There was disappointment for the Bury athletes who had entered the National Cross Country Championships scheduled to take place at Weston Park in Shropshire on Saturday.

The organisers took the very unusual decision to postpone the event due to flooding at the site. The date for the rearranged competition has yet to be decided by the English Cross Country Association.

The previous weekend, three Bury athletes competed at the Manchester Indoor meeting at SportCity.

It was a busy afternoon for under-15 Oliver Cooper. On the track he took second in his 60m heat with a season’s best time of 8.45secs, then he set a further season’s best of 1.52m in winning the high jump - a height just one centimetre below his personal best. He then smashed his previous best in the long jump, producing a leap of 5.10 to win the competition. His form is progressing well for the English Combined Event Championships in Sheffield on March 9-10.

Jemima Miles set a new PB of 27.17 to take second in her heat of the U17 women’s 200m, and went on to win her heat of the 60m hurdles with an impressive 9.14, while Corrine Newton took second place in a very tactical U17 women’s 600m, with 1:52.04.

Several Bury athletes tested themselves over the 5km parkrun at Heaton Park on Saturday morning.

First home, in seventh place, was Rob Fowler, with 17:42. New member Jenny Badger was second woman with 20:04, crossing the line with Sarah Flett, who set a new PB for the course in third place.

Other Bury finishers included Matthew Garside (20:15), Alia Braithwaite (21:32), Ella Straffon-Finch (23:13 PB) and Sarah Thomas (25:36).