THERE was double delight for Skipton Athletics Club's riding starlet Stuart Hunn at the English Junior Fell Racing Championships at Sedbergh on Sunday when the fifth event of a six-race series was staged, (writes Roger Ingham).

Not only did the 16-year-old Aireville pupil clinch the Under 18 title, but more remarkably, he also claimed a place in the England Under 20 team for the forthcoming World Cup in Alaska.

Sunday's Under 18 and Under 20 races were run in tandem to give outstanding talent from the younger age-group the chance to bid for a top-three place that would automatically clinch the trip to North America.

Hunn took full advantage of the offer to finish second overall behind the Under 20 winner, Midlander Robert Little of Mercia AC.

Hunn's success also caught his Skipton AC coach off guard, for even he had been thinking of a World Cup place as a target for the next couple of years.

Having already won at three of the previous four races in the series, Hunn comfortably collected the England title in the Under 18 section - a fine achievement by any standard, but one which was somewhat obscured on the day by the Under 20 selection.

While Hunn was one of only a small local contingent in action at Sedbergh, he was by no means the only successful runner.

Settle Harrier David Shepherd - a Skipton AC member in track, field and cross-country - collected a splendid victory in the Under 16 event to complete a fine weekend double after winning his age-group the previous day at Arncliffe gala.

Third and fourth respectively behind Shepherd on Sunday were another Skipton duo, Danny Walmsley and Matthew Hurst.

On a line through these latest performances and in championship events elsewhere, all three should be serious contenders for England places for the team to contest the Five Nations International when the trials are held at Langdale in September.

Completing the local hat trick of winners at Sedbergh was Skipton AC's Jonathan Pawson, who triumphed in the Under 14 event, where his cousin, James Mountain - Under 12 champion last year - finished a splendid runner-up.

Also in top-four form was Sheryl Slater, who finished fourth in the Under 18 Women's race won by Warrington's Carrie Hewitt.

Elsewhere, Yorkshire and North of England hurdles champion Matthew Cottam from Steeton scored another fine victory when he won the Under 15 Boys' 100m event at the mid-week Yorkshire Track and Field meeting at South Leeds stadium.

Skipton's AC's highest finisher at that meeting was Carlos Puente, who threw just over 30m to finish runner-up in the Under 15 Boys' Discus behind Yorkshire champion Jonathan Hepworth from Spenborough AC.