The Greater Manchester X-country races took place this year in Leverhulme Park, Bolton. The course was a mixture of mud, hills and for the older age groups a pond to wade across.

The U13 boys set the standard with Adrian White and Ben Gardner setting a fast pace that took them clear of the field to finish 1st and 2nd. The youngster Thomas Aron had his best run of the winter to finish 10th and secure 1st team.

In the U13 girls race close packing by the team meant they secured 3rd place with Megan Boyer 11th, Ava Evans 21st and Beth Stanley 22nd.

In the U15 boys race there was a big group battling for the top 8 places. Jay Hutchinson chased Salfords Evan Grime all the way to the line to claim 2nd place. Fin Dobson Emmas and Pio Aron finished 4th and 5th to give Trafford another team gold. A strong race from Tim Ye finishing 7th meant that Trafford will have half of the Greater Manchester team for the Inter-Counties race in March. Trafford's strength in this age group was shown with Evan Lewis 16th, Tio Austin 17th and Jake Royle 18th. Special mention to Jay Hutchinson who has qualified to compete for Greater Manchester 4 times in the last 11 months. What's unusual is that it was in 4 different disciplines: Sportshall indoor, Fell, Pentathlon athletics and now x-country.

In the U15 girls event Isobel Thomas had a great run to finish 8th. Isobel was backed up by Ursula Bailey 15th, Rachel Bowden 18th, Martha McCormack 19th, Daisy Atkiss 22nd and Sophie Bowman 24th with the team just missing out on medals finishing 4th.

In the U17 men's race Trafford had a young squad and it was the youngest member in the team Josh Watson who finished the strongest to come through for 6th place. He was backed up by James Walton in 8th and after a fall crossing the pond Jack Haworth finished off a second place in the team race by finishing 11th. Again showing good strength in depth Trafford's B team were third team overall with Joe Daly 12th, Benjy Metcalf 14th and Dan Partington 15th.

Traffords most dominant event came in the u17 women's event. Freya Griffiths, Ava Clough and Sara Clough have been running similar times in relays this winter and they were all running close together until Sara took a dive in the pond and not long after Freya pulled away to maintain the gap all the way to the finish. With Freya 1st, Ava 2nd and Sara 4th it was an easy team victory.

Trafford only had one u20 athlete but a good run from Louie McCormack saw him finish 4th and qualify for the Greater Manchester team.

The Senior men's team saw Xavier O'Hare and Cynog Williams battling for a place in the Greater Manchester team. A good finish from Xavier saw him finish 7th with Cynog close behind in 10th and backing them up Laurence Skidmore in 24th.

Surprise result of the day came in the Senior Women's race where Trafford ladies won the Team race. Beth Thorntons 4th place in the race was less of a surprise as she continues her strong form this winter. It was good to see Kate Meeson getting back to her winter form from last year finishing 5th and after recent calf injuries Zoe Storr ran well for 6th place to give the team a surprisingly easy team victory.

Full Greater Manchester County X-country results can be seen here:

www.results.sporthive.com

Trafford athletes also competed in the Cheshire County X-country Champs. James Knockton, still only 17 years old, competed in a joint u20/Senior Men's race and finished 3rd overall and 2nd u20.

In the u15 boys race it was good to see Thomas Harris race well and along with Archie Greenwood both finished just outside the top 10 in 11th and 14th. In the u15 girls race Elizabeth Sinclair was an excellent 4th place, securing her place in the Cheshire team for the Inter-Counties in March.