THREE school athletics stars have been selected to represent their county in the English Schools' Cross Country Championships in Brighton.

Intermediates Adele Swanton, Gemma Farley and Tom Boardman will join the squad following their performances in the Greater Manchester Schools' Championships at Leigh's Marshall Street College on Saturday.

Over 600 athletes from the 10 county boroughs converged on Leigh for the highly competitive events which saw hundreds of spectators lining the course.

Wigan's inter girls' squad were the outstanding team of the day collecting the county championship title for the second time in three years.

Individuals honours went to Tom and young Hannah Warburton whose performances won silver medals.

Adele Swanton and Gemma Farley led the inter girls home in sixth and eighth places, running the 4km course in 17min 19sec and 17min 30 sec respectively.

Followed home

In this event the only non-Leigh Harrier was Debbie Jeffery who finished 13th in 18min 20sec. She was followed home by other counters Amanda Fernley in 15th in 18min 39sec, Emma Morris 20th in 19min 7sec and Emma Tonge 28th in 19min 33sec.

Other places went to Lizzie Heaton 30th in 19min 41sec, Louise Boardman 37th in 20 min 11sec and Yasmin Foulds 40th in 20min 22sec.

Tom Boardman's outstanding display of aggressive running gave him runners-up spot after he clocked 16min 18sec in a tough inter boys' 5k race.

Mike Goddard recovered from a fall to finish 15th in 17min 46sec, Alex Urmston was 20th in 18min 4sec, Neil Pendlebury 49th in 19min 17sec and Andy Edwards 58th in 19min 49sec, giving the squad overall fifth place.

Hannah Warburton won the first medal of the day for the hosts, losing out in a desperate sprint for the line in the minor girls' 2.5k recording 8min 54sec.

She lead the team of Kirsty Hogan (23rd in 10min 9sec) and Sophie Waterworth (75th in 11min 30sec) to seventh overall.

In the minor boys' race over the same course Leigh's only representative was Isaac McCann who finished well in 9th in 8min 57sec.

The junior girls' run over 3k saw Lauren Howarth back in top form. Running as a bottom age group year eight, she finished 10th in 11min 45sec, Danielle Eckersley was 65th in 14m in 2sec, and Kellie Thornton 82nd in 14min 43sec.

The junior boys' race over 4k saw two of the harriers' latest recruits finish in the top half of the field. Luke Foster 34th in 16min 50sec and Carl Edden 37th in 16min 58sec show potential for the future.

Wigan's only representative in the senior boys' 7.5k event was Sam Cooke who ran just out of selection to finish 13th in 27min 26sec.