Argus paper girl Sam Webb has been making her own headlines.

The Holy Trinity school pupil, from Copthorne, won the girls' intermediate title at the Sussex Schools Cross Country Championships at Thomas Bennett, Crawley.

Webb explained how delivering The Argus helped her triumph.

She said: "Running around the streets of Copthorne early each morning before school is a great way of keeping fit. So you could say The Argus has helped me win my title.

"But I have got to give a big thank you to my family for driving me around everywhere and buying my spikes and to my club coach Matt Quinn.

"I love cross country. A lot of people at schools hate it. I like things everyone hates. I'd love to one day race in the World Cross Country Championships and I'd love to get into the Olympics too."

Webb cruised home ahead of Philippa Aukett (Davison High) and Sarah Vickery (St Margarets) over the 3.8km course.

She said: "I was hoping to do well as I'd been running well recently. I broke away around the middle mark.

"The course was not too hilly. But it was muddy and I like difficult conditions."

Craig Ivemy, 17, from Ringmer Community College, unbeaten in Sussex this winter, won the boys' intermediate title.

Victory was partly plotted by sessions with world veterans champion Nigel Gates, who works at his college.

He said: "Having a world champion giving you tips is brilliant. He told me stuff about tactics, like not setting off too quickly. But my coach from East Grinstead, Tony Elder, and Hailsham Harriers coach Julie Chicken have been a big help as well."

Ivemy believes his form has improved after taking up swimming.

He said: "I go down to the Lagoon Centre in Hailsham to swim and it has been a massive bonus. It has made me stronger without punishing my joints."

Mark Barham (Filsham, Hastings) pushed him hard before Ivemy pulled away in the last 200m of the 6.2km course to win by 40m. But Ivemy revealed how he came close to fluffing the race.

He said: "I went down the wrong path, slipped and Mark overtook me. I had to jump over a bramble bush to get back on track."

An athletics rookie will go for national glory after providing the biggest shock at the Championships.

Obadah Abulaban, 14, from Beacon (Crowborough) won the boys' junior 4.8km.

Abulaban, who doesn't have a club, stunned himself as he secured his place in the Sussex team for the English Schools' Cross Country Championships, along with the other winners, at Chelmsford on March 10.

He said: "I was a little surprised that I won. I did run last year and finished 21st and have not really trained for athletics. I keep fit by playing football and doing other sports.

"But I just stayed in the leading bunch and found at the finish I had a little more left than the others. I would like to be a professional sportsman but need to discover just what is my best sport first."

Abulaban won by 12 seconds over the muddy 4.8km course from another little known athlete, Daniel Jaques (Warden Park, Cuckfield). Ringmer's Todd Leckie, brother of Sussex tennis champion Daisy, was third after finishing 31st last year.

In the girls' junior race over 3.5km, Charlotte Browning (Chichester High) became the fourth runner in the past seven years to win the title at the first attempt.

Browning, who has dominated at under-13s in England this season, had an easy passage with main rival Hannah Bates (Patcham) lacking fitness after returning to action following a heavy cold.

She beat reigning champion Cheryl Heath (Hillcrest, Hastings) by nearly a minute, the largest margin of victory at the Championships. Cheryl's twin sister was third, just one second behind.

Bates was fifth, a few seconds behind Brighton and Hove High's rapidly improving Katy Moore.

Southern champion Browning said: "I would have been surprised if I hadn't won because I'm No.1 in the country for my age but it felt good. I've been doing quite well lately and a lot of it is due to hard work."

That means attending training three times a week at Aldershot, Farnham and District (Hampshire), the club she joined from Chichester more than two years ago.

She said: "I just want to do the best I can and Aldershot have good coaches and produce a lot of top athletes."

Alice Coutinho (Lewes Tertiary College) claimed the girls' senior title and put her success down to an athletics development course at school.

The 17-year-old Lewes Club runner said: "I was fifth last year and the course has helped me improve a lot since then. I have done more circuit training and running up and down hills. I am fitter and stronger. My club have guided me well, particularly my coach Dave Leach."

Coutinho was challenged all the way by Bridgit Cooke (Eastbourne College) and Kelly Guinn (Varndean).

She said: "The fact they pushed me so hard at a fast pace made it a close race and it was only that I was slightly stronger at the end that got me home."

The 3.8km course suited her. She said: "It was relatively flat and really muddy. I run well in those conditions."

Coutinho won the intermediate title two years ago and took the Sussex Championship title this season.

But she said: "Winning at Crawley is the biggest thing I've done so far.

"I want to get in the Sussex team for the English Schools Track and Field Championship this summer. I hope to do well in the 800m. I don't want to sound big-headed, but my main aim is to compete at the Olympics and win a gold medal."

Darryl Hards, 18, from Lewes Tertiary College, was the only runner to retain his title when he became senior boys' champion over a 5km course. The Sussex senior champion beat Joe Stephenson (Cardinal Newman, Hove).