BURY Athletic Club claimed team victory in the under-17s boys' race in the first round of this year's Red Rose Cross Country League.

Marcus Dey finished second at Leigh Sports Village, closely followed by Oliver Makinson in third, while Alex Bennett was final counter in 16th as the team won by one point.

The u17s girls team of Lucy Alcock, Jenna Allen-Cartwright and Teegan Brady were third.

Alcock was seventh, while sprinters Allen-Cartwright and Brady showed decent stamina to come home in 13th and 15th, respectively.

There were second-placed finishes for the women's senior team and u11s girls.

Sophie Whittaker was the star performer for the women, finishing fifth, followed by Katie Geelan (eighth) and Donna Cartwight (20th).

There were also top-50 performances from Christie Cook (21st), Jenny Yates (38th), Lucy Hodson (40th) and Nicola Harland (50th).

Millie Yates was first home of 17 Bury athletes in the u11s girls’ race, running really strongly to take fourth place.

Katie Raynor was the next Bury finisher in 12th, with Rosa Murphy and Connie Potts finishing almost stride for stride in 17th and 18th places. respectively.

Bury's u15s boys' team were led to a third-place finish by the multi-talented Francis Woodcock, who won the juvenile prize at last week's Ramsbottom Rake cycling hill climb in the colours of Bury Clarion.

Woodcock was sixth in the Red Rose opener, with Brandon Quinton making an excellent debut in eighth and Oliver Donnelly 16th as third counter.

The club also had a string of impressive team an individual displays in other age groups.

Ben Coop put in his finest Red Rose performance to date to finish sixth in the senior men's event in what was a quality field.

The team finished fourth, with the other five counters being Jim Ardin (11th), David Cullen (20th) and Luke Harreld (27th), Byron Edwards (57th) and Giles Bennett (88th).

Coop was fresh enough to act as pacemaker for club-mate Mark Johnson in the Manchester Half Marathon on Sunday, helping him round in 1hr 28mins 24secs to claim 16th place in the Vet 50 category.

Harry Yates and Noah Carter were involved in a sprint finish in the u11s race, with Yates pipping his team-mate to third place. Finley Collins was 33rd as the team finished fourth.

The u13s boys were also fourth after Jack Andrew finished ninth, followed by Gilbert Vaughan (21st) and Jay Cook (29th).

Erin Kenyon was fifth, Freya Potts ninth and Lucy Pixton 23rd as the u13s girls finished fifth overall, while Bury were also fifth in the u15s girls' race after Charlotte Speakman-Farnworth ran well to take sixth place, with Daisy Worthington 13th and Heledd Rimmer 18th.