THE St Mary’s quartet of Jordan Day, Katie Dubra, Zakjohn Ousley and Ellen Pearce won the A team race at the West Dorset Primary Cross-Country Relays with a dominant display.

Loders were way too strong for the rest last year, winning the A race from the word go, but this time the lead changed hands a number of times before St Mary’s triumphed.

Parret and Axe led the way on the first leg and kept their advantage despite seeing their lead cut by the 2013 champions.

At the third changeover, Parret & Axe were caught by St Mary’s from Bridport, whose third-leg runner, Ousley, produced a storming performance.

He passed on to Pearce and she increased the gap as Parret & Axe battled it out with Bridport Primary for second place.

St Mary’s thoroughly deserved the win and had obviously trained hard given their time of 30.05mins, more than a minute ahead of Parret & Axe. Bridport were third in 31.28mins.

As for the B team race, there was some consolation for Bridport with their four coming home first in a time of 32.57mins.

Parret & Axe again had to settle for second with St Catherine’s in third.

Just under 100 young runners from 24 schools took part in a highly-successful event held at the Sir John Colfox School.