A VALE Royal Athletics Club coach has been recognised for his sterling service to the sport.

And a surprise presentation was sprung on Shaun McGrath at training at the Knights Grange track in Winsford.

Club and family members gathered to salute Shaun, 77, as Sarah Friday, the England Athletics club support manager for the north west and north east regions, revealed he had won the Regional Club Volunteer Award for 2022.

This award celebrates volunteers who have been involved for a minimum of 10 years and have had ‘a huge impact on running, athletics, clubs, and the local community’, as is certainly the case with Shaun.

A club statement reads: “Shaun has played a pivotal role in the development of Vale Royal AC since it was established over 25 years ago when Winsford AC and Mid-Cheshire AC merged.

“He coaches between three and four times each week and has helped in the development of hundreds of athletes, several of whom have progressed to international status.”

His voluntary work goes beyond the Vale Royal club, too.

“Shaun is a long-serving member of the Cheshire County Athletics Association committee, acts as a race adjudicator, organises several cross country races each year at Knight’s Grange and the very popular Pies and Peas Race at Moulton each August,” continues the statement.

Meanwhile, runners from the club featured in the British Athletics Cross Challenge at Liverpool’s Sefton Park at the weekend. The event also counts as junior and senior trials for the European Cross Country Championships to be held in Turin in two weeks’ time.

In muddy conditions, top performers were Holly Weedall and Isobel Ashcroft in the junior women’s race who crossed the finish line just eight seconds apart.

Results: Junior women: Holly Weedall 22nd 16:11, Isobel Ashcroft 26th 16:19, Ellie Bushill 54th 17:13. Under 17s men: Harry Parker-McLain 41st 18:55, Thomas Taylor 70th 19:57. Junior men: Jake Wilson 63rd 22:19, William Ashfield 138th 26:27. Senior women: Amelia Pettitt 51st 29:53. Senior men: Nathan Williams 134th 34:32, Jacob Brown 140th 34:53.