Rowan Briscoe showed that he has inherited some of his England international mother Julie's running talent when he won the year seven boys' race at the South Yorkshire Schools' Cross Country Championships in Rotherham.

 

Julie won the Dewsbury 10k on Sunday with a personal best of 34-17 a week after finishing fifth in the 8k Northern Cross Country Championships behind four Great Britain internationals. These are shorter races than the 37-year-old nurse would normally take part in but she is using them to build her speed ahead of the Reading Half Marathon in March – which is also the qualifying race for the World Half Marathon Championships – and the London Marathon in April.

 

Briscoe said: "I am hoping to break the 2-40 barrier in London but if I do 2-35 I will be in contention for the Commonwealth Games. It's a long shot because there are a lot of good British women but I'll do my best."

 

Rowan, representing Barnsley Schools, became county champions when he won the 3,000m race by four seconds in a time of 11-43. Julie said: "Rowan is hard-working, determined and talented.  He is very young still so I don't want him training too much.  He comes running with me once a week and he also plays football, which is his main sport, and cricket."

 

Another winner for Barnsley schools was Alice Moore who took the 3,500m race for girls in years eight and nine in a time of 13-13 by a margin of just one second following a tight battle with Sheffield's Amelia Lancaster. This result means Alice will represent South Yorkshire Schools in the English Schools Championships at Castle Donington next month. Alice will be joined by her brother Harry who finished seventh in the intermediate boys' 6,000m race with 21-40.

 

Barnsley AC's Scott Nutter, 11, won the 800m in 2-22-08 and the long jump with 4.83m. Joe Ferguson ran 8.05 in the 60m semis, while Billie Hughes finished third in the under 13 200m semis with 30.8 and ran 9.39 in the 60m heats. Under 15 girl Jessica Ridgway ran 8.37 in the 60m semi-final and 27.46 in the 200m heats.