BURY Athletic Club have made a bright start to the track and field season, with its youngsters performing well in two Youth Development League (YDL) meetings.

Their Market Street track played host to an under-15s and u13s fixture at the end of April.

The final results are still awaiting ratification but the team managers are confident of a Bury victory.

This is no mean feat given it was the club's first fixture in the Second Division after winning promotion last season.

Last Sunday a small team competed in the YDL fixture for u17s and u20s at Leigh Harriers.

They finished seventh, but the camaraderie amongst the athletes was excellent with the team manager’s athlete of the day award going to new member Dylan Buckley, who competed in several events.

The u20s and u17s male team comprised of sprinter Hashim Shah, Oliver Kirby and new members Jack Olds-Bellucci, Ben Krinks and Buckley.

They secured third place in both of the relays.

The girls team comprised of Hattie Vaughan, Ella Tyrell, Jenna Allen-Cartwright, Teegan Brady, Ellie Carter, Lucy Alcock and Heledd Rimmer.

As well as competing over a number of events, the girls took second in the 4x100m relay and third in the 4x400m.

After winning promotion to the Second Division of the North of England Track and Field League last season, the Bury seniors finished fourth in the first meeting of the new campaign at Blackpool on Saturday.

There were wins for Christie Cook (800m), Sophie Whittaker (3,000m) and Nicola Quick (pole vault) for the women and Shah (100m) and James Coghlan (200m) for the men.

Several athletes had very busy afternoons, including women’s captain Lizzi Cheshire, who took part in seven events.

Ben Coop also had a hard day competing in the 400m, 800m, 4x400m relay, steeplechase and long jump.

There was sterling work in the throwing events from Paul Stocks, Paul Horrocks, Ruth Worthington and Quick. Special mention should be made of the debut of youngster Olds-Bellucci, who took on the technically testing 400m hurdles and high jump events.

In the relays, the men's 4x100 team of Shah, Emmanuel Mufakazi, Mike Hunter and Coghlan took fifth place.

The 4x400m quartet of Coop, Mike Hunter, Coghlan and Matt Jones ran very well to take second in a very tight finish.

The women’s 4x100 team (Allen-Cartwright, Cook, Brady and Cheshire) finished fourth, the same position as the 4x400 team of Allen-Cartwright, Cook, Brady and Sophie Hill.

The next league meeting is at Bury on Sunday, June 4.

On Sunday, a large team travelled to Ashton to compete in the first Cheshire Track and Field League meeting of the season.

The teams performed well for new team manager Brianne Turner with many of the u11s athletes making their debuts in a Bury vest.

The full results will be available next week.