Hannah Bates and the Heath twins provided the fireworks in the Sussex Young Athletes Cross Country Championships at Lancing.

In their under-15s' showdown, the Phoenix athlete came through with her tall stride by just four seconds.

The Hastings sisters tailed her from the start, with Cheryl even taking her share of the pace-making. Cheryl was second and Jenna third in the closest race.

The under-17 races that had promised so much became processions as Brighton and Hove's Joe Stephenson and Lewes's Alice Coutinho used their strength over a muddy and tough course to split their respective fields and chalk up handsome victories.

Stephenson seemed to have learned from his performance in the Sussex League event at Brinsbury College in November when he opened up a winning lead but then ran out of steam and finished third.

He defeated clubmate Jack Vail in the League in December by a few yards but at Lancing he did not rely on a sprint finish.

Stephenson said: "I was feeling quite good and I tried to pull clear the first time up the hill. I managed to get a few yards on Jack and I just kept pressing and stretched my lead to nearly one minute."

Vail, the reigning champion, looked comfortable at the finish, but Sussex No.3 Ben Warren, from Hailsham, had to pull out a little extra to maintain third position to hold off Mark Barham (Hastings) at the finish.

In the girls' race, Coutinho employed similar tactics to Stephenson, drawing clear as the field climbed the steep hill to Lancing Clump.

She put more than 100 yards between her and reigning champion Brigit Cook (Eastbourne).

Sam Webb (Crawley) outgunned Phoenix's Kelly Gunn for the bronze medal.

The biggest margin of victory came in the under-13s' girls race.

Charlotte Browning (Chichester), national No.1, was in a class of her own as she put 1min.12sec between herself and Keeley Gunn (Phoenix), Daniel Stepney (Phoenix) scored a comfortable victory over Horsham Blue Star's Richard Hoad in the boys' race.