Audun Nordtveit finished inside the top 10 as Highgate Harriers’ men’s team secured an impressive fourth place in Saturday’s English Championships at Parliament Hill Fields.

Nordtveit was 10th out of 2,005 runners in a time of 40 minutes 16 seconds, holding off top Metropolitan League runners such as Phil Wylie, Neilson Hall and Middlesex champion Mohamud Aadan.

The Norwegian’s performance helped to ensure that Highgate – despite missing two of their leading runners – finished fourth, one place ahead of pre-race favourites Morpeth Harriers.

Shaun Dixon improved on his run at the Southern Championships to finish as Highgate’s second scorer in 47th place (41:50), with team-mate Ben Noad in 58th (42:15).

Chris Rainsford returned after a lengthy injury absence to take 99th spot in 43:35, with Robel Bahelbi in 110th (43:43) and Jon Laybourn in 113th (43:45) completing Highgate’s scoring six.

Among the other Harriers to compete in Saturday’s race – won by Midlands champions Notts AC – was Over-50 runner Chris Bailey, who was well above halfway in 993rd place.

Highgate’s women’s team finished 10th overall in a large field, led home by Becky Penty, who came 34th in 33:16, and veteran Esther Evans (38th in 33:21).

Emma Burgess (117th in 36:12) and Louise Faherty (207th in 38:39) made up the scoring four for the Harriers, who were also represented by Natasha Cendrowicz (318th, 40:44), Nora Rossberg (325th, 40:53) and Kirat Nandra (794th, 55:32).

Highgate’s Sam Willis finished 134th in the junior men’s race (41:03), while Hattie Brock did well to take 21st place in the junior women’s event (25:18).

In the younger age groups, Terry Fawden was the first Highgate runner home with a time of 23:02 to take 79th place for the Under-17 boys, who came 14th overall.

Georgia Fear was the sole Harriers entrant in the Under-17 women’s race, where she finished 16th (20:29), with Abel Sinko-Uribe (79th in 17:40) the club’s best finisher in the Under-15 boys’ race.

The Under-15 girls placed 31st, led by Phoebe Littler (65th in 17:05), while Roland Somogyi (147th in 14:02) was first home for the Under-13 boys’ team, who took 41st place.

Sasha Fear (77th in 14:06) was the Under-13 girls’ fastest finisher as they claimed 21st spot overall, followed by Ellie Gilmore (89th, 14:15), Emma Williets (177th, 15:01) and Dorothy Brock (284th, 15:45).