THE final round of the Neville Jones Warrington Schools Cross Country League has been pushed back into the new year.

The last of three rounds of competition was scheduled to be held this weekend over the usual course at Walton Gardens.

However, the venue’s hosting of the Luminate Christmas lights trail has forced the meet to be moved to Saturday, January 21, 2023.

The following amended timetable will also be in place on the new date.

10:30 Years 4/5 Girls

10:50 Years 4/5 Boys

11:10 Year 6 Girls

11:30 Year 6 Boys

11:50 Presentations (Junior Schools)

 12:10 Yr 7 (Minor), Yr 8/9 (Junior), Yr 10/11 (Inter) Girls

12:30 Yr 7 (Minor), Yr 8/9 (Junior), Yr 10/11 (Inter) Boys

12:50 Presentations (Senior Schools)

Meanwhile, several Warrington Athletics Club members secured personal-best times at Sunday’s Manchester Indoor open meeting.

In the 60m hurdles series, under 17s runner Lewis Shaw lowered his best time to 8.82secs as he finished second in his race behind two-time Commonwealth Games 400m hurdler Richard Yates.

Over the same distance, there were also new best times for Lisa Halliday (10.03secs) and second-claim members Evie Schofield (9.42secs) and Evie Elliott (9.60secs).

With the hurdles taken away, there were personal best times for Halliday (8.58secs), Shaw (7.75secs) and Schofield (8.11secs) with the latter winning her race while Caleb Adelani finished second in his new best time of 7.75secs.

Adelani (40.24secs), Elliott (45.22secs) and Efa Rees (51.32secs) were all winners over 300m – the latter two in personal-best times – while Halliday also lowered her best 300m mark to 46.61secs to finish third in her race.

Under 15s athlete Ellie Barker won her 600m race in 1min 59.77secs before finishing 16th overall – and fifth in her age group – in a mixed age long jump with a leap of 3.97m.

In a mixed age shot putt, Abigail Adelani was 10th overall and fifth in the under 15s age group having recorded a personal-best throw of 7.22m with the 3kg weight.

Many of the young athletes are coached at the Victoria Park-based club by Neal Petley, who was recently named the runner-up in the Coach of the Year prize at England Athletics’ North West Volunteer Awards.

“The way Neal Petley coaches is inspiring and motivational,” England Athletics said in his nomination.

“He gives each athlete a personal target and knows them so well and never misses a beat with their development.

“The way his young group have improved in the last few months at the pace they have is all down to Neal’s commitment to them.

“He sets them challenging targets and the pride he has in them when they are achieved is fantastic.

“Neal promised one his athletes he would get them top of the table in Power of 10 and they are now ranking number one.

“He always encouraged them to keep fighting and they’ve just won English Schools’ AA after helping them with their target.”

Elsewhere on Sunday, masters runner David Gill was an age group winner at the Percy Pud 10km road race in Sheffield.

His time of 39mins 55secs over an undulating course secured him the over 65s title as he finished 248th overall.

He was rewarded with a trophy, a bottle of champagne and a huge Christmas pudding to take home.