No stopping Matthew’s fell progress

ATHLETICS A ROSSENDALE school boy is racing ahead after being selected to be on the England Under-17s fell running team.

Matthew Mackay, 15, from Love Clough, has returned from his first race with the team at the International Youth Cup at Gagliano del Capo in Italy for the World Mountain Running Competition.

Alder Grange School pupil Matthew came 9th in the race, and the U17 English boys came 3rd as a team making it onto the podium to get bronze medals.

Year 10 pupil Matthew, who has been a member of Rossendale Harriers for the past seven years, was picked for the England team after coming second in the Hutton Roof Fell Race on 27th May.

He said: “My dad used to run and I just fancied giving it a go. I’ve been running with the Rossendale Harriers for seven years and have also done some races with school.

“When I heard about the race at Hutton I thought I’d give it a go. The race was about four miles off road. We were told that the top three junior men and top three junior women would gain a place with the team to run in Italy.

“I went to the race as a bit of a trial for future years, I really wasn’t expecting to come second as I knew that I would be running with a lot of more experienced and older runners.”

Matthew’s mum, Lisa Dean, said: “We are so proud of Matthew. It is an amazing achievement to be selected to run for England. We were flabbergasted when we saw him coming in second place at the Hutton race.

“We’d like to thank Graham Wright, his coach at Rossendale Harriers, Matthew owes much of his success to him.”

Matthew has also had success with Alder Grange’s triathlon team. At the recent Rossendale schools triathlon at Marl Pits Matthew came away with the fastest results for all two out of the three legs of the event, and fastest individual overall.

He added: “Looking to the future I’d like to enter more triathlons as I really enjoy them. Both the school and the Harriers have been very supportive helping me to pursue my running.”

Vanessa Holland, Curriculum Leader (Physical Education) said: “Matthew has been going from strength to strength, he’s matured at a great rate and has proved himself to be a very gifted and talented sportsman. We are all very proud of his achievements.”