CROYDON Harriers senior men won their final third division 2XU Surrey League fixture at Lloyd Park on Saturday, but fell just short of promotion from Division Three in a thrilling finale, writes Matthew Kiernan.

After a valiant effort, Croydon won the fixture with 244 points by two points from Wimbledon Windmilers.

They were 10 points ahead of promotion rivals Tadworth, but needed to beat them by over a hundred to go up.

Mark Plackett, 17, led from the front in dominating fashion, winning the overall five-mile race on the snow-covered course in 27 minutes 57 seconds, from Peter Chambers (who, aged 16, was too young to score for the senior classifications) in 28.17. David White (29.27) followed closely in fourth.

The other scorers were Steve Goss (eighth, 28.55), Sam Clayton (15th, 30.38), Colin Oxlade (25th, 31.29), Jaran Finn (32nd, 32.06), Darren Bradley (39th, 32.42), Ian Wright (40th, 32.46), debutant Simon Loughran (42nd, 32.53) and Andy Del Nevo (46th, 33.33). A further nine ran as non-scorers.

In the young athletes races, Omar Harhara made it four wins from the four league races in the U13 boys section. In the U17s race Kartik Iyer was edged out into runners-up position in the last 50m of the 2.5 mile race.

Their female counterparts rewrote the club record books at Esher Common in the Surrey Women's League. The U15 girls team won the team race, beating 11 other clubs, the first time a Croydon outfit has triumphed in the league in two decades.

Holly Haile led the charge in runners-up spot in 15.01 over the 4.2km course. She was supported by Emily Howe (15th, 17.47), Naomi Carty (16th, 18.47) and Cora Sexton (20th, 19.32). Stevie Lawrence completed the winning quintet in 21st, but would have been higher had she not been sent the wrong way by the course officials. They were seventh in the end of season standings.

The U13 girls also got in on the action over their 2km course, Josie Kavanagh (eighth, 8.50), Ellie McCormack (20th, 9.28) and Phillipa Hughes (26th, 9.42). The trio gave Croydon sixth on the day and fifth in the league standings.