Sam Perry continued his impressive cross-country season at Witton Park in Blackburn last Saturday.

The Northern AC athlete finished in 22nd place in a very strong under-17s men’s field of more than 100 athletes from across the north of England.

This is the highest place achieved in this race by an u17 athlete from the Isle of Man, beating David Mullarkey’s 26th in 2017.

Sam was actually a little disappointed with his result, as on this occasion he finished behind some of the athletes he beat in the recent Lancashire Championships.

It is nevertheless a very solid result in his first year in the age group and, crucially, more experience gained of high-quality competition.

The cross-country season continues for Sam with three more big events in England.

He will contest the English National Championships in Cheshire at the end of February, followed by the Inter-Counties at Loughborough two weeks later in which he will represent Lancashire.

He then moves onto the English Schools in Nottingham later in March.