Junior athletes from Bedford & County AC were in action at the Saucony English National Cross Country Championships in Leeds on Saturday.

Leading the way were the U15 girls, who built on an already great season by lifting the team silver with 8th, 22nd, 54th and 65th for Rebecca Murray, Ellie Hemming, Alanah Harris and Molly McKenzie, which was a fantastic result.

The U15 boys finished in seventh spot with top 50 places for Ben Alcock (20th) and Ryan Isaacson (48th), while the U13 girls raced well, gaining a respectable 13th place.

In the U17 races, it was again the women that brought home the medals with another stunning run from Emily Wallbank, who took the individual bronze medal and the team bronze with 3rd, 11th, 21st and 185th for Wallbank, Alice Burgin, Abigail McKinnon-Austin and Lucy Salter.

The U17 men fielded a big team and managed fifth team position. Jack Goodwin and Matt Bergin ran impressively to fifth and 27th overall.

The junior men finished in eighth place in the team event with the top scorers Alex Bellew, Ryan Parker, Tom Corbett and Michael Goodwin all in the top 100.

Bedford's senior women were the sixth team in a tough competition. Rebecca Newsted led the group home in 27th along with Rachel Gibbs (31st), Nicola Sykes (36th) and Helen Frizzell (157th).

The senior men were not quite at full strength, but still managed to take the team bronze medal in this, the highlight of the cross country season.

Featuring over 1400 runners from over 300 clubs, the team was led by GB international Neilson Hall, who finished a superb fourth on the 12km course.

He was followed home by Darren Deed 13th, Will Levett 35th, Owain Matthews 62nd, with Steve Robinson and Steve Tuttle closing the scoring team in 87th and 90th respectively in their first ever senior national.

Those six were backed up by Matt Janes, who running barely two weeks after a hernia operation, still managed an excellent 144th.

The U20 men finished a creditable eighth, with Alex Bellew being their first man home in an excellent 34th position.