Saturday’s third fixture of the Red Rose Cross Country League was unusually held at Sefton Park in Liverpool.

The league organisers used the opportunity to hold the fixture as part of the British Athletics Challenge giving local athletes the opportunity to compete against the very best cross country runners in the UK. There were some superb performances from Bury athletes.

The first race of the day was the under 11 boys event. Ethan Statham was Bury’s sole representative but the recently crowned Bury Primary School cross country champion ran superbly to take 17th place overall and third league finisher. Next came the under 11 girls and the race saw the usual close finish between sisters Erin and Amber Hudson taking 45th and 46th places respectively. Ella Straffon-Finch was 84th and the three youngsters secured third team place for Bury. The other finishers were Myla Bryon (118th), Lois Green (136th) and Sophie Straffon-Finch (149th). Daniel Taylor was Bury’s only competitor in the under 13 boys race and he ran strongly to take 72nd place. Lucy Dent ran very well in the under 13 girls race taking 24th overall and third Red Rose finisher. Agatha Wragg was close behind in 35th place, followed by Isabella Roberts (87th) and Isabella Robinson (91st).

Adam Warren was Bury’s only competitor in the under 17 boys race where he finished in 99th and was tenth Red Rose finisher. Freya Potts took 64th place in the junior women’s race. The senior women’s team performed brilliantly with their overall performance today securing them the league victory. Sophie Whittaker was first league finisher and 86th overall, with Hannah Lucas hot on her heels in second and 88th. Rachel Marshall was sixth and was first v45 finisher placing 122nd overall. Just 5 race places and 2 league places behind Marshall was Caitlin Cole who completed the scoring places. The other Bury finishers included Bev McAuley (27th/202nd), Susan Wheeldon-Gorst (28th/205th) and Afroditi Kalambouka 42nd/246th).

Ben Coop demonstrated he is returning to form by taking third league place and 120th overall in the senior mens race. Martin Clark was next to finish (13th/203rd), followed by a rapidly improving Jack Griffiths (15th/211th). Next was Declan Tattersall (28th/257th) and Paul Johnston (35th/308th). Final scoring runner was team manager Ian Warrington who was 39th league finisher and 335th overall. This gave Bury second team place. The other local finishers were Craig Sykes (55th/411th) and Giles Bennett (67th/478th).

On Sunday Bury had six competitors in the traditionally fast Wilmslow 10k road race. First home for Bury was Luke Harreld in 89th place and recording 35.03 notwithstanding a cold. Just 10 seconds behind him in a new personal best of 35.13 was brother Jordan Harreld who took 95th place. Peter Barrow crossed the line in 38.19 for 237th place. Next was Nicola Ryan, also setting a new personal best of 40.09, giving her 36th female finisher. Chris Barrow recorded 44.45 for 723rd place and Irfan Qureshi finished in 1024th in 49.23.