The second round of the Mid Lancs Cross Country League gave local runners the chance to mix with the country’s best as it was combined with a round of the UK Cross Challenge at Sefton Park in Liverpool.

Winning against such classy opposition would take a stand out performance, but young Blackburn Harrier Elizabeth Greenwood went one better.

In the U11 race the boys and girls ran together and the 10-year old from Read beat them all.

Fellow Blackburn Harrier Sally Searson was 18th overall in the U13 girls’ race and Rossendale Harrier Megan Davies took 19th in the U15s, and both will be considerably higher in the Mid Lancs standings once the UK Challenge results have been stripped out.

The older runners were competing at Liverpool for Great Britain places in the European Championships at Dublin on Sunday December 13.

Ben Lindsay from Brierfield was hoping for a spot in the U23s after finishing fourth in the European Championships last year, but ninth in his class left the former Pendle star just short, and he was not in the six named on Tuesday.

Further afield, the American based Blackburn Harrier Michael Green has won the Atlanta half marathon in a season’s best 1:06:35 and Preston’s Helen Clitheroe has finished third in the Great Australian Run in Melbourne, clocking 51:17 for the 15 kilometres.

In the Florence Marathon the Czech Anna Pichrtova, who has strong East Lancashire connections, was fifth woman in 2:41:58.