Andy Maud finished second on his Metropolitan League debut to lead Highgate Harriers to victory in their opening race of the season at Claybury.

Maud produced a positive run to take second place behind international athlete Richard Goodman (Shaftesbury Barnet) in a time of 24 minutes 52 seconds.

He headed a successful Highgate men’s contingent as they held off home club Woodford Green with Essex Ladies to finish first in a record senior field of 472 runners.

Coach Chris Rainsford was the next Harriers runner to finish, clocking 25:25 in seventh place, with Robel Bahelbi 11th in 25:52 and Ben Noad the fastest veteran in 20th (26:34).

Jonny Laybourn crossed the line in 24th place (26:38), followed by team captain Rob Wilson (26th, 26:46), Under-20 athlete Terry Fawden (28th, 26:51) and Peter Hawkings (33rd, 27:13).

Completing the scoring 12 for Highgate were Charlie Hayward (38th, 27:25), Fergal Smithwick (44th, 27:37), Sean Renfer (58th, 28:04) and Dominic Smith (67th, 28:20).

Several other Harriers runners registered strong finishes to boost the B and C teams, both of whom are placed second in their respective leagues, while the club’s veterans also lie second behind Serpentine.

Finishing inside the top 100 were: Guillaume Cribier (69th, 28:23), Alex Apostolidis (76th, 28:52), Nick Gold (85th, 29:00) and Jack Matthewman (99th, 29:27).

Highgate’s women were narrowly edged into second place by London Heathside in their first league race of the season.

Emma Dixon was the first Harriers runner to finish, taking sixth place in a time of 22:21, with team-mate Hannah Viner one place and 16 seconds behind.

Alex Gounelas (12th, 23:40) and Emma Burgess (16th, 23:54) added valuable points, with Ashley Scott-Wilson (26th, 24:32) and Leah Morven (47th, 26:08) also inside the top 50.

Esther Pigney (26:53) was the fastest Under-20 finisher in 59th place, with Louise Faherty (27:51), Natasha Cendrowicz (29:16), Emma Wilson (31:04) and Emily Martin (31:11) also completing the course.

Highgate are now gearing up for the South of England relays on Saturday at Wormwood Scrubs.