THE final fixture of the Red Rose Cross Country series saw Bolton Harriers' young athletes walk away with individual and team honours.

The races at Hyndburn saw Frazer Jardine win the under 13s boys race convincingly and also take the first place in the series.

He improved from finishing third in the first race of the season to win the last two races to take the overall title.

Martin Grundy and Aaron Comber-Livesey were the other scoring runners to finish to ensure the boys team got second place in the series.

The under 15s boys team also took second place in the series. Scoring runners on the day were Alex Chadwick, Anthony Wibberley and Anthony Sutton.

In the under 15s girls race Rachel Pounds went into her race with three wins already to her credit and the first place in the series already assured.

But she was in no mood to ease up and won her race.

This weekend she races at Cardiff in the Reebok Challenge where she has a great chance of a podium finish and confirming her as one of the outstanding runners in the country at her age group.

Second on the day and 58 seconds ahead of her nearest rival for second place in the series was Sophie Birch. Katie Smith completed the under 17s race with another win which ensured she also won the series.

For Tim Ellis and fellow under 20 Matt Lang it was a tiring weekend. They raced in Belfast on Saturday in the Reebok International where Tim finished ninth in the under 20s men's race and Matt 30th.

This placed Tim fourth overall in this pestigious race series with just two races left at Cardiff and the Inter Counties in Nottingham.

Both runners then flew back to compete in the Red Rose Cross Country 9.6k senior men's race with Tim in with a real chance of winning the overall men's title.

Having to finish one place in front of Mark Aspinall of Clayton le Moors, the long trip was just too much for the 18-year-old who finished third and missed out by one point in the title race.

Consolation was that he won the junior men's title easily and ably backed up on the day by Nick Hatchard, fifth, Ian Selby, 10th, Matt Lang 20th, Paul Turner 21st and the ever improving Billy Martin, 23rd. Together Bolton won the senior men's team title. With Chris Iddon, who finished third overall, injured, it was a great result for Bolton's men's team.

Hyndburn Results

Under 13 Boys

1st F. Jardine 9.30

11th M. Grundy 10.48

13th A. Comber Livesey 10.51

17th L. Taylor 12.19

Under 13 Girls

13th R. Murphy 11.40

15th O. McGreavy

Under 15 Boys

8th A. Chadwick 17.45

16th A. Wibberley 20.07

18th A. Sutton 20.58

20th N. Holt 23.26

Under 15 Girls

1st R. Pounds 18.13

2nd S. Birch

Under 17 Women

1st K. Smith 23.16

8th L. Jones 29.09