Chris Cheesman was victorious in the Jeff Slater 10,000m Track Walk at Broadbridge Heath after a tremendous battle.

The Crawley athlete saw off a stern challenge from Steyning's Donald Bearman and Surrey's Mark Easton in cold and icy conditions and the times were very fast.

Cheeseman, whose main event is 50km racing, broke up the group in the second half of the race and was nearly 100m clear of the Steyning walker in 43min. 41.5sec.

Bearman was pulled through to a personal best time of 44min.22.3sec, which lifts him to sixth place on the Sussex all- time list.

Easton, who triumphed in the recent 20km road walk at Steyning, was a further minute back in third (45min. 22.8sec).

Jo Hesketh, from Steyning, who has been showing excellent form in recent months, was the first woman to finish. She was fourth overall and set a personal best time of 54min.48.1sec.

Sussex 10km road running champion Darryl Hards (Lewes Tertiary) made history when he became the first Sussex senior champion to win a Sussex Schools title at the Thomas Bennett School, Crawley.

Running in the senior boys' 5km championship, Hards managed to keep ahead of Joe Stephenson (Cardinal Newman), the reigning under-17 and county under-17 champion.

Hards said: "I had a comfortable race. I lost concentration in the middle of the race and I had a problem hanging on to Joe who was running very well. I managed to get myself sorted and, although I felt comfortable at the finish."

He finished 50m clear to hold on to his title while Bexhill College's Emile Tambeh, who had tried to stay with the duo in the early stages, was isolated well before halfway.

He finished more than one minute behind Stephenson for third spot and nearly one minute ahead of the fourth-placed runner Bryan Brett (Park College).

In the senior girls' 3.8km race, reigning champion Josie Dade (St Bedes) bravely defended her title. A leg injury had prevented her racing this season and she was not fit enough to contain the leading trio.

County under-17 champion Alice Coutinho (Lewes Tertiary) broke clear of Brigit Cook (Park College) and Kelly Gunn (Varndean Sixth) as they entered the finish field to win by 20m, with Gunn a further 30m back in third place.