High Peak AC star Thomas Gilliver rising through the ranks after great summer

Running for Derbyshire, the 16-year-old competed in the Northern Inter-Counties Championships in York coming second, and then in the Northern Schools Mason Trophy in Stoke, setting a PB of just over nine minutes.

Then at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium, against the country's best U17 runners, Thomas led the pack for several laps and was in contention for long periods, eventually coming in 21st out of 28, but only 20 seconds behind the winner.

Making his debut at Buxton Carnival against 160 other runners he ran the four miles in 21 minutes 39 seconds, coming in second about 30 seconds behind winner Lucas Parker.

This amazing effort from the young runner gained him the second place trophy and he also won the Thomas Theyer Trophy that is connected to the event.

It was a very pleasing result for High Peak coach, Andy Wilton, a previous multiple winner of the carnival race, who said: “I’m delighted for Thomas.

"It was an outstanding performance in his first ever road race at Buxton. All his hard work, training and competing, is paying off with remarkable runs like this one.”

Training continues with High Peak AC as he moves towards the cross country season which starts in the Autumn.