Banbury Harriers senior men's team produced one of their finest displays for years as they sprung a big shock at the Oxfordshire Cross Country Championships at a boggy Shotover Park.

In a nail-biting finale, Banbury staved off the challenge of favourites White Horse Harriers to grab the coveted team prize.

Leading the Banbury team home was Peter George, who finished in third place overall, but it was also the form of his three teammates that saw them to victory.

Simon Pritchard finished 12th, Graham Osbourne 17th and Tim Chambers 19th to give Banbury a points total of 51.

With Pete Wilson crossing the line in second place for White Horse Harriers, finishes of eighth and 11th respectively from George McCourt and Paul Jegou left their fourth team member, Dave Murfin needing to finish inside the top 30 to overhaul Banbury.

But he agonisingly just failed to deliver the goods, crossing the line in 32nd place - just 16 seconds adrift of the place he needed.

Woodstock Harriers scooped the veterans team gold, netting a total of 110 points to beat Headington (127pts) to the title.

Mark Flint, of RAF Brize Norton, won the individual men's title, comfortably out-running Wilson at the end, to finish almost half a minute ahead of the White Horse Harrier.

There were promising displays from youngster Mark Beering, who finished fourth for Oxford City, and his clubmate Steve Kimber, who finished a creditable fifth.

In the junior men's event, the crown unsurprisingly went to young White Horse Harrier Tom Penfold, who easily saw off Oxford City's Ben King by more than two minutes, crossing the line in 40mins 2secs.

Headington's ladies, as expected, sealed the team crown easily, with Jude Craft, Kirstie Anderson and Iona Robertson all finishing in the top ten.

Craft produced another master class as she outpaced clubmate Allison Hirst to snatch the individual title.

Craft never really looked threatened, easing away from the field to cross the line in 23.38 - 30 seconds ahead of her nearest rival.

Headington's veteran ladies also shone, but couldn't prevent Oxford City grabbing the team award by seven points, thanks in no small part to Sue Ogilvie (V45), who finished seventh overall.

In other junior events, pride of place went again to White Horse Harrier Josephine Rhodes as she stormed to victory in the under 17s ladies race.

Rhodes set a blistering pace - finishing an incredible two-and-a-half minutes ahead of her nearest challenger, setting an excellent time of 17.12.

Witney Roadrunners' Mathew Ashton continued his recovery from a broken collar-bone with a terrific performance in the under 17 men's race, beating Oxford City's Darrell Bellinger by over 20 seconds.

In the under 20 ladies race, Frances Briscoe, of White Horse Harriers, picked up the crown in 26.07.

Oxford City's Hannah England continued her excellent form to capture the under 15 girls title and Anthony Williams (Banbury Harriers) took the boys prize.

The under 11 girls competion resulted in a one, two, three for Oxford City with Jade Clarke, Danielle Anderson & Emily Patrick securing a clean sweep.

With places in the Oxfordshire cross country team at stake, most of the county's top runners were involved, although three senior men were missing through injury.

Dave Ashton (Woodstock), Jerry McCarthy (Witney) and John Lisiewicz (Headington) were all ruled out, but may still be selected to represent Oxon in the Inter-Counties Cross Country Championship at Woollerton Park, Nottingham on February 9.

