Kirsten Stilwell ran her way to a gold medal at the Southern Cross Country Championships in Brighton on Sunday.

The Wycombe Phoenix athlete beat 246 competitors to take the win in the girl’s under-13 race finishing three seconds ahead of her nearest challenger.

Victory at Stanmer Park continues what has been a fine season for Stilwell, who has won the last seven races she has entered including a gold at the Bucks County Championships on January 3.

She said: “It’s great to have my name on a trophy alongside such great GB runners like Jess Judd and Emelia Gorecka. I was a bit nervous and just tried to do my best.”

In the same race Holly Hodgkinson ran well to finish 49th and rest of the team Olivia Lowrie, Emily Sanderson, Sian Vico, Hattie Bell, Emily Styles, Mia Waterhouse, Lucy Rose and Sian Vico contributed to a ninth place finish out of 31 in the team standings.

Tash Taylor followed up her own strong showing at the County Championships with a 30th place finish in the under-17 section, whilst Hal Burtenshaw and Georgina Russell also secured top 50 finishes in their respective races.

Team manager David Randall struggled to find anything other than positives for the squad’s showing on the south coast.

“I am so proud of every runner. We had hoped for a team medal with the under-13 girls but that just didn’t quite happen on the day.

“That said, pretty much every athlete has either improved on their previous performances at this event or debuted really well in such a high class field.”