ILKLEY Grammar School will have two of their teams competing in next month's English Schools Cross Country finals.

Both the intermediate boys and girls achieved the top three finish in the regional finals at Chesterfield to clinch their places at Bedford on December 5.

The best performance of the day came from the intermediate boys. Dominic Coy, one of the younger runners within the category, finished in an impressive third place.

He was well supported by Cameron Reilly sixth, George Dey 11th, Joe Haigh, who put in a sprint finish to 14th, Robbie Matthews 17th and Harry Barker 22nd. Their efforts guaranteed the team second place.

The intermediate girls team, consisting of only Year 9s in a Year 9/10 category, had got the day off to a flying start with a second place for Bethan Morley.

She was followed home by Rachel Scott (11th), Ella Shouler-Harris (17th), Elise Crabtree (25th) and Hannah Marshall (41st). With a team score of 55 they qualified in third place.

The junior girls and boys were sixth and seventh respectively in their competitions.

These races were extremely competitive despite the tough weather conditions. Adam Mitchell (8th) and Caitlin Oddie (9th) were the pick of the bunch for Ilkley.

Bernadette Raven, Ella Hammond, Katie Meredith, Charlotte Elston, Reuben Foster, Ashley Leach, Nathan Coy, Archie Minto and Tom Jackson were the other junior runners in action.