CHRISTIE Cook continued her improvement to lead the senior women to second place in the Red Rose Cross Country League at Rossendale.

She took seventh place with Caitlin Cole in ninth and Katie Geelan in 14th.

Hannah Price was 15th, again demonstrating her potential as she settles into the squad, with Lauren Booth also showing solid improvement in 18th.

The other top-50 finishers in the field of 139 athletes were Katrina Conroy (25th), Lizzi Cheshire (34th), Lucy Alcock (38th), Nicola Harland (48th) and Caitlin Healey making a welcome return to competition in 50th.

Oliver Makinson found the tough Marl Pits course to his liking, dealing well with the mud and hills to take a magnificent fourth place in the senior men’s race, in what is only his first year in the under-20 age group.

Ben Coop could not quite reproduce his form from the previous week’s performance, but his seventh place secured vital points for the men’s team.

Josh Birmingham continues to improve and his 14th place was an excellent performance, being chased by Jim Ardin (15th) and Dave Cullen (16th).

Luke Harreld took 21st place to secure a marvellous second place for the team behind the very strong Blackburn squad.

Patrick Babb (36th), Rick Solman (50th), Gary Crowshaw (70th), Giles Bennett (84th) and Anthony Hallahan (97th) all made the top 100.

Stefan Kalambouka ran well to take fourth in the u17 men’s race but he was Bury’s only competitor in the age group, as was ninth-placed Charlotte Speakman-Farnworth in the u17 women’s race.

The u15 boys team of Jake Allen (fifth), David Vaughan (15th) and Nathan Ardin (21st) took fourth place in their race, while the girls' team of Freya Potts (seventh), Grace Gibson (28th) and Erin Kenyon (34th) had to settle for seventh.

Reilly Carson led the u13 girls' team home in 14th, supported by Katie Rayner (19th) and Chloe Ardin (27th).

The team finished in fifth, three places higher than the boys' scoring trio of Noah Carter (15th), Finley Collings (20th) and Adam Warren (22nd).

The u11 boys' team finished in 10th with Thomas Donnelly (21st), Jake Norton (38th) and Kian Bleakley (45th) the scoring runners. The girls' u11 team of Lucy Dent (27th), Emily Purdey (30th) and Tia Buckley (36th) finished 11th.

The final of the four Red Rose fixtures takes place at a new course in Todmorden on December 1 with several Bury AC athletes and teams in line to win league trophies and medals.