OLIVER Makinson and Sophie Whittaker produced the best performances of Bury Athletic Club runners at the North of England Cross Country Championships, which were held at Knowsley Safari Park on Saturday.

The athletes had to contend with a difficult course, which was muddy and hilly, but thankfully the lions and tigers remained in their enclosures.

Oliver Makinson, aged 15, who finished 14th in the very competitive under-17 men’s race, all the more impressive as this was his first year in the age category.

Sophie Whittaker produced a well-paced and tactically astute race in the u20s women’s event to finish 15th position.

Only the u15s boys had enough athletes to finish in the team category, with Brandon Quinton (62nd), Stefan Kalambouka (83rd), Jacob Stevens (143rd) and Oliver Donnelly (148th) helping Bury to finish 14th.

For the u15s girls, Bury had Charlotte Speakman-Farnworth (122nd), Heledd Rimmer (136th) and Ellie Carter (137th) competing.

In the u13s category, the boys were represented by Noah Carter (135th), Gilbert Vaughan (138th) and Jacob Allen (161st) while Freya Potts (68) and Erin Kenyon (140) represented the girls.

Nicola Brown (309th) was the lone Bury runner in the senior women's race. Bury’s finishers in the men's race were Pierre Statsenko (356th), Giles Bennett (417th) and Nigel Brady (634th).

Bury AC's young members also produced a string of fine results in indoor track and field.

Grace Goodsell produced a superb leap of 5.28m to win the u15s long jump at the South Yorkshire Indoor Series in Sheffield.

Her mark was just 6cm outside her personal best and was the longest jump of any athlete in the age group in the UK so far this year.

Grace also won the 60m sprint in a season's best time of 8.07, ranking her seventh in her age group in the UK in the event, and broke her personal best in the shot put, throwing 9.39m to take third place.

Bury team-mate Daisy Worthington also put in a string of good performances in Sheffield, finishing fifth in the long jump with 4.72m and winning the 200m in a season's best time of 26.98 - ranking her 12th fastest in the UK in her age group this year.

The u11s, u13s and u15s squads combined to take 14 gold medals, 11 silvers and nine bronze at the recent Greater Manchester Sportshall Championships in Manchester.

Highlights included four gold medals for Jerel Livingston in the u13s' relay, two-lap race, standing long jump and vertical jump; a gold, silver and bronze for Patrick Clarke in u15s' vertical jump, standing long jump and four-lap race; and double gold for Amy Garroch in the u15s speed bounce and vertical jump.