OVER 300 youngsters took part in the Bradford Primary Schools' Cross-Country finals at Cliffe Castle, Keighley, and competitors from the Ilkley area were not found wanting.

In an event that was organised by Oakbank School, they notched three podium places and had 17 other top-ten placings.

Martha Jackson (Moorfield) won the Year Six girls' race, while Holly Machin (All Saints Ilkley) was runner-up in the Year Four girls' race, and Bay Tempest (Moorfield) third in the Year Five girls' event.

In addition, Jake Norris (Burley Oaks) came fourth in the Year Four boys' race, while Burley and Woodhead trio Charley Catchpole, Finn Roberts and Tom McCarthy were seventh, eighth and ninth respectively.

Moorfield pair Lucinda Leeming and Hattie Nolan were fifth and sixth among the Year Four girls, while Oliver Pacey (All Saints Ilkley) was fourth in the Year Five boys' race, ahead of Burley & Woodhead's Eduardo Cesar De Sa (sixth) and Henry Nossiter (eighth).

Aoife Hughes (Burley Oaks), Emma Beevers (Moorfield) and Jemima Overend (Burley & Woodhead) were sixth, eighth and ninth in the Year Five girls' race, while Burley Oaks' Hattie Bishop and All Saints Ilkley's Lizzie Reilly were sixth and eighth respectively in the Year Six girls' race.

Burley & Woodhead's Archie Budding and Henry Cesar De Sa came fourth and fifth in the Year Six boys' event, while Seth Toye (All Saints Ilkley) was sixth.

The event involved all the local sports partnerships from Bradford district (including schools from Keighley, Bradford, Ilkley, Haworth, Bingley and Baildon), who had qualified to represent their area having finished as one of the top two schools during qualifiers.

The top five teams in each age group, plus up to ten wild card individuals in each race, have been invited to represent Bradford in the West Yorkshire finals on Thursday, March 8 at Temple Newsam House in Leeds.

A wild card could therefore also be extended to Ashlands School's Caleb Dix, who was 14th in the Year Six boys' race.