Herne Hill Harriers snatched the Sweatshop Surrey league title away from Thames Hare & Hounds on a glorious sunny afternoon in Richmond Park.

In one of the tightest finishes in the history of the league, defending champions Herne Hill went into Saturday's final match 27 points behind leaders Thames.

On the day, Thames were missing international marat-hon pair Huw Lobb, winner of the first three races, and John McFarlane.

Thames' remaining runners fought all the way and, in the end, lost the final match by 33 points to finish just six points behind Herne Hill.

Main interest focussed on the team tussle, but Belgrave international Steve Sharp showed himself to be in good form to claim individual victory.

Sharp dictated from the start to hold a 30m lead at the half way stage before increasing the pace to win by 150m in 28 minutes 10 seconds.

Thames' Nick Talbot was second (28:44) and Herne Hill's Kevin Quinn third (28:54).

It was nip and tuck in the team battle with Thames's Neil Chisholm fifth (29:11) and Darren Talbot (29:43) ninth.

Herne Hill veterans Keith Newton (29:30) and Iain Lockett (29:33) were sixth and seventh, with Ben Paviour (29:49), in 10th.

For Hercules Wimbledon, Hussein Ahmed Aly (29:37) was eighth and Belal Aly (29:52) 11th.

Belgrave team captain Will Cockerell (29:55) was 13th, with Thames' James McMullan (30:01) 14th and Ranelagh's first finisher Phil Killingley (30:03) 15th.

At the other end of the table, Guildford & Godalming and Wimbledon Windmilers were relegated to Division Two.

Match result: 1 Herne Hill 152, 2 Thames Hare & Hounds 185, 3 Hercules Wimbledon 423, 4 South London Harriers 437, 5 Ranelagh 437, 6 Belgrave 500, 7 Guildford 563, 8 Reigate Priory 637, 9 Wimbledon Windmilers 761.

Final table: 1 Herne Hill (holders) 730, 2 Thames Hare & Hounds 736, 3 Belgrave 1,519, 4 Ranelagh 1,559, 5 Hercules Wimbledon 1,793, 6 South London Harriers 2,194, 7 Reigate Priory 2,335, 8 Guildford 2,435; 9 Wimbledon Windmilers 3,079.

Hercules Wimbledon's Liam White, winner of the opening three U15 races, left cheering on his clubmates from the sidelines in Saturday's final race after dislocating his knee in a schools football match.

Alex Robinson (16:08) and Geordie Logan (16:16) proved able substitutes as they led the field home in the young athletes' race, leading Hercules Wimbledon to team victory on the day and securing the overall U17 and U15 title.

Herne Hill's Sam Woods (16:29) was third in 16:29.

Match result: 1 Hercules Wimbledon 32, 2 Herne Hill 34, 3 South London Harriers 89, 4 Ranelagh 130.

Final table: 1 Hercules Wimbledon 109, 2 South London Harriers 218, 3 Herne Hill 253, 4 Guildford 538.5, 5 Ranelagh 552, 6 Reigate Priory 602.

Dominic Wynes-Devlin (17:58) won the U13 race, leading Herne Hill to the team honours.

Match result: 1 Herne Hill 64, 2 Guildford 70, 3 South London Harriers 98, 4 Hercules Wimbledon 103.

Final table: 1 Guildford 199; 2 Herne Hill 233; 3 Hercules Wimbledon 434; 4 South London Harriers 481.5; 5 Belgrave 522.