FIVE junior Blue Vests compete over the challenging terrain of the Stretton fell races in Shropshire, which served as the last counter in the six-race English Junior Fell Running Championship series.

Under-eight runner Sam Philbin completed the fourth race of his debut season in 6mins 11secs, finishing seventh overall. In the girls’ u10s race, Lily Philbin’s 8:13 saw her clinch another gold, to go with two other firsts, two seconds and a seventh-place finish in the series. Emily Petch, also in her first season, ran bravely to finish 16th u12s girl in 21:21 for 22nd overall. For the u14s girls, Molly Philbin captured 14th place, a time of 25:59, helping her achieve 15th position in the series.

Leah Rushworth finished 19th in 58:38 over the u16s girls’ testing course, but managed to secure 10th position overall. Team manager Paul Philbin was pleased that the team finished a creditable 18th out of 59 clubs in the series.

Phil Marsden collected silver at the Eddie’s Revenge fell race at

STRIFE ON MARS: Phil Marsden could not hold on to first place

Shaw. After leading for most of the race, his 25:0 was seconds off the pace after yielding top spot in the last half mile.

Elsewhere for the juniors, Julia Winogrodzka was once again in fine form at Stockport’s Woodbank Park in the third of four TriAthletics competition meetings. She won the u13s shot put with 6.74m and the 75m in 10:5 and then switched to the 600m and won from the front, setting a club record of 1:52.4. Fellow u13s competitor Porscha Johnson recorded a new personal best of 11:3 in the 75m, 3.98m in the long jump and 5.76m in the shot.

Sisters Isobel and Matilda Hall both competed in the u9s age group. Isobel won the 60m hurdles in a fast time of 12:0 and collected more gold in the long jump with 3.33m and the 600m by clocking 2:13.4. Competing against girls two years her senior, Matilda won the 75m in 13:1, which was almost a second quicker than the u9s girls. She then jumped 2.90m in the long jump for second place and in her third competition, the 60m hurdles, despite falling over the third hurdle, managed to get up and still win the race.

Two Blue Suits completed the Olympic distance of the Windermere Triathlon. Stuart Parsonson clocked 2:46:57 for 70th of the 218 field, while Stewart Brierley recovered from being winded by a stray kick in the swim to finish 173rd in 3:18:10.

Ken Fowler’s 20:43 was sixth out of the 54-strong field at Radcliffe’s Joan Rhodes/Fred Norris Memorial 5k. Alan Fielding ran 31:58, and Ken Mayor’s 32:42 saw him finish 51st and fourth M70.

In the Sale Sizzler 5k, Dominic Gavin ran 17:37 for 53rd of the 538 field and Chris Topping’s PB of 19:28 gave him 142nd place.