The success of Westbury Harriers' senior women in finishing inside the top 10 at the Midland Counties Road Relays was one of the highlights of last weekend's event.

While Bristol & West AC's women grabbed the headlines with their silver medal, maintaining their impressive record of finishing in the top three in 11 of the last 12 years, the Harriers' quartet achieved their best result for more than a decade.

Wind the clock back to 1998, when Bristol were finishing runners-up, and Westbury didn't even have a team in the women's race.

Four years later Maureen Coffey was their only runner and in 2003 they could only finish 36th. But from those dark days things have improved and, while progress may have been slower than they wanted, Saturday's eighth place for the quartet of Lizzie Smith, Sophie Voller, Emma D'Alton and Robyn Golding was a real landmark achievement, surpassing their previous best of 11th in 2004.

"It is a marked improvement and we are delighted with that," said team captain Tamsin Chick, who has been instrumental in galvanising the team but is now taking a back seat with the birth of her first baby imminent.

"The Midland Counties Relays is one of those events that we focused upon to get our best team out because you cannot do it for all races as the girls have other commitments.

"The date has been in the diary for a long time and it was nice to see the girls do so well."

It has taken time for the Harriers to rebuild their women's squad, which has been affected by key runners getting older, retirement and some switching to Bristol & West, but Chick now believes they have a solid base and are on an upward curve.

"We have tried to improve our coaching structure and have now set up an extra four training groups to cater for all different standards of runner," added Chick.

"The girls really enjoy training together and when you are training with friends and having some fun at the same time it makes it a lot easier and encourages everyone. That is very important and has certainly helped."

D'Alton, who joined Westbury from Hogweed Trotters last year, echoed Chick's comments.

"There is a great team spirit among the women," said D'Alton. "We train together, have become good friends and have a lot fun."

If they continue to enjoy their sport and keep improving, then who knows, we may even see Bristol and Westbury fighting for the medals in the future.