GEMMA Holloway capped a week to remember by winning the Southern Cross-Country Championships.

The 18-year-old Thurrock Harrier stormed through the mud at London’s Parliament Hill to win gold just six days after finishing second on her international debut for England.

Holloway led the under-20 women’s race from start to finish and can now look forward to putting in a real challenge at the English Championships in two weeks time.

Another athlete from the stable of coach Brenda Stone who shone on Saturday was Harry Parker. Not in the best of health since Christmas, he turned in a gritty performance to finish 11th in the under-13 boys race, 26 seconds in front of the next Essex competitor.

The best team performance came from the solid and ever-improving under 17 squad. Joe Logan 85th and Oliver Mann 96th, two relative novices, had great runs and Sam Smith 104th and Jody Meredith reinforced their efforts, to enable the team to finish 11th.

Another complete team was the under 15 squad. Their scoring runners were Leon Wheeler 72nd, Taylor Newell 106th, Ben Prior 130th and Sarab Dhillon 210th, and the team finished a respectable 23rd. Mason Hambleton 212th and Henri Willett 221st also finished the gruelling course.

In the other races Jamie Mack (102nd) and Dylan Harrod (144th) had their first taste of the Parliament Hill mud in the under 13s boys.

Hayley Instance (94th), Lucie Ball (121st) and Amy Raven (182nd) made up the incomplete under-15 girls squad while Brooke Mensah finished 110th in the under-17s girls race.