The County finished a slender 13 points behind Suffolk in the contest which sees all the team points from all eight races added together.

Norfolk were a distant third as they finished just ahead of Lincolnshire and the host county Cambridgeshire.

The closest Northants came to individual success in the meeting held over a very muddy course at Huntingdon's Hinchingbrooke Country Park was with Josh Cara in the Minor Boys race over 2.8km.

He was always in the hunt along with Alex Hampson (Lincs) and Norfolk's Ashley Waterson and going into the final kilometre was 10 metres clear.

However, he was hauled back and just lost out by one second in a close
finish to Hampson (11.26) with Waterson third in 11.32.

Solid packing from the Northants squad gave them one of their two team victories throughout the chilly and misty afternoon.

Nick Cowen ran well for fourth as did Kyran Wilson (seventh), Jack Hope (ninth) and Fraser Dalby in 10th while Ben Musgrove in 17th was the
County's final counter.

In the team stakes Northants were convincing winners over Suffolk.
Northants' other team win and individual medal came in the Inter Boys event when the County again convincingly finished ahead of Suffolk with Norfolk third.

Top finisher for the County was the diminutive Guy Marshman who had a frantic battle with Norfolk's Martainn Ramsay for the runner-up spot but just lost out, despite the pair recording the same time of 18.29 for the 5.3km distance.

Ahead of the pair Suffolk's Kieran Clements led from gun to tape to win in 17.58.

Ryan Burling and Sam Turnell both turned in excellent runs to finish fourth and fifth respectively while Rory Bowe in ninth also ran well.

Conor Hills in 13th and Jacob Allen who was 20th had solid runs to contribute to the County's winning effort.

Gabby Moriarty, Rory Grant and Gemma Vaughan all produced fine
performances to come home fifth in their respective races.

Moriarty showed a big improvement from her fourth place in the County Championships to lead Northants to the runners-up spot behind Norfolk in the Inter Girls event.

She covered the 3.5km distance in 16.40 as Georgina Schwiening (Cambs) won easily in 16.08 from Norfolk's Nastassja Potgeiter (16.22) and Suffolk's Holly Archer (16.29).

The other scorers for Northants were Sophie Reynolds (11th), Charlotte Inwood (16th), Sarah Bennett (22nd), Clarissa Blake (23rd) and Jess Varley in 25th place.

Grant finished strongly in the 6.6km Senior Boys race to front the squad that placed third in the team stakes behind Cambs and comfortable winners Suffolk.

He ran the distance in 23.58 while at the front Suffolk filled the top two positions when Alex Dunbar strode effortlessly away from the field to win in 22.54 from John Bird (23.27).

Seb Goodall came strong in the final 800m to take 10th in 24.50, one place and two seconds ahead of Luke Robinson while Jake Waples (14th in 25.02) also did well. Chris Palfreeman (23rd) and Matthew Fellows (29th) closed the County scoring.

Vaughan, who competed in the Minor Girls race, was another to improve from her county run.

She came good in the second half to clock 10.21 for the 2.3km course and front the Northants effort after county champion Maisie Green pulled out due to an asthma attack when battling for third place mid-race.

Charlotte Murphy (13th), Natalie Goddard, who after coming only 10th in the county was 14th, Ciara Moore (17th), Aimee Trafford (18th) and Rebecca Leadbeater in 23rd also scored as Northants came third
behind Cambs and winners Suffolk who also had the top two finishers when Sophie Tooley beat Frankie Lang by two seconds in 10.07.

Emily Kier also showed improvement from the county when leading Northants to third place behind Norfolk and winners Cambs in the Senior Girls 4.5km race.

She clocked 19.46 for seventh while supporting her were Briony Banks (11th), Rachael Barber (14th), Imogen Harris (18th), Sophie Munn (22nd) and Emma McGowan (23rd).

Norfolk dominated at the front with Claire Pring inflicting a four-second defeat over Iona Lake in 18.09.

Ellie Welch and Josh Coles both came 10th in their respective Junior races.

The former ran the 3.2km course in 15.08 as Lincs occupied the top two
positions when Emma Tonner won in 14.25 from Bo Haywood (14.32).

Genevieve Roberts (13th), Isobel Hughes (18th), Kayli Walford (22nd), Abigail Morrow-Harris (24th) and Rebecca Pinto (25th) made up the scoring team which came fifth as Lincs won from Norfolk.

Coles covered the 3.5km distance in 15.31 to help Northants to fourth
position behind winners Suffolk.

Tom Charteress (16th), Ed Atkins (18th), Jack Murphy (20th), Liam Kirk (27th) and Tom Bradbeer, who was 28th, made up the scoring team.

At the head of the field Bradley Wattleworth (Suffolk) was untroubled and won in 14.36 from Guy Kendall of Cambs who was 14 seconds behind him.