Ed Prickett won the third Sussex Cross Country League event of the season at Bexhill.

Prickett (Crawley), who ran for the Great Britain under-20 team in the European Cross Country Championships in December, was a comfortable winner of the five-mile race by more than one minute in 27min.18sec.

Andrew Robinson, from Horsham, was second.

Robinson was 12th in the National Championships last weekend and, like Pickett, is hoping to line-up for the British Short Course Championship race in Stanmer Park on Saturday.

Robinson, a former All England Schools steeplechase champion, took it easy on a strength-sapping course to preserve his energy and speed.

Both showed a clean pair of heels to Surrey cross-country champion Paul Rodgers (Crawley).

Rodgers, who won the previous league event at Lancing in November, closed considerably towards the finish to take third place, just 50 metres behind.

Hailsham's Ben Warren had another fine run to finish fifth, the first under-20 runner to cross the line.

Brighton and Hove's Nigel Gates made his first appearance since winning the opening League race at Goodwood in October.

He has been dogged by Achilles problems for several months and had to retire before halfway.

Brighton and Hove won the team race with less than half the points scored by Sussex champions Crawley.

Brighton and Hove's Julia Downes, now back from University in America, won the the senior women's race by nearly 200 metres from clubmate Julia Armstrong.

Crawley's Fiona Clark, who has been struggling to regain the form she was showing two years ago, was third, one minute ahead of clubmate Sam Webb who finished fourth and was the first under-20 runner to finish.

The Brighton and Hove women took the team event from Crawley by three points.