Hatti Dean ran superbly in the heat and humidity of Mombasa, Kenya to finish 15th and lead Great Britain to fifth place at the World Cross Country Championships on Saturday.

The former Radley athlete, who now runs for Hallamshire Harriers, was the first Briton across the line, showing no ill-effects from the searing heat to finish 15th in 28mins 48secs over the 8km course.

Dean has responded well since missing out on a place in the silver-medal winning GB team at the European Cross Country Championships, and she was delighted with her performance.

But she admitted she was concerned early in the race as she felt heavy-legged.

She said: "We all prepared well and kept cool before the start.

"I took on lots of water and the heat didn't affect me as much as I thought it would.

"But although I tried to go off quite steadily, after a lap and a half I was quite worried, because I wasn't feeling too good.

"But I overtook a lot of others and realised they were fading faster than I was.

"That gave me confidence and people said I looked stronger as the race went on."

Dean displayed a performance of great maturity, working her way steadily through the field, despite temperatures well into the 30s.

At the 2km marker, she was back in 46th place in 6.56, but had improved to 29th by the halfway stage.

She continued to cut a swathe through the field over the second half of the race, moving up to 21st at the 6km marker, before her fine finish took her to 15th at the finish line.

Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow's Hayley Yelling, was one place and five seconds behind Dean as the British team underlined the strength in depth of the country's endurance running, finishing behind Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco and Spain.

Kenyan-born Lornah Kiplagat scored a runaway victory, clocking 26.23, with Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba second in 26.47.