Megan Keith and Mahamed Mahamed in pole position

Inverness and Southampton athletes lead the British Athletics Cross Challenge senior standings going into Saturday’s series final and UK Inter-Counties at Prestwold Hall

This weekend’s UK Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships is not an official trial this winter due to the early staging of the World Cross in Bathurst last month, but it is still the de facto British championships for cross-country and is the final event in a British Athletics Cross Challenge series that began in Cardiff in October.

Megan Keith and Mahamed Mahamed lead the Cross Challenge senior standings with a traditional £30,000 at stake in prizes across the 10 races.

Mahamed’s brother, Zak, is also in the running for the Cross Challenge title although Emile Cairess, who is No.2 in the standings, is unlikely to run due to his London Marathon preparations.

First staged at Prestwold Hall near Loughborough in 2017, the event returns to the rolling fields of the estate with runners keeping a close eye on the weather this week as the venue has a history of becoming extremely muddy after heavy rain.

The event is due to be streamed via the UK Athletics website but keep an eye on the AW website and social media channels for news, photos and leading results.

British Athletics Cross Challenge standings

Senior women

1 Megan Keith Inverness Harriers AAC  108
2 Jessica Gibbon Reading AC 106
3 Grace Carson Mid Ulster AC 100
4 Alexandra Millard Invicta East Kent AC 99
5 Amy-Eloise Markovc Wakefield District Harriers & AC 98
6 Niamh Bridson Hubbard Blackheath & Bromley H AC 96
7 Charlotte Dannatt Camberley & District AC 95
8 Cari Hughes Cardiff AAC 95
9 Jennifer Walsh Leeds City AC 93
10 Alice Goodall Edinburgh University Hare & Hounds 92

Under-20 women

1 Megan Harris Chelmsford AC 61
2 Alice Bates Kettering Town Harriers 59
3 Libby Huxley Preston Harriers 56
4 Kiya Dee Cheltenham & County Harriers 54
5 Moli Lyons Cardiff Athletics 40
6 Emilia Platt East Cheshire Harriers & Tameside AC 39
7 Hattie Reynolds City of Norwich AC 39
8 Meredith Reid Inverclyde AC 38
9 Beth Rawlinson Wolverhampton & Bilston 37
10 Jemima Ridley Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow AC 35

Megan Harris (Mark Shearman)

Under-17 women

1 Sophie Nicholls Wells City Harriers 59
2 Innes FitzGerald Exeter Harriers 56
3 Zoe Gilbody Wreake & Soar Valley AC 55
4 Beca Haf Bown Menai Track and Field 53
5 Yasmin Kashdan Crawley AC 53
6 Caitlyn Heggie Ross County Athletics Club 50
7 Evey Powell Abingdon AC 45
8 Holly Haldane…