A muddy Sefton Park, in Liverpool, hosted the third Red Rose Cross Country League fixture with the league races incorporated into the British Cross Country Challenge and the Mid Lancs League.

The first main race of the day was the under-11 boys’ race. Max Worsley was the first Bury athlete home in 68th place, with Hamish Simpson in 147th and Leo Collins in 149th completing the scoring team. Theo Overlunde placed 194th in the huge field. The next race was the U11 girls where Isla Taylor ran brilliantly to take 17th place, with Niamh Murray only 10 seconds behind in 23rd. Myla Bryan completed the scoring team in 40th, with Violette Overlunde in 42nd. The other Bury finishers were Honey-May Long (137th), Kate Duddy (157th), Jasmine Brisbane (164th), Evelyn McDonald (175th) and Maya Akram (177th).

The U13 girls saw Ella Straffon-Finch run strongly for 77th place, while Darcie Collins finished 111th but with no third counter the team was not complete. Next came the U13 boys’ race with Ethan Statham taking 25th place. A bout of illness during the week meant the Bury youngster was not 100 per cent, but he was nevertheless the first Red Rose finisher. Daniel Taylor was Bury’s sole competitor in the U15 boys’ race, where he placed 133rd. The U15 girls did have a full team and Lucy Dent showed she is returning to fine form with a strong run for 58th place, while Agatha Wragg placed 118th and Coco-Lily Honor finished 121st. Taylor Warburton was Bury’s sole competitor in the U17 men’s race, taking 147th place.

The penultimate race was the senior women’s event over 8km and saw a great tussle between Abi Warburton and Sinead Taylor, with Warburton proving the stronger placing 46th ahead of Taylor, in 49th. Alia Braithwaite was 66th with Rose Johnson completing the scoring in 76th. The other finishers were Rachel Marshall (80th), Harriet Griffiths (84th), Natalie Cusack (98th), Bev McAuley (161st), Fran James (19th), Afroditi Kalambouka (220th) and Sarah Withers (289th).

In the senior men’s race, Ben Coop took 61st place, just one ahead of Sebastain Poma. Luke Harreld was next in 133rd followed by Jack Griffiths in 163rd. Ed Hunt was fifth counter in 187th with Matt Finch completing the team in 248th. The other Bury finishers were Paul Marshall (254th), Joseph Hornsby (271st), team manager Ian Warrington (273rd) and Michael Starrs (451). The club will now wait to see how the results are disaggregated to see how they placed in the Red Rose competition.

The following day the club had two competitors in the Wilmslow 10k. In windy conditions, Martin Clark excelled, taking a superb 12th place in 31:47. Bury’s other competitor was Conor Wilkinson, placing 111th in 35: 28, just outside his personal best.