VALE Royal Athletics Club’s youngest runners narrowly missed out on adding to a growing medal collection when they stepped onto the national stage at the weekend.

Their under 13s girls’ trio, who won bronze at the Northern Cross Country Relays last month, finished fourth during the English version at a cold and blustery Berry Hill Park in Mansfield.

Out of contention and occupying a place outside of the top 50 following the first leg, Faye Conboy, Grace Roberts and Holly Weedall recovered to challenge for honours in the closing stages.

An under 17s boys team of Ben Lee, Harry Dexter and Arun Dight, silver-medallists at regional level, classified fifth.

They took solace from Dight clocking one of the 10 fastest splits, 9.09 for a 3km leg, for the age category.

Vale Royal's junior men's and women's teams both classified inside the top 20 in their category.

Results

English National Cross Country Relays

Berry Hill Park, Mansfield

Senior men (4x5km): 118. Vale Royal AC (Oliver Williams, Brian Dooley, Geoff Fawkes, Mark Pilliner) 1:20.45

Senior women (3x3km): 37. Vale Royal AC (Kate Titlow, Carolyn Dooley, Andrea Hilldrup) 34.50

Junior men (3x3km): 17. Vale Royal AC (Cameron Weaver, Josh Betteley, Jacob Brown) 27.52

Junior women (3x2.5km): 20. Vale Royal AC A (Chloe Broad, Cara Gibbons, Sophie Smith) 29.50; 25. Vale Royal AC B (Chloe Dooley, Lucy Burch, Clara Pettitt) 30.52

Under 17s boys (3x3km): 5. Vale Royal AC (Ben Lee, Harry Dexter, Arun Dight) 28.01

Under 15s boys (3x2km): 63. Vale Royal AC (Ed Pettitt, Aaron Doyle, Charlie Fawkes) 23.00

Under 15s girls (3x2km): 13. Vale Royal AC A (Lucy Smith, Francesca Harris, Holly Smith) 23.00; 78. Vale Royal AC B (Beth Latham, Cerys Pilliner, Isabelle Davies)

Under 13s boys (3x2km): 28. Vale Royal AC (Will Ashfield, Wilf Dight, Dylan Carney) 23.07

Under 13s girls (3x2km): 4. Vale Royal AC (Faye Conboy, Grace Roberts, Holly Weedall) 23.20