ONCE again Warrington’s young athletes showed resilience to the bitter cold as they gathered for the Warrington Athletic Club Schools Cross Country League at Walton Hall Gardens on Saturday.

There were several stand-out performances, with individual honours going to Lauren Goddard of St Monica’s, who won her third straight race in the Primary School division of the league.

She was followed home by Lauren Ferris and Hannah Kirsopp.

Jack Evans also completed a league hat-trick in the same age-group, as he raced home in first place followed by teammate Benji Mullarkey, which meant they took first and second place in the overall event and ensured their school, St Wilfrid’s, took first place in the team event.

Sophie Bates continued to dominate in the Year 10 and 11 races, as she completed the course in first place for the third time in a row, chased by Emma Scott (Helsby) and Rebecca Coy (Bridgewater).

The same three runners filled the top places in the overall competition.

In the same age group, Matt Hulse (Helsby) was a comfortable winner from Jack Gleave (Beamont) with Henry Buttress (Lymm) in third, which means Jack did enough to earn the title ahead of Chris Smith (Botler) and Buttress in third place.