TWO Horwich Harriers mastered Lake District peaks to book themselves places in the England teams for next month's European Mountain Running Championships.

Michael Cayton earned selection for the England team competing in the Bavarian Black Forest when he finished third in the junior men's event on the 700 ft climb of Latrigg near Keswick.

Then Heather Heasman qualified for the European Trophy in Austria when she finished second in the women's race.

Cayton was just pipped for second place on the final section by Kendal's Andy Symonds. Peter Harrison also ran well for 12th place and Laura Hughes finished a strong seventh in the girls' race.

The women took the same course as the juniors but then continued to the summit of Skiddaw - a climb of 2,706 feet over 5.1 miles.

Heasman tracked former World Fell Champion Carol Greenwood all the way to finish second ahead of Anne Buckley of Pudsey - all three qualifying for the Austria trip.

Richard Hughes and sister Laura ran personal best times when they competed for Chorley Schools in the Lancashire Schools Championships at Blackpool.

Richard trimmed his best for 1,500 metres by 12 seconds to record 4.32 to finishing 2nd in his heat and Laura improved hers in the 800 metres by four seconds to 2.38, just missing out on a final place.

Horwich runners posted good times too when they represented Bolton in the Greater Manchester Youth Games.

Gemma Jones ran a pb of 5.48 in the U13's 1500 metres; Mathew Smith had a fine run to finish third in his heat of the 1500 metres U12's in 5-11 and Keith Boardman also finished third in the heats of the U12's 200 metres.

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