THERE were a number of good individual performances as Colchester and Tendring Athletic Club's cross country season got underway at One Tree Hill.

Although they were lacking in depth, CATs athletes secured a number of good results.

In the senior women's six-kilometre race, super lady veteran Margaret Deasy finished eight.

She was also the first over-45 runner to finish, after clocking a time of 26 minutes 32 seconds.

The under-17 women’s 5km race saw Mary Ann Deasy clock a time of 19m 30s to finish seventh.

She was closely followed by a fine run from Elsie Gray, who was eighth in 19m 34s.

Saffron Rose gave a good account of herself in the under-15 girls, finishing 17th in 18m 09s.

In the under-13 girls' race, two of CATs' promising youngsters showed a good attitude.

Mazy King was 28th in 15m 52s with debutante Molly Redgrave 30th in 16m 01s.

In the senior men, 17-year-old Joseph Patterson worked hard in the 8.5km to finish 22nd overall in 29m 06s and was also seventh under-20 runner.

In the under-17 men's 6km race, Ben Miller dug deep to finish seventh in 23m 37s, while a gritty run from Freddy Richardson saw him finish 17th (25m 08s).

In his first cross country race, Ermes Akewerki performed well and looks set for a good season after finishing a useful 17th in 14m 50s, in the under-15 boys' category.

A small squad of CATs athletes acquitted themselves really well in a well-supported Sports Hall Athletics meeting, in Ipswich.

The under-11 boys of Sam Cade, Fred Walton and Nathan Karri ran very well, considering it was the first time they had tried the equipment.

Katie Roberts shone in the under-11 girls' long jump, while Evan Roberts and Isaac Price stormed through in shot putt as well as being very competitive in the longer-running events.

Lucy Page and Alex Penny were also in the top slots in a number of events.