Running Country boy Ben is champion A Lytham boy is running hot at the start of 2008 after being crowned Lancashire Cross Country Champion. Ben Everson was the under-13 winner in last Saturday’s championships at Witton Park in Blackburn. The race starts a hectic period for the King Edward and Queen Mary School pupil, who will compete at county and then national level four times in just over two months. The Witton Park races were run over 3km, with the top five in each age group all receiving their Lancashire County vests and qualifying for the UK Challenge Inter-Counties Championships. Qualifiers from Blackpool’s Arnold School were Alex Evans and Daniel Quarmby, who finished third and fourth respectively in the Year 8 race. Daniel (pictured front page) timed 12mins, 47secs and Alex 12.26. In the same age group, Arnold’s Charlotte Evans just missed out on the top five in 13.32. Everson’s next challenge is to represent King Edward and Queen Mary’s School in the Lancashire Schools Cross Country Championships on February 2. He then moves up a gear to compete in the National Schools Biathlon Championships in Bath on February 24. He will then represent Lancashire at biathlon, which combines two 500m runs with a 50m swim, in the first Inter-Counties event of the year in Nottingham. Ben said: “I realised I had a talent for endurance running when I took part in my school cross country race through the sand dunes on Inner Promenade in St Annes when I was 8, and won.” Email us and tell us about your stories!