OXON CROSS COUNTRY RESULTS

Senior & Vet Men (top 50): 1 M Flint (RAF Brize Norton) 39.40, 2 P Wilson (WHH) 40.05, 3 P George (Banbury H) 40.26, 4 M Beerling (Oxford C) 40.44, 5 S Kimber (Oxford C) 40.51, 6 G Harris (Headington RR) 40.55, 7 P Haarer (Ranelagh AC) 41.09, 8 G McCourt (WHH) 41.24, 9 D Wright V40 (WHH) 42.14, 10 T Hunn (Woodstock Harriers) 43.00, 11 P Jegou (WHH) 43.04, 12 S Pritchard (Banbury H) 43.10, 13 B Vaughan V40 (Woodstock Harriers) 43.13, 14 N Wright (Team Solent) 43.19, 15 T Glare V40 (Woodstock Harriers) 43.23, 16 J Thorn (Headington RR) 43.46, 17 G Osbourne (Banbury H) 43.46, 18 R Bradley (Swindon AC) 43.56, 19 T Chambers (Banbury H) 44.27, 20 J Griffiths V40 (Headington RR) 44.30, 21 R Schofield V40 (Oxford C) 44.34, 22 G Richards V40 (Abingdon Amb) 45.42, 23 I Robinson (Banbury H), 45.46, 24 C Nellins V40 (Headington RR) 45.47, 25 N Ponting V40 (WHH) 46.49, 26 C Bedford (Radley College) 46.52, 27 P Mestecky (Banbury H) 46.54, 28 R Treadwell V50 (Oxford C) 46.59, 29 R Briggs V40 (Swindon AC) 47.04, 30 T Greenland V50 (Abingdon Amb) 47.13, 31 J Oliver V40 (Abingdon Amb) 47.16, 32 D Murfin (WHH) 47.20, 33 G Smith V50 (Banbury H) 47.22, 34 D Prickett (Bicester AC) 47.30, 35 H Nickau V40 (Headington RR) 47.36, 36 T Taylor V40 (WHH) 48.12, 37 A Simpson (Witney RR) 48.21, 38 F Howard (Headington RR) 48.34, 39 L Creasey (Eynsham RR) 48.40, 40 S Caswell V40 (Woodstock Harriers) 48.43, 41 D Drummond (Banbury H) 49.03, 42 M Shipway V50 (Woodstock Harriers) 49.14, 43 P Thomas V50 (Witney RR) 50.29, 44 J Moss (Kidlington RR) 50.30, 45 M Creasey V40 (Eynsham RR) 50.40, 46 P Kyberd V40 (Kidlington RR) 50.43, 47 J Ashton V40 (Witney RR) 50.50, 48 M Rasgauski V50 (Headington RR) 50.51, 49 G LeGood V40 (Witney RR) 51.02, 50 R Dunbabin V40 (Woodstock Harriers) 51.17.

Senior Teams: 1 Banbury 51pts, 2 White Horse Harriers 53, 3 Headington 116.

Veterans Teams: 1 Woodstock 110pts, 2 Headington 127, 3 Abingdon 134, 4 Witney 191, 5 Eynsham RR 250, 6 Headington B 272.

Men U20: 1 T Penfold (WHH) 40.02, 2 B King (Oxford C) 42.19, 3 A Moreton (Oxford C) 43.31, 4 M Giles (Abingdon Amb) 48.02, 5 T Wright (Banbury H) 52.38.

Men U17: 1 M Ashton (Witney RR) 14.34, 2 D Bellinger (Oxford C) 14.56, 3 O Bristow (WHH) 15.26, 4 W Devenish (Oxford C) 16.05, 5 J Mackinnon (Abingdon Amb) 16.42, 6 C Miles (Witney RR) 16.52, 7 A Osment (Witney RR) 17.17.

Boys U15: 1 A Williams (Banbury H) 16.28, 2 P Castle (Oxford C) 16.48, 3 J Stackowiak (Bicester AC) 16.50, 4 N Flynn (Bicester AC) 16.51, 5 D Broadhead (Bicester AC) 17.18, 6 D Brown (Bicester AC) 17.21, 7 J Hill (Abingdon Amb) 17.24, 8 S Devenish (Banbury H) 18.01, 9 I Timms (Banbury H) 18.04, 10 D Luke (Oxford C) 19.16, 11 G Petts (Witney RR) 20.25.

Team: 1 Bicester AC 18pts.

Boys U13: 1 I Castle (Oxford C) 13.37, 2 G Wood (Abingdon Amb) 13.41, 3 J Wilson (Oxford C) 13.48, 4 S Mitchell (Exel-Gosford AC) 13.50, 5 D Ridley (Witney RR) 13.51, 6 G Holding (Exel Gosford AC) 13.52, 7 O Berger (Abingdon Amb) 14.04, 8 L Warren (Witney RR) 14.49, 9 H Penfold (WHH) 14.51, 10 J Griffiths (Headington RR) 15.09, 11 R Hill (Abingdon Amb) 15.57, 12 B Schofield (Abingdon Amb) 16.01, 13 D Bridgman (Abingdon Amb) 16.30.

Team: 1 Abingdon Amb 32pts.

Mini Minor Boys - U11: 1 J Charleston (Abingdon Amb) 4mins 27secs, 2 S Legood (Witney RR) 4.37, 3 A Jones (Witney RR) 4.48, 4 R Cadle (Bicester AC) 4.51, 5 C Luke (Oxford C) 5.01, 6 T O'Sullivan (Bicester AC ) 5.02, 7 C King (Witney RR) 5.12, 8 F Lyford (Abingdon Amb) 5.39, 9 D Mestecky (Banbury H) 5.50, 10 S Nichau (Headington RR) 6.16, 11 R King (Witney RR0 6.24.

