SOPHIE Whittaker celebrated her recent 18th birthday with victory in the under-20s age group in the second race of the Red Rose Cross Country League season at Blackburn's Witton Park on Saturday.

The Bury Athletic Club runner was fourth overall, helping the women to team victory, while the race was won by Great Britain international Jessica Judd, who produced a master class of front running after being invited to take part as a guest competitor.

Katie Geelan (12th) was the next Bury finisher, holding off Donna Cartwright (13th) as she continues her return from injury.

Christie Cook (17th) was Bury’s other top-20 finisher, who with Lauren Booth and Whittaker helped Bury win the u20s team race.

Bury were fifth in the men’s race. Ben Coop was their top finisher in a quality field in 10th in a quality field, followed by Dave Cullen (25th), Luke Harreld (33rd), Byron Edwards (68th), Giles Bennett (81st) and Matt Grice (93rd).

There were team victories for the u17s men, whose counters were Marcus Dey (second), Oliver Makinson (third) and Alex Bennett (12th), and the u15s girls, who had Daisy Worthington (third), Charlotte Speakman-Farnworth (fourth) and Ellie Carter (16th) in the top 20.

The u15s boys were third thanks to a strong run from Brandon Quinton (fifth), supported by Stefan Kalambouka (13th) and Oliver Donnelly (17th).

This was matched by the u13s boys with Elliot Savage (fifth), Evan Savage (10th) and Gilbert Vaughan (22nd).

Noah Carter produced another excellent run to take third in the u11s boys' race, leading the team to fourth place supported by Oliver Horford (14th) and Finley Collins (24th).

The u11s girls were also fourth following good runs from Millie Yates (11th), Katie Rayner (10th) and Rosa Murphy (14th), and the u13s girls' team of Freya Potts (8th), Erin Kenyon (22nd) and Lucy Pixton (29th) finished fifth.

The u17s girls could not muster three counters, but Lucy Alcock (seventh) and Gemma Allen-Cartwright (13th) both ran well.

The next Red Rose fixture will take place at Leverhulme Park in Bolton on Saturday, November 12.

Other Bury finishers: Senior men – Chris Turner (97), Mark Johnson (103), Les Smalley (108), Andy Worthington (134), Ed Hitchin (166) and Dave Flood (174). Senior women – Nicola Harland (34), Lizzie Howard (36), Jenny Yates (37), Lucy Hodson (38), Lizzie Cheshire (46) and Alison Dale (71). U17s men – Jack Smith (14). U15s boys – Jacob Stevens (20). U15s girls – Rebecca Froggatt (19) and Charlotte Smith (22). U13s boys – Jack Allen (29), Jay Cook (33), Thomas Halford (47) and Jacob Heyes (48). U11s boys – Harry Yates (31), Jacob Bauley (42), Tom Gibson (52), Harry Andrew (61), Kieran Chadwick (67), Jake Norton (70), Cian Donnelly (77) and Nathan Booth (80). U11s girls – Connie Potts (38), Leah Hancock (43), Lola Potts (48), Esther McGrath (52), Lily Crow (54) and Georgia Nuttall (58).