Winter on way for athletes - but there are heart-warming signs for Chichester

Chichester's juniors had their first taste of what the winter has in store when they did battle with some of the best athletes in the country in the South of England road relay championships at Aldershot.

All the major teams in the south were out in force aiming to put down a marker for the season. There was a welcome back to racing for Olympic hopeful Steff Twell, sidelined after breaking her ankle in February in a cross-country race in Belgium.

The most successful of Chichester’s teams on Saturday were the under-15 boys, who lived up to pre-race expectations by finishing tenth, 45 seconds behind the bronze medal winners. Harry Leleu took on the first leg of 3,000m and didn’t disappoint, handing over in eighth place with a 9min 48sec clocking which was 15th fastest of the day among athletes from as far afield as Norwich and Cornwall.