Senior & Vet Women: 1 J Craft (Headington RR) 23.38, 2 A Hirst V35 (Headington RR) 24.08, 3 T Galbraith (Radley Ladies) 24.15, 4 K Anderson (Headington RR) 24.24, 5 I Robertson (Headington RR) 25.04, 6 M Buzzard (Banbury H) 26.36, 7 S Ogilvie V45 (Oxford C) 26.43, 8 S Walters V35 (Oxford C) 26.47, 9 G Allen V35 (Banbury H) 26.53, 10 G Hueter V35 (Oxford C) 27.51, 11 S Davis (Oxford C) 27.57, 12 J Ashton V35 (Witney RR) 28.11, 13 H Turley V45 (Headington RR) 28.42, 14 D Kukainis (Banbury H) 29.41, 15 K Miles V35 (WHH) 30.00, 16 E McDowall (Headington RR) 30.15, 17 M Fischer V35 (Headington RR) 30.22, 18 H O'Shea V45 (Abingdon Amb) 30.32, 19 J Howard V35 (Woodstock H) 30.41, 20 S Mead (Oxford C) 30.56, 21 R Allen (Kidlington RC) 31.21, 22 R Knapp V35 (WHH) 31.28, 23 C O'Keefe (Oxford C) 31.38, 24 J Pinnock V35 (Eynsham AC) 31.57, 25 S Briggs V45 (Woodstock Harriers) 32.16, 26 E Hussey V45 (Radley Ladies) 32.26, 27 R Hollington V55 (Abingdon Amb) 33.36, 28 E Wearn (Abingdon Amb) 33.58, 29 E Mestecky (Banbury H) 34.00, 30 V Finnemore V35 (Headington RR) 34.51, 31 J Phillips V35 (Woodstock Harriers) 35.56, 32 R Webb V55 (Radley Ladies) 35.23, 33 E Blythe V35 (Headington RR) 37.05, 34 N Blatchford V45 (Abingdon Amb) 38.08.

Senior Teams: 1 Headington 10pts, 2 Banbury 49, 3 Oxford C 54.

Veterans Teams: 1 Oxford C 25pts, 2 Headington 32, 3 Woodstock 75, 4 Abingdon Amb 79.

Women U20: 1 F Briscoe (WHH) 26.07.

Women U17: 1 J Rhodes (WHH) 17.12, 2 A Aldridge (Reading AC) 18.44, 3 M Williams (Oxford C) 19.07, 4 L Newport (Oxford C) 19.35, 5 R Cormack-Loyd (Radley Ladies) 20.08, 6 S Legood (Witney RR) 20.12, 7 C Bridgman (Abingdon Amb) 25.57.

Girls U15: 1 H England (Oxford C) 13.17, 2 C Plateau (Radley Ladies) 13.41, 3 E Ridley (Witney RR) 13.54, 4 C Eadle (Oxford C) 14.30, 5 C Newbourd (Banbury H) 15.31, 6 S Daly (Radley Ladies) 15.40, 7 D Allen (Banbury H) 16.19, 8 K Filshie (Banbury H) 16.27, 9 N Davis (Radley Ladies) 16.34, 10 L Chisnall (Abingdon Amb) 16.47, 11 H Roberts (Radley Ladies) 17.38, 12 L Sweeney (Bicester AC) 18.10, 13 R Hampson (Abingdon Amb) 18.54.

Teams: 1 Radley Ladies 17pts, 2 Banbury 20

Girls U13: 1 A Gunn (Banbury H) 14.38, 2 Kelly Daly (Radley Ladies) 14.51, 3 H Chaundy (Radley Ladies) 15.02, 4 Kimberly Daly (Radley Ladies) 15.05, 5 J Kafke (Radley Ladies) 15.17, 6 M Lloyd (Horspath School) 15.26, 7 A Peacock (Banbury H) 15.27, 8 L Tolmie (Radley Ladies) 15.46, 9 H Luke (Oxford C) 15.49, 10 A Chisnall (Abingdon Amb) 15.55, 11 B Hampson (Abingdon Amb) 16.16, 12 J England (Oxford C) 16.36, 13 A McGill (Bicester AC) 18.30, 14 A Ledger (Abingdon Amb) 18.41, 15 K Allen (Bicester AC) 19.36.

Teams: 1 Radley Ladies 9 pts, 2 Abingdon Amb 35.

Mini Minor Girls - U11: 1 J Clarke (Oxford C) 4.53, 2 D Anderson (Oxford C) 4.54, 3 E Patrick 5.06, 4 H Mitchell (Exel Gosford AC) 5.08, 5 E McDonnell (Exel Gosford AC) 5.10, 6 F Cormack-Loyd (Radley Ladies) 5.17, 7 C Drummond (Banbury H) 5.29, 9 M Buckingham (Witney RR) 5.32, 10 M Roberts (Radley Ladies) 5.33, 11 H Owen (Bicester AC) 5.54, 12 M Hebbert (Oxford C) 6.55.