THE South Lakes District Cross Country competition took place at Cartmel Priory School with almost 400 elite runners representing the region's secondary schools.

They were all competing for a place on the District Team for the County Championships taking place in January 2018.

A challenging course was completed in different age groups, including minor, junior, intermediate and senior boys and girls.

There were very competitive races, including some tight finishes. The winners for the minor boys was C Allmond of Kirkbie Kendal School, junior boys was F Sproul of Sedbergh School, intermediate boys was J Smith of Kirkbie Kendal School and senior boys went to The Lakes School.

The team events were won by Kirkbie Kendal in the minor boys, Queen Katherine School in the junior race, Queen Elizabeth School in the intermediate race and Sedbergh in the senior boys race.

The minor girls category was won by S Smith of Kirkbie Kendal School, junior girls by A Newing of Sedbergh School, intermediate girls by C Rylance of Dallam School and the senior girls race was won by a pupil from The Lakes School.

Sedbergh School won the team events in junior, intermediate and senior girls races, with Kirkbie Kendal winning the minor girls race.

The host school, Cartmel Priory School, performed very well with W Dance finishing 11th in the minor boys race and T Wheatcroft first junior boy in 39th. The intermediate boys race saw Cartmel achieve 2nd in the team event, with five athletes finishing in the top 20; N Kidd (5th), W Dykes (9th), S McSherry (13th), C Bacon (18th) and K Davidson (20th).

The girls were also very competitive with B Saunders finishing 6th in the minor girls, L Barlow 21st in the junior girls and H Whitton finishing 9th in the intermediate girls race.