GIAAC will be bolstered by Lee Merrien making his first county outing since winning the individual men’s title in 2008 when they travel to the New Forest for next week’s Hampshire County Cross-Country Championships.

The strong squads have high hopes of repeating last year’s success.

Last January, the Sarnians claimed both senior individual golds with Louise Perrio and Steve Dawes proving too strong for the opposition.

Perrio’s recent record-breaking form suggests she is ready to repeat her victories of 2011 and 2009 but Southampton’s Ceri Mitchell and Portsmouth’s Cassie Thorp have been also been strong in recent months and will not make the race easy.