LEWIS BYRAM led the way for Holmfirth Harriers with a fantastic 20th place in the Under 13 boys race at the English National Cross Country Championships.

Many of the 400-plus competitors in his section were a year older, but Byram ran a perfectly-paced race in Leeds’ Roundhay Park to give his club their highest placing.

In that same section, cheered on by a big Holmfirth support, were Aaron Arthur finished 170th, Bradley Bedford 171st, Eddie Hinchcliffe 281st, Andrew Farquhar 299th and Joe Williams 361st. The team finished 22nd.

In the Under 17 men’s race, Max Kaye and Thomas Travis-Pollard, also both with another year in the age group, ran well – coping well with the fast pace and the hills of the venue. Kaye finished 34th and Travis-Pollard 39th, after trying to catch his clubmate on the last lap.

Ruby Sykes, another at the bottom of her age group, had a solid run to finish 129th Under 15 girl, while in the boys section of that age group, Michael Booth finished 361st and Robert Hinchcliffe 365th.

In the Under 13 girls, completing a Holmfirth team were Lucy Farquhar 182nd, Olivia Sykes 214th, Sophie Spencer 278th, Megan Lamb 325th and Sophie Williams 413th.

Holmfirth fielded two teams in the Senior Ladies race of the event, in a field of 5,000 runners.

The senior ladies covered 8k on a two-lap course and Holmfirth’s representatives were suited by the mud. The event was won by Steph Twell of Aldershot-Farnham and District in 27min 52sec, while Holmfirth’s first home was in-form Katie Walshaw (51st in 31.31). Helen Berry in 63rd (32.01).

Junior coach Kath Farquhar spent much of the day supporting the junior athletes, so much so that she inadvertently didn’t put her race number on, meaningŠa 500m sprint to the club tent and back to get it!

Despite that, she had an excellent run, setting off behind the entire field (543 runners) but working her way through to finish 120th in 33.48.Š The first team was completed by Julia Johnson in 167th (35.07), giving them a credibleŠ14th place out of 61. Next home was Lesley Ewart in 205th (36.05), followed by Cara Penfold in 243rd (36.56), Yvette Arthur in 308th (38.30) and Debbie Hall in 325th (39.00).

In the Senior Men’s race, Holmfirth fielded a full contingent of nine runners, the team finishing in 66th. Yorkshire Champion Mark Buckingham pulled out suffering a foot injury on the first of four laps, leaving Jonathan Sykes to lead the team home in 607th position in 50.23. The team was completed by Jason Heywood, 691st (51.26), Chris Beadle 737th (52.14), Matthew Dewhirst 738th (52.16), Damian Wilde 797th (52.59), Wayne Byram 839th (53.33), Philip Egan 950th (55.20), Brandon Holroyd 963rd (55.33) and Jason Kaushal, 1156th in 59.12.