BEN Coop produced his finest ever cross-country performance in Saturday’s Red Rose Cross Country League at Leverhulme Park in Bolton.

The Bury AC athlete was one of a small group who battled it out for the lead in the senior men’s race and it was only in the last 600m of the 10k race that Blackburn’s Tim Rayne’s made a decisive break to win, with Coop finishing as runner-up – just 10 seconds behind.

The next Bury finisher was Dave Cullen in 19th followed by Patrick Babb in 32nd.

Bury were missing several of their crop of exciting new youngsters and the next scoring markers were Paul Johnston (45th), Gary Crowshaw (81st) and Christopher Barrow (127th). The team finished in sixth place.

The senior women’s team took an excellent second place.

Christie Cook led the team home, taking 10th place with a very strong run.

Hot on her heels was Katie Geelan in 12th, with Hannah Price making an outstanding cross-country debut for the club in 16th.

Other top 50 finishers were Katrina Conroy (23rd), Lauren Booth (24th), Lizzi Cheshire (38th), Fran Pearson (44th) and Lucy Alcock (46th).

The under-17 men also took second team place with Brandon Quinton finishing as runner-up in a very competitive race.

Stefan Kalambouka ran strongly to take fourth with Oliver Donnelly’s 15th position securing the second-placed spot for the team.

Charlotte Speakman-Farnworth was the sole Bury competitor in the u17 women’s competition, taking a strong ninth place.

Freya Potts ran brilliantly to finish third in the u15 girls' race. The other team scorers were Grace Gibson (23rd) and Holly Crow (30th) giving the team fifth place.

The boys team went one place better with Jake Allen leading the trio home in an excellent fifth place overall, supported by David Vaughan (22nd) and Nathan Ardin (25th).

Both u13s teams took third place. The girls were led by Reilly Carson (eighth), with Katy Rayner (14th) and Chloe Ardin (15th) packing well.

The other top 50 finishers were Summer Whitfield, Lola Potts, Connie Potts and Esther McGrath. Finley Collins was the first finisher for the boys in 13th, with Noah Carter and Oliver Horford battling it out for 19th and 20th. Adam Warren and Jayden Barlow were the other top 50 finishers.

The u11s teams found it tough going with the boys taking ninth place with Thomas Donnelly, Jake Norton and Ciaran O’Reilly scoring.

The girls team of Lucy Dent, Lily Crow and Tia Buckley finished 10th overall.

Next week the venue is the tough Marl Pitts course in Rawtenstall.