THE Cheshire Cross Country Championships return to Warrington on Saturday, hosted by Birchwood-based Spectrum Striders.

Athletes from several of the town’s running clubs will join the county’s cream at the Birchwood Forest Park event, with the first race to start at 11.30am.

The Championships were last held at the venue in 2014, when racers had to deal with some treacherous muddy conditions.

Warrington Athletics Club, Spectrum Striders, Warrington Running Club and Warrington Road Runners will all have participants on courses that range from approximately 2000m to 10,000m dependant on age group.

Last year, when the event was staged at Reaseheath Agricultural College in Nantwich, Lauren Ferris and Sam Evans collected individual gold medals for Warrington AC in their races, while clubmate India Hayes chipped in with a silver and there were bronzes for Jack Stubbings, Lucas Hayes and Tony McCarthy among five team placings.

Age ranges for the various races start at under 11 level and go all the way up to senior, with the oldest category being for racers aged 75 and over.

* Timetable for Saturday (approximate timings):

11.30am: Under 11s boys and girls, 2000m

11.50am: Under 13s boys and girls, 2800m

12.10pm: Under 15s girls, 3500m

12.35pm: Under 15s boys and under 17s women, 4500m

1pm: Under 17s men and under 20s women, 6000m

1.40pm: Under 20s men and senior women, 7500m

2.30pm: Senior men, 10,000m