A second place finish in the second race of the West Yorkshire Cross-Country League capped a fine week for Bingley Harriers’ Jo Buckley.

She was competing against runners from West Yorkshire’s elite clubs on a bright and sunny Saturday at Nunroyd Park, Yeadon, finishing in a fantastic 23min 59sec, which also saw her win the women’s over-35 category.

Fresh from a fantastic seventh place alongside Emma Clayton and Mary Wilkinson in the National Cross-Country Relays at Berry Hill Park, Mansfield, she was only beaten at Nunroyd Park by Katie Walshaw, of Holmfirth, who finished in 23min 2sec.

Skyrac’s Nicola Squires was fourth in 24min 24sec, while Ilkley’s Sally Morley took 11th place in 25min 06sec.

Leeds City dominated the men’s race, filling the podium, with Pudsey & Bramley’s Colin Walker the highest local finisher in 16th place in 36min 05sec. Baildon’s Quentin Lewis just pipped Bingley’s Andy Brown to the line by three seconds in 36min 17sec.

Andy Smith, of Pudsey & Bramley, finished a strong seventh in the under-17s’ race in 18min 16sec, while Keighley & Craven’s Nathan Dunn took 11th in 18min 34sec.

Bingley’s Victoria Merrick won the girls’ under-13s, while clubmate Matthew Merrick came second in the under 13 boys’, ahead of Skyrac’s Ben Thompson.

In the under-11s races, Lara Moursi, of Skyrac, finished third in the girls, while clubmate Ethan Hussey took third in the boys.

Bingley’s time at the National Cross-Country Relays was 31min 53.55sec.

The team of Clayton (10min 37.65sec), Buckley (10min 56.70sec) and Wilkinson (10min 19.20sec) finished one position down on last year’s best-ever result for Bingley Ladies but it was still a fine finish out of 102 teams.

The club went on to show their strength in depth, with their second team finishing 39th in 36min 0.4sec and the third team 99th in 46min 22.65sec.

The winning team was Birchfield Harriers A, who completed the course in 30min 45.40sec.