Sportshall League Underway and Second Red Rose League Fixture Takes Place

The first meeting of the Greater Manchester Sportshall League took place at Sportcity on 12^th October. The under 11s put in superb performances with the boys and the girls both claiming 2^nd place. The boys squad had 10 competitors comprising of Faheem Gyagenda, Finlay Thompson,  Rocco Balsamo, Findley McCallum, Hamish Simpson, Kai Hilton, Theo Overlunde, Alex Oliver, Clayton Chapman and Arthur Oliver. There were particularly impressive performances from Haheem, Rocco, Hamish and Theo. The girls squad had 6 competitors; Pippa Stockley, Maya Akram, Indie Curzon, Evelyn McDonald, Yasmin O’Shiel and Efi Moutsopoulos. There were top three individual performances from Evelyn and Efi.

James Tallentire was the sole Bury competitor for the under 13 boys placing 4^th in the 2 lap and 4 lap races and giving Bury 8^th place overall. The girls took 3^rd place overall with Phoebe Thompson, Claudia Chapman, Matilda Nott, Violette Overlunde and Nancy Blain.  All made top three performances with Matilda winning the 2 lap and 4 lap races, Nancy winning the 6 lap race and Violette taking 2^nd in the vertical jump and shot.

The second of the four Red Rose Cross Country League fixtures took place at Heaton Park on Saturday, with the races also comprising of a South East Lancs Cross Country League fixture. The first race was the under 11 boys with the Bury trio of Jason McGuiness (5^th), Quincey Rose (13^th) and Finley Aldred (17^th) taking 3^rd team place. Next was the under 11 girls where Bury’s scoring trio of Lila Metcalfe (6^th), Grace Newbold (17^th) and Lottie Grundy (26^th) placed 4^th team. Ava Young in 34^th was Bury’s other competitor.

Ethan Statham turned in his usual winning performance in the under 13 boys race, leading the team of Chester Theakstone (10^th) and Ronan Parker (25^th) to 3^rd team place. The under 13 girls took 2^nd team place, with Isla Taylor (6^th), Niamh Murray (12^th) and Myla Bryan (16^th). Penelope Greenhalgh placed 30^th in the race. Jakub Purzychi was once again Bury’s sole under 15 boy competitor, placing 12^th. Coco-Lily Honor was the only under 15 girls and finished 14^th.

Emma Stansfield placed an excellent 2^nd in the under 17s women’s race where she was Bury’s sole competitor. In the senior women’s race Bury ran out as team winners. Sinead Taylor was 3^rd, Rachel Marshall 5^th, Sophie Hill 11^th and Jennifer Clayton 14^th.  The club’s other finishers were Fiona Lynch (18^th), Lizzie Cheshire (31^st), Afroditi Kalambouka (56^th), Zara Hudson (71^st) and Sarah Withers (88^th).

In the senior men’s race the team placed third. The scoring six were Bryn Lawrence (7^th but first U20), James Brown (8^th), Declan Tattersall (29^th), Jack Griffiths (38^th), Paul Johnston (41^st) and Patrick Babb (56^th). Josh Cole, representing first claim club Bournemouth, placed 9^th, with the other Bury finishers being Ed Hunt (59^th), Anthony Hallahan (63^rd), Matthew Finch (65^th), Rob Butterworth (76^th), Giles Bennett (92^nd) and Michael Starrs (128^th).