Wendy Nicholls is coming to terms with bitter disappointment after competing at the World Road Running Championships in Brazil.

One of just two British athletes who made the long trip to Rio de Janeiro for the event, the Cirencester runner was confident of producing her best performance but she struggled in hot, humid conditions and could only finish 40th in a time of 1hr 18mins 52secs, way outside her personal best.

"Wendy is upset as this is the third time she has done the event and she has never run well in it," said her husband Justin Nicholls.

"Her training has been going so well but it just did not happen for her. Apparently the weather had been good all week and it had been raining, but on Friday the sun came out and the humidity soared.

"It is the same for everyone, but she really struggled in those conditions and she is so disappointed."

Victory went Lornah Kiplagat, the Kenyan-born athlete who now runs for Holland. The next seven women were all Africans, with a Romanian and Japanese runner forcing their way into the top 10.

Tom Russell became the first male Bristol & West AC runner to win an individual medal at the England Athletics 10k Road Championships, where he led his club to their first team medal.

The Stroud runner was competing for the first time this winter and finished third overall at Chichester but second in the championships as Australian Russell Dessaix-Chin finished first in 29:38, with Ian Boneham (29:44) second. Russell was given the silver medal.

With Craig Peters 23rd and Jon Wills 26th, Bristol & West AC finished as third team to complete an excellent day.

Russell said: "Obviously I am really pleased. I have a few national junior medals but this is my first senior one and hopefully there will be many more."

The Yeovil Town Road Runners squad of Nick Brooke, Pete Darton, Andy Scard, Paul Levick, Chris Burton and Paul Rose beat Exmouth Harriers by just five minutes after six hours of running in the 53-miles Parratt Trail relay between Bridgwater and Winyards Gap, in Dorset.

Serpentine Running Club's Richard Phillips dominated the Mendip Muddle 20k multi-terrain race at Blagdon, finishing almost four minutes clear of Wells veteran Andrew Deamer from a record field of 277 finishers.