Max Worsley, Isla Taylor and Lucy Dent Crowned SELCC League Champions

Saturday saw Bury athletes competing in the South East Lancs Cross Country League at Heaton Park. This was the fourth and final fixture of the season with some superb victories for Bury’s younger athletes that in turn gave them league titles. The first race was for the under 11s and this saw Max Worsley secure the boys league title with yet another victory. He was supported by Jedidiah Omafe in 14^th and Harry Sample in 15^th to give Bury third team place on the day and in the league. The other finishers were Finley Alldred in 17^th, Alex Emery in 23^rd and Theo Overlunde in 25^th. For the girls Lila Metcalfe placed fifth, mirroring her overall league position, with Grace Newbold 15^th and Maya Akram 19^th the girls took third team on the day, but 4^th in the league overall. The other local competitors were Inaaya Khan in 20^th, Evelyn McDonald in 21^st and Ava Young in 22^nd.

The under 13 girls dominated their race with a one-two-three for Bury. There is a healthy rivalry developing between Isla Taylor and Heidi Wilkinson and this time it was Isla that prevailed taking the victory just 4 seconds ahead of Heidi. Niamh Murray placed 3^rd assuring Bury of the team victory in both the fixture and the league. The positions on the day also reflected the girls’ respective league positions. Myla Bryan ran strongly to take 6^th with Nina Boodhan in 12^th. The boys trio of Harry Emery, Ronan Parker and Luca Hilton placed 9^th, 13^th and 18^th respectively to take 4^th team. Lucy Dent was the solo under 15 competitor for the club and she once again dominated her race to secure league victory as well as the win on the day.

For the senior women once again Rachel Marshall had to settle for runners up place on the day, the position she took in the overall league. Fiona Lynch placed 19^th, Susan Wheelson-Gorst 36^th and Afroditi Kalambouka 50^th, placing Bury fifth team overall. Anthony Hallahan was Bury’s sole senior male competitor on the day placing 24th. However, with the previous fixtures counting, Paul Johnston took an excellent second place in the league.

On Sunday two Bury athletes made the journey to York to compete in the Brass Monkey Half Marathon. Ben Coop produced a superb personal best performance of 68.07 to take an excellent 10^th place in the huge field. He was delighted with the performance which underlined the fact that his strong performance in the Manchester Area Cross Country League the previous week had been no fluke. Ryan Hallworth crossed the line in 78.36 to take 177^th place.