BURY AC had two young members competing in the English Schools' Cross Country Championships at Harewood Hall in Leeds on Saturday.

This is the most competitive of races bringing together the best talent from across the country with stars of previous championships including Paula Radcliffe and Mo Farah.

Freya Potts, in her first time representing Greater Manchester, ran strongly in dreadful conditions to take 185th place in the Junior Girls' race, covering the 3k course in 12mins 3secs.

A fall at the start cost her vital places but the courageous youngster picked herself up and represented her county with pride.

In the Senior Girls' race over 4.1k, Heledd Rimmer took 229th place in 18:37.

It says much for her endurance that as an athlete whose preference is the javelin, she was Greater Manchester’s fifth counter in the race.

Bury also had Brandon Quinton, Marcus Dey and Ben Forrest selected for the Greater Manchester team but they withdrew before the event.

A large group of Bury’s senior athletes competed in the 5k parkrun in a waterlogged Heaton Park on Saturday.

The event was being counted as part of the Grand Prix series of races for the Bury athletes and as a consequence the field was dominated by runners in the black and white quarters of the club vest.

Indeed, the first four finishers were all from Bury AC, with Byron Edwards winning in 16:33, from Josh Birmingham, who set a new best of 16:40, just ahead of Luke Harreld (16:43) with Patrick Babb fourth in a new best of 16:47.

Other results: Gary Crowshaw (17:21PB), Paul Johnston (18:31), Rick Solman (19:01), Giles Bennett (19:25), Matthew Garside (19:54), Katie Geelan (second women, 21:06), Andy Worthington (21:48), Steve Parker (22:10), Lizzi Cheshire (22:24) and Nicola Harland (22:31).

The results keep Babb in first place in the Grand Prix series to date, with Birmingham second and Solman third. Katie Geelan leads the women’s standings ahead of Lizzi Cheshire and Afroditi Kalambouka.