Bury Athletic Club’s Ethan Statham was the runaway winner of the the under-11 boys’ event at the second Red Rose Cross Country League fixture of the season at Bolton.

Ethan crossed the line 17 seconds ahead of the runner-up in the first race of the day at a wet Leverhulme Park. Rocco Hunter was Bury’s only other competitor in the race, taking 17th place. The lack of a third competitor meant Bury did not have a full team to build upon Ethan’s victory.

The U11 girls did turn out enough runners and took third place. First finisher was Kathryn Wolstenholme, in 12th, with Myla Bryan, in 14th, and Mylah Collier, in 16th, making up the scoring athletes. Bury’s other finisher was Sophie Straffon-Finch, in 27th.

The U13 girls took a solid fourth place. Lucy Dent was the first scorer in 11th, with Agatha Wragg next in 15th. Lydia Worsley was the third counter in 23rd. The club’s other finishers were Ella Straffon-Finch (24th), Isabella Robinson (29th) and Lois Green (35th). The U13 boys’ team took fifth place in their race with counters Zac Buckley, in 16th, Daniel Taylor, in 18th, and Noah Hallworth, in 23rd. Joel Bleakley was the other finisher in 27th place.

In the U15 age category, Bury’s Faye Gribbin took 13th and Isabella Roberts 22nd.

The strongest team performance of the day came from the senior ladies who dominated the top 10 places. Notwithstanding that team captain Hannah Lucas was missing, there were excellent performances from Rachel Marshall, in fifth, Sinead Taylor (sixth), Caitlin Cole (eighth) and Alia Braithwaite (ninth).

There was a brilliant turn out from the team with the other finishers being Fiona Lynch (13th), Beverley McAuley (28th), Susan Wheeldon-Gorst (53rd) and Afroditi Kalambouka (56th). The masters trio of Marshall, Braithwaite and Lynch also won the veteran’s team race.

The men’s team took an excellent second place behind the very strong Rossendale team. It was great see Ben Coop back in the competition and he ran strongly to take third place. Luke Harreld was the next counter in 17th, then there was Patrick Babb (29th), Paul Johnston (32nd), John Watson (38th) and Declan Tattersall, in 43rd. Bury’s other finishers were Conor Wilkinson (48th), Jordan Harreld (53rd), Paul Marshall (76th), Tim Pockney (88th), Craig Sykes (89th), Giles Bennett (92nd), Matthew Finch (116th), Alex Leach (125th), James Bryan (134th), Michael Starrs (142nd), Nathan Shepherd (156th) and Sudhanshu Sharma, in 175th.The masters quartet of Johnston, Watson, Marshall and Sykes took third veteran’s team.

The previous weekend Martin Clark and Caitlyn Johnston competed in the top-quality Leeds Abbey Dash 10k. Clark set a scorching new personal best of 31mins 45secs to take 45th senior men’s place. Johnston also set a new personal best of 40:09 to take 55th senior women’s place.