MID Beds athlete Natasha Peters underlined her growing potential with bronze in the senior girls race at the prestigious Sainsbury s English Schools Cross-Country Championships on Saturday. The 18-year-old from Sandy, who is a member of Bedford and Coun

MID Beds athlete Natasha Peters underlined her growing potential with bronze in the senior girls' race at the prestigious Sainsbury's English Schools' Cross-Country Championships on Saturday.

The 18-year-old from Sandy, who is a member of Bedford and County AC, impressed over the testing hilly course in cold, windy conditions at Temple Newsam Park in Leeds.

This championship is one of the biggest dates in the school sporting calendar and counts the likes of Paula Radcliffe and Steve Ovett among its former medallists, as well as current British internationalists Mo Farah and Emily Pidgeon.

Natasha is delighted that her own medal-winning performance was rewarded with selection for the England international team.

She said: "I'm extremely pleased; this is by far the best I have ever done. I've been training very hard, but I thought I had years to go to get in the England team. I knew I could rely on my finish and it served me well again here. I'm ecstatically pleased."

Clifton schoolboy Ryan Parker, another Beds and County athlete, finished eighth in the intermediate boys' race after trying a different approach.

The 5350m course at Leeds was a tough one and 326 runners started his age group.

Ryan travels to Dublin tomorrow (Friday) to represent England on Saturday against the top eight from Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

A third Bedford and County athlete, Samantha Cutler, was also representing Bedfordshire.

Competing in the intermediate girls' age group (Years 10 and 11), the Year 10 pupil at Samuel Whitbread Community College was 160th in a massive high-class field and the third girl for home for Bedfordshire.

The championships attracted 2,000 athletes from around the country, all who had qualified through races at local district and county level.