WARRINGTON Athletics Club’s Jordan Jones is the best road runner of his age in the country after his performance at the Halewood 5k on Saturday.
The 14-year-old came home second, but his new personal best of 16mins 45secs was enough to move him to the top of the UK rankings in his age group.
In the same race, Dave Tomkins won the over 65s age group as he came home in a time of 23mins 29secs.
Meanwhile, Lauren Ferris and Joe Buckley were the star performers for Warrington Athletics Club as both took home gold medals from Saturday’s Cheshire Schools’ Cross Country Championships.
Joe Buckley on his way to victory
Lauren Ferris with her medal
Ferris came home first in the senior girls’ race at the Knights Grange complex in Winsford, while Buckley finished ahead of the field in the intermediate boys’ category.
Luke Gamble also performed well in the senior boys’ race as he took home a bronze medal.
There were 31 Warrington Athletics Club runners in all, with three more club athletes finishing in the top 10 of the senior boys race.
Jack Stubbings came home sixth, Sam Rostron eighth and Daniel Fox ninth to complete an excellent Warrington representation in the race.
There were also several good runs in the intermediate girls’ race, with Amy Nuttall finishing seventh ahead of clubmates Lucy Baxter, 10th, and Olivia Doodson,11th, while Jack Wadsworth finished 11th in the boys’ race won by Buckley.
Isaaq Ataullah ran superbly to finish sixth in the junior boys’ race and he was followed home by clubmates Joel Birchall, 15th, Lucas Hayes, 20th, Joe Roberts, 26th, and William Bainbridge, 50th.
In the junior girls, race, Emily Jackson came home in 20th ahead of Natalie Chamun, 22nd, and Isla Kenworthy, 46th.
Start line of the under 13s girls' race
There were two Warrington runners in the top 10 of the minor girls’ race, with Orla Gregory and Maisie Bell coming fifth and eighth respectively.
Eva Ferris was next home in 15th, followed by Nicole Eastburn, 22nd, Isobel Houghton, 23rd, Hannah McClorey, 25th, Jasmine Jones, 33rd, and Olivia Chamun, 56th.
In the boys’ race, Rhys Hopkins was 13th and came home ahead of Alex Lavery, 19th, Reece Connell, 21st, Gareth McClorey, 42nd and Danny Hartland, 43rd.
Elsewhere, Ashley Nemits competed well against older athletes at the Northern Indoor Championships on Sunday.
Despite usually racing in the under 13s age group, she competed at under 15s level in Sheffield and ran superbly to finish third in her 800m heat.
She went on to finish fifth in the final, while all the athletes ahead of her have been in the older age group for more than a year.
Warrington athletes enjoyed a busy weekend and three travelled to take part in the Alsager five-mile road race on Sunday.
Jack Green finished 30th, with father Andy close behind in 39th as he missed out on first place in the over 50s category by just one second.
Steve Watmough recorded a new personal best time of 28mins 55secs, which was good enough for 60th overall and third in the over 50s section.
Warrington’s Robert Dykes was also in action at the BUCS Cross Country Championships in Sheffield.
He came home in 222nd while competing for the University of York on Saturday.
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