SIMON Nott was delighted to put his injury woes behind him by regaining the county title at last Sunday’s Corsham St George’s 10k.

The 21-year-old, who captains Calne Running Club alongside Denise Grech, crossed the line first in 32mins 52secs to regain the Wiltshire 10k crown he won in 2013 in Castle Combe and bring an injury-hit period of almost a year to an end in style.

Nott, who lives in Calne, has been plagued by a muscle injury and says finally refusing to ignore the problem was the key to his return to form.

“I raced in May last year and after that, I started to notice a bit of pain in my knee,” said Nott.

“It was being caused by tension in my quad but I just tried to ignore it and carry on. I did a few races through to September-time but it was hurting too much and I had to have it looked at with a bit of physio and sports massage.

“I had to take proper time to stretch the muscle out to stop if putting stress on my knee and Sunday was my first proper race back.

“I was really happy to win and happy with my time but it’s funny because, with the way I’d been training, I felt I could have gone faster.”

Sunday’s race was number three in this season’s Wiltshire Road Race League.

Nott added: “Calne Running Club has about 40 runners and we were up against Avon Valley Runners and Chippenham Harriers, who have about 100 apiece. We came in third behind them, which is great.”

Westbury’s Fiona Price (Avon Valley Runners) defended her women’s county championship title with 39:26, with Stanton St Quintin-based Natalie Plummer crossing the line first in 38:22.

Avon Valley took top marks in the Newsquest-sponsored league and now sit three points clear of Chippenham Harriers.

In the Second Division, it was hosts Corsham Running Club that took the points, with the top two positions in the table now occupied by the club’s A and B teams.

The next race league race is the Trowbridge 5k, on Sunday, May 10.