Sussex claimed four of the top five finishers as well as the winner of the female category at the 13th Sussex Beacon half marathon yesterday.
The cream of the county's runners flocked to Brighton for the 13.5-mile race which started and finished at Madeira Drive and took in Hove Lagoon and Rottingdean Village.
More than 1,600 runners took part in the event aimed at raising money for the Sussex Beacon, a purpose-built national care centre for people living with HIV/AIDS related illness.
The overall winner was Newham and Essex Beagles runner Neville Adam who won the race for the third time in 1:11:30.
Hot on his heels in second was Brighton-based Fred Tjoen (1:13:00) who edged out Crawley AC member Ivan Luck, third in a time of 1:13:07.
Fourth went to Dave Carter, from Brighton based running club Pheonix, with team-mate Rob Lacey fifth.
Alan Welsh was the first to finish of a strong Brighton AC contingent, claiming sixth place with a time of 1:13:55.
Tjeon, who originally comes from France but has lived in Hove for three years, works for ERunner, the Hove-based running shop which sponsored the event.
He said: "It was a fantastic race and I really enjoyed myself which is the most important thing for me. I don't run for a club, I just train with Pheonix, and I don't wear a watch, so it was really good to come second.
"It was brilliant to see so many people out running and trying to raise money for charity.
"It was one of the best races I've run in, the conditions were absolutely perfect and the course was superb."
Samantha Baines, of Hailsham Harriers, was the first woman to finish in a time of 1:22:28.
She literally ran away with it, finishing almost two minutes ahead of her nearest challenger in only her third race since coming back from a long-term injury.
She said: "I am delighted to have come first. I found it pretty hard going because I have had a good year off with a number of injuries.
My knees almost went a couple of times and I just about managed to carry on. It was good to be competing again, but I'm glad it's over."
Chris Cheeseman's valiant attempt to win the Southern Area 20km Road Walking Championship at Littlehampton ended in failure.
The Crawley athlete's lack of racing told over the final couple of laps and, just when he seemed to be cruising to a comfortable victory, his legs went completely.
A lead of well over two minutes started to shrink and, with a lap to go, Mark Easton (Surrey Club) steamed past the flagging Cheeseman and won by more than one minute in 101min.36sec.
Easton said: "I was struggling towards the end but I could see in the distance Chris was in even greater trouble and this helped me keep going."
Cheeseman said: "I was having fitness problems back in June. After the trials I decided I had to ease off for a while but it was not until Christmas that I got back to proper training.
"So although I am disappointed I did not manage to hold out, twelve-and-a-half miles is quite a long distance when you are not fit and I certainly paid at the end. The final couple of laps were a real battle."
Steyning's Tim Watt settled for third place from the start and never looked in any danger of either losing the bronze medal or closing the gap on silver.
Steyning's Gareth Brown missed the race with a cold..
With Richard Emsley in fourth and Steve Barker ninth, the Steyning Club were comfortable winners of the team title ahead of Ilford and Surrey Walking Club.
Brighton and Hove's Julia Downes had a brilliant run to finish 14th in the National Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill Fields in London.
Emma Satterly (Phoenix Club), who is struggling to recover her form of 12 months ago, was the second Sussex runner to finish in 55th.
In the men's race, Crawley's Paul Rodgers led the Sussex Club challenge, finishing 63rd out 1,200 runners.
All the Beacon Half-Marathon finishers in Thursday's Argus
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