FIVE Mid Beds youngsters ran in the English National Cross-Country Championships at Sunderland. Etonbury Middle School Year Eight student Chris Thornley and Luke Angel were part of the bronze medal winning team that took on the best that English club athl

FIVE Mid Beds youngsters ran in the English National Cross-Country Championships at Sunderland.

Etonbury Middle School Year Eight student Chris Thornley and Luke Angel were part of the bronze medal winning team that took on the best that English club athletics could offer.

Running for Bedford and County AC, Stotfold based Chris and Luke from Ireland near Shefford were part of a nine-man team.

Chris finished in 42nd place out of a massive field of 300 runners with Luke finishing in 50th.

The pair have had a successful cross-country season and have both won a variety of medals.

Luke won a team bronze medal at the South of England Cross-Country Championships at Holkham Hall in North Norfolk.

For Chris, his highlight was helping Bedford and County beat the pre-race favourites to win team silver at the South of England road relays at Aldershot.

Both boys have represented Bedfordshire this year and won team golds in the 2006-7 Chiltern League Cross-Country Championship for the club.

Two girls from Comet country were also part of the Bedford and County under-15 team which won national cross-country silver.

Stotfold's Samantha Cutler and Abigail MacKinnon-Austin who lives near Hitchin were at Sunderland.

MacKinnon-Austin had a fantastic race to finish 11th.

Team-mate Cutler finished 97th in a high-class field. She had pulled out of the inter-counties in Nottingham a fortnight previously due to an injury and had only managed two training sessions prior to the race.

The pair are now looking forward to the English schools' finals in Leeds on March 24 - MacKinnon-Austin will be competing for Hertfordshire and Cutler for Bedfordshire.

Clifton and Samuel Whitbread Community College's Ryan Parker finished 10th in the under-17 men's event.