RR B 370, 9 White Horse H 396, 10 Cirencester B 440.

Under 15/17 boys: 1 Oxford C 93pts, 2 Team Kennet 104, 3 Abingdon 122, 4 White Horse H 180, 5 Witney RR 209, 6 Bicester 212, 7 Cherwell 220, 8 Woodstock H 222.

Under 13 boys: 1 Witney RR 92pts, 2 Radley 117, 3 Oxford C 157, 4 Banbury H 158, 5= Headington RR, Witney RR B 188, 7 Cirencester 208.

Under 13/15 girls: 1 Oxford C 28pts, 2 Radley A 69, 3 Radley B 174, 4 Oxford C B 201, 5 Banbury H 206, 6 Witney RR 210, 7 Abingdon 229, 8 Bicester 293, 9 Exel Gosford 362, 10 Cirencester 402.