Poole Athletic Club made a flying start to the cross-country season with five wins in their opening league fixtures.

Dorset under-13 champion Shelby Haysom beat training partner Grace Howie to claim a Wessex League victory at Langport.

Haysom followed this up by edging out Aldershot star Emily Alexander-High in a nail-biting Hampshire League finish at Farley Mount, Winchester, with Howie finishing a close third.

Aldershot got their revenge as PAC's under-15 Melissa Courtney, promoted to win the under-17 race on the Somerset levels, sustained her first Hampshire League defeat.

Though feeling heavy-legged in mid-race, Courtney rallied to finish just four seconds down on fellow English Schools international Emilia Gorecka.

PAC were not to be denied a Winchester under-15 victory, however, as Richard Horton triumphed in the boys' event. He held off Poole Runners' star Jack Partridge by just one second after both had worked their way through the early leaders. Langport winner George Atkins (sixth) and Frank Bailey (fifteenth) closed PAC's team in second place.

Mike Grist (second veteran) and Christine Thomas (fourth veteran) were the best placed local runners in the senior Hampshire League races.

Though they led Poole Runners' veteran teams to second and third respectively, the men's senior ranking of eighth is the minimum required for Division One survival.

Though captain Jon Sharkey made the top 30, Bournemouth AC already look relegation candidates. Meanwhile, Hamworthy Harriers, led by Andy Clements, stand every chance of bouncing straight back from Division Three.

Zoe Lamb and Rachel Brenton, both of Poole Runners, were each top 10 finishers in the junior events at Winchester.

Wimborne's Ian Cardy won the senior men's event at Langport, while top veteran Lynda Faulkner, third overall in the women's race, led the club to a rare team win.

Bournemouth AC pair Fergus O'Reilly and Daisy Harper-Brown each achieved third places in the Somerset meeting.