AMONG the talented sporting youngsters in Warrington looking forward to more success in 2022 is a 10-year-old with more than 200 parkruns under his belt.

Euan Lawton has been running since he was four years old and is already enjoying the fruits of his labour.

Winning the under 11s age group of the Neville Jones Warrington Schools Cross Country League last month was the tip of the iceberg for the Great Sankey Primary School student.

And on the back of the highs he experienced in 2021 Euan can pound Pickmere in the Cheshire Cross Country Championships for Warrington Athletics Club this Saturday with plenty of confidence.

Securing gold with the Warrington under 11s boys' team in the Covid-delayed 2020 county event last April set the tone for the year and having achieved one of his goals by winning the Warrington league he now has another target in his sight.

He can already beat his mum Faye over the parkrun 5k distance and is hot on the heels of another of his relatives.

"He’s a faster 5k runner than me on the parkrun," said Faye, who clocked 3hrs 42mins 42secs on her London Marathon debut in September.

"His best time is 20mins 29secs, and he likes the fact that he can beat me.

"His aim is to beat his uncle, Matthew Lawless, because his uncle has done it in 19mins."

Beating times, his own and others, seem to be a driving force behind his running motivation as he is quite studious with the sport he loves.

“He always likes to look up statistics of how fast people have run – like Usain Bolt, because he’s amazed how fast he goes," said Faye.

"And Mo Farah is probably the one for long distance. He likes to watch Mo Farah."

Euan has done track running, and won the under 11s 600m in Warrington Athletics Club's open meeting in Septmber, but he currently prefers the longer distances to be found in cross country, road relays and parkrun – though he mostly sticks to the 2km junior parkrun events while he is still at a young age.

His tender years should not be confused with lack of experience and tactical nous.

“I don’t need to tell him how to run a race. He’ll just go out and do it," said Faye.

"He knows what pace he should go and not go off too fast so that he’s dead later. He just seems to do it naturally and makes it look easy.”

That was evident in the way he won the first two meets and finished second in the third round to clinch the overall title of the Year 6 Warrington Schools Cross Country League this winter.

“He’d been aiming to win that one," said Faye.

"Euan first did the schools cross country league when he was in Year 4. When he’s run it in the past, because he’s little and because the other runners were a lot bigger than him he kept getting tripped up.

“So his aim this year was to win it, and he was really pleased with himself when he did.”

He has also achieved first and second places in the Manchester Area Cross Country League over the past two months.

Euan posted the fastest time of the race as he teamed up with Isaac McGuffie and Oliver Davenport to bag gold in the Northern Cross Country Relay Championships at Graves Park, Sheffield, in October.

That repeated Euan's feat in the combined Cheshire and North West Road Relays in September when he featured with Nathan Parry and Eddie Walker to win county team gold and regional silver.

And it was alongside Archie Marwood and Joe Welsby that the Cheshire Cross Country Championships under 11s team gold was claimed in April.

It all started for Euan aged four through Faye's involvement with athletics, which she also started at a young age.

“I attended the Warrington parkrun over 5k and found out that they did a 2k one, so I thought I’ll have a try with him because he was always on the go as a kid – climbing, jumping and running around," said Faye.

“After we first went to junior parkrun at Orford Hub we’ve never stopped going. I think he's only missed the first one or two from when it first started.

“He’s now done 202 parkruns. I’ve not come across any other runners of his age in Warrington who have done that amount.

“He wasn’t winning junior parkruns when he was so little but I think probably over the last year he’s started to realise he’s good at it. In six races on the trot he came first or second, at under 11s level.

“Euan just says he loves running. He’s not into football and other sports. He will have a go at other sports in school but his main interest has always been running."

– we would like to share more stories about the town's talented sporting youngsters. Send details and pictures to mike.parsons@nqnw.co.uk