RUNNERS from across Furness and South Cumbria head to Sedbergh School on Wednesday for the county cross-country championships.

The Cumbria Schools Athletics Association event sees youngsters from six districts fighting it out in four different age groups.

Furness are sending a squad of 64 athletes among an overall field of 511 to tackle to tough, hilly course, with teams also entered from Allerdale, Carlisle, Copeland, Eden and South Lakes.

The majority of the Furness team will be contesting the Minor (year 7), Junior (Years 8 and 9) and Intermediate (Years 10 and 11) events, with a handful, such as Barrow's Georgia Cooper in the Senior (Years 12 and 13) races. Many of them are club athletes from the likes of Barrow and Furness Striders, Broughton Runners and Hoad Hill Harriers.

Athletes qualified through the Furness Schools event at Furness Academy in the autumn, with the top eight in each race being selected for the County Championships.

The top 16 in each race at Sedbergh School will be picked for the Cumbria team to compete in the North of England Championships on February 4, at Kirkby Stephen School, with the top eight in that race going on to the English Championships in Norwich in March.

John Pownceby, of the Furness Schools Athletics Association, helped put the youngsters through their paces ahead of Christmas, with a number of workshops at Furness Academy and in Barrow Park.

He said: “It is a very tough, hilly course. We used it last year, for the first time for a few years, but we won't use it again for a few more years now.

“Since the competition in November they have been doing their own work with their schools, and about a third of them are club athletes – they are talented kids and will have trained there. We hope more of them will go into the clubs after the competition.”