Hunts AC made a fine start to the defence of their junior title in the opening race of the Frostbite Friendly League.

Local clubs came to the fore at Priory Park in St Neots, with BRJ Run & Tri taking second place and Riverside Runners grabbing third overall.

Team standings are based on the first five finishers from a club – four male and one female – with races not allowed to be any longer than one-and-a-half miles in distance.

Angus Lawrence was the leading performer for Hunts AC in second place, while Shannon Flockhart took seventh despite suffering an injury during the race. She was the leading female finisher by more than half-a-minute.

Owen Brownston (8th), Seb Darnell (13th) and Spencer Taylor (15th) completed a fine points-scoring effort.

Keelan Duffy (11th) was the pick of the BRJ youngsters with clubmates Liam Conway (14th), Eddie Brand (24th), James Newham (25th) and Ellie Loosely (26th) also contributing to the team score. Loosely was the second girl home after Flockhart.

Callum Nicholson was the fastest Riverside talent on show with fourth place.

It wasn’t such a good start for the Hunts AC seniors as they go in search of a second successive title.

Joey Croft was the pick of their runners as he finished in fourth place in a time of 27.10 – senior races must be between five and six miles in length.

Their other six male and three female scoring runners were Dave Connell (7th, 28.05), Ty Farrer (16th, 28.55), Tom Walker (19th, 29.16), Nick Osborn (38th, 30.21), Darren Matthews (52nd, 31.19), Gair Matthews (61st, 32.00), Kelly Crawford (191st, 36.46), Ieva Klavina (193rd, 36.49) and Caroline King (243rd, 38.18).

BRJ could only manage eighth in the senior standings, but David Hudson took a fine second place in 27.01 as he warmed up for international duty this weekend. He has been selected in the England Masters’ team for the Chester Marathon.

Michael Taylor was third for Riverside Runners, who also finished third overall, in 27.08.

Freddie Minney, Rodrigo Santos, Gary Evans and Alan Turnbull also finished in the top 25 for the St Neots-based club.

The next round of the Frostbite Friendly League is at Nene Park, in Peterborough, on November 5.