On what was generally a quiet weekend of competition, the confirmation of Anna Gisbourne’s selection to represent England at a senior level brought Bury AC significant pride.

The 16-year-old Bury College student, from Tottington, will represent England over 800 metres at the prestigious International Flanders Athletics Meeting (IFAM) indoor meeting at Gent, in Belgium, on Saturday.

She will join the England team in London tomorrow and will travel with the squad in what will be her first full international competition.

Gisbourne had achieved the selection standard, but it is nevertheless encouraging the selection panel had confidence that notwithstanding her tender years, she deserved the opportunity to represent her country. A report of the race will appear in next week’s Bury Times.

Two members of the club competed at the Manchester Indoor meeting on Sunday at SportCity.

Ethan Statham took second in the under-13 600m, recording 1min 47.89secs, just outside his personal best, while Jemima Miles took third place in her U17 60m hurdles, setting a season’s best of 9.35.

The day before, Ellie Richardson was the club’s sole representative in the Northern Cross Country Championships in Sedgefield, County Durham. Running in the U20s race, the Durham University student took 26th, covering the heavy 5.7 km course in 24:04.

Further afield, Luke Harreld competed in the Marrakesh half-marathon, finishing in a very respectable 1:21:06, but he did acknowledge it did get rather warm over the second half of the race.

Closer to home, several club members competed at the Heaton Parkrun where Matthew Garside took second with 17:42.

Abigail Warburton was first woman finisher with a new PB of 18:40, and next was Matthew Finch, ducking under 20 minutes again with 19:50.

Curtis Simpson and Sarah Flett crossed the line together, with Flett taking third woman’s place with a PB of 20:09. Alex Leach recorded 20:41 and Sarah Thomas was fourth woman with 21:27.