EIGHT teams of Warrington Athletics Club runners competed at the National Cross Country Relay Championships at the weekend.

First up were the women’s under 20s team, with Ellen Turnbull, Orla Gregory and Jess Connolly combined to come home in 26th place overall.

Turnbull clocked 10mins 52.20secs to hand over in 38th place, with Gregory running an excellent time of 9mins 44.85secs to move the team up to 26th – a position held by Connolly through her final-leg run of 11mins 18secs.

The under 13s boys finished in 15th place thanks in part to an excellent second leg from Isaac McGuffie, who stormed round the course in 7mins 22.10secs for the fourth-fastest time on the leg overall.

He brought the team up to 10th place after Oliver Davenport (7mins 39.85secs) had handed over in 39th, with Euan Lawton (7mins 51.10secs) running well to secure a 15th-place finish.

Two teams entered the under 15s girls’ race, with the A team finishing ninth overall after Esme Heavey, Imogen Wharton and Sinead Gregory combined excellently.

After Heavey (7mins 16.25secs) handed over in eighth, Wharton continued her good form by clocking 7mins 26.45secs – the second-fastest time of the leg – to storm up to second place before Gregory (8mins 19.50secs) ran well to finish.

The B team of Ellie Barker (8mins 25.50secs), Sarah Ashcroft (8mins 46.80secs) and Cara Gregory (8mins 29.40secs) combined to finish 59th.

In the same age group, Jack Marwood got the boys’ team off to a flying start by clocking 6mins 33.45secs on the first leg to hand over in third place.

By the end of the race, the team finished 34th after runs by Seb Hampson (7mins 32.30secs) and Jacob Pryor (7mins 44secs).

The senior women’s race saw Anne Gregory (14mins 21.50secs), Sharon Taylor (16mins 18.30secs) and Emma Pryor (14mins 24.70secs) combine to finish 108th overall.

There were two Warrington teams in the senior men’s race, with the A team finishing 55th overall as a result of good efforts from Jordan Jones (16mins 43.55secs), Chris Stanford (17mins 22.05secs), Cameron Field (17mins 22.75secs) and Jack Wadsworth (18mins 40.30secs).

The B team of Dave Watson (19mins 34.45secs), Jonny Leatherbarrow (21mins 10.40secs), Dave Norman (21mins 47.30secs) and Stan Ogden (21mins 13secs) combined to finish 125th.

The following day, Norman competed in the Lancaster Half Marathon, finishing 19th in 1hour 27mins exactly to place second in the over 60s age group.