Buxton juniors impress at English Cross Country National Championships

Buxton juniors took part in the always popular English Cross Country Association National Championships at the weekend.

The event took place at Wollaton Park, Nottingham, and had a total 8,116 runners - the fifth highest figure since the championships moved to the 10 race format in 2003 and five per cent up on the last time the national was at Wollaton in 2014.

The Junior Women and U13 Boys events both saw record entries.

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Ten youngsters from Buxton Athletics club juniors turned out for what proved to be an extremely challenging course that included an undulating course, a sizable ditch, various boggy areas and lots and lots of mud.

First up were the U13 boys of Harrison Turner and Caleb Winfield, who pushed each other around the course to come in 366th and 404th positions.

The U13 girls worked hard with Lauren Wilshaw leading the way to finish 122nd, Amy Whelan 337th and Abbie Fryer-Winder 460th.

In the U15’s category Joe Purvis had a fantastic run to finish in 112th position - an outstanding performance in his first season competing in cross country. Heather Wilshaw ended what has been a great season for her in a very respectable 377th place.

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In the U17’s category the boys team of Luke Farrant and Jacob Winfield put in solid performances to finish 215th and 257th respectively, and in the Junior Men’s category David Fryer-Winder slogged round the incredibly tough 10k course in 206th position.

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This was the ultimate race in what has been an outstanding cross country series which has seen the youngsters complete the North Staffordshire Cross Country League, the Manchester Area Cross Country League, the Derbyshire County Championships, the Northern Cross Country Championships and the National Championships.

With only the Inter-Counties and Schools National competitions to go, Buxton juniors are now preparing for the Fell season hoping to improve on their phenomenal performance last year in which the team finished sixth overall at the English Junior Fell Championships and became High Peak Team of the Year.

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