THIS weekend saw two of St. Helens running clubs come together to host the Merseyside County Cross Country Championships at Sherdley Park.

For St. Helens Sutton A.C. the races were quickly underway as Lillie Birkett (18th), Leah Taylor (31st) and Emily Farrelly (32nd) got under way in the U11 Girls race, followed by the Boys which saw Will Vose (17th) come home first for the club, followed by Theo Cotter (20th), Luke Wilson (21nd), Jack Bloore (23rd), Will Marsden (26th), Harvey Oakes (28th), Ben Williams (29th), and Lewis Barr (30th).

Next up in the U13 Girls Daisy Ward (28th) was first back followed by R Armstrong (37th) and Chloe Mark (38th), with Gabriel Mullen (13th), Joseph Colley (23rd) and Lewis Dunn (27th in the Boys race.

Hollie Brussels (19th) was the only U15 club representative in the girl’s race, while Joseph Byrne had fa great race finishing 5th in the U15 boys and was followed home by team mates, Michael Dobson (18th), Ayaan Syed (24th), Matthew Dodd (25th) and Andrew Worthington (28th). In the U17 Men’s race Charlie Roberts raced home to take the silver medal with Michael Brussels narrowly missing the bronze finishing just outside the medal is 4th both showing fantastic performances.

In the senior women Amy Corfield was the only club representative putting in a strong run as she comes back from injury.

The senior men’s race was a highlight of the day for the club with the superbly inform Tom Griffiths taking the bronze medal and then the team taking home the silver medal, with Matt Crehan (9th), Andrew Wilson (29th), Ste Anders (32nd), John Greenall (34th) and first Veteran 55, John Appleton then rounded out the top six in 42nd.

The team was then made up of Jake Healy (49th), Chris Taylor (70th), Ian Roberts (71st), Will Beesley (79th), Barry Graney (80th), Andrew O’Connor (123rd) and Greg Carns (125th).

Away from the Merseyside County Cross Country Championships Gemma Connoly finished 8th at the Cheshire Championships, Jade Smith ran a new 5km PB of 19:37 at the Lancaster Power of 5k on Friday night, and Sunday saw Matt Blake set a new PB of 1 hour 38 at the Preston Half Marathon which also saw Janet Holmes finish in 2 hours 19.