THE future looks bright at Hyndburn Athletics Club if recent results are anything to go by.

For the club's under 11s boys cross country team have excelled in both the Red Rose Cross Country League and the recent Lancashire Cross Country Championship at Witton Park.

Second place finishes in both events bode well for the future and club secretary and coach Mike Grime is delighted.

He said: "For most of the boys, it was their first chance to compete in these type of events and hopefully their success will help maintain the enthusiasm they have for athletics.

"They are all part of an ever growing group of boys and girls from under 11s to under 17s who have shown a great interest in cross country this season."

William Moynihan, Reece Farnhill, Jack Mulligan, Jordan Wilcock, Matthew Smith, Lewis Garratty and Marcus McIntyre all made up the Red Rose League squad that excelled to finished in the runners-up up spot in the under 11s section.

And Hyndburn repeated the feat in the Lancashire Cross Country Championships - the first time they had held an under 11s age group - when William Moynihan (6th place), Reece Farnhill (15th), Hayden Moorcroft (18th) and Jack Mulligan (22nd) helped the club to second spot.

The youngsters have been working under Wayne Edmondson who has taken on the role of cross country coach this winter.

Mike said a number of initiatives have helped swell the club's junior ranks.

"Through the Hyndburn Juniors Schools sports liasion officer we have held a number of events at Wilsons and a number of youngsters have come back. We also ran a similar scheme for youngster in Clayton which also proved popular."

So much so that the club can have up to 50 youngsters turning up to training at Wilsons Playing Fields on Thursday evenings.

"It's great to see the younger runners running in competitive races. It is something that can help them should they decide to get more involved in the team events.

"Some of the youngsters can naturally be a bit overawed when it comes to the big events but as soon as they take part they realise how much they enjoy it."

He added: "But is important to take things slowly so basically we concentrate on the fun element of running, "But getting so many youngsters involved his great news for the club because they are the future."