JESSICA SPARKE delivered one of the finest races of her career to finish on the podium in the penultimate McCain International Cross Challenge event in Antrim.

The Woodford Green with Essex Ladies athlete has announced herself as one of the world’s most promising cross-country runners, and she reaffirmed that notion by outstripping European cross champion Hayley Yelling-Higham, beating her compatriot into third place.

Ireland’s Mary Cullen was the clear winner, but Sparke was closing the gap on Hungary’s Aniko Kalovics in second as she crossed the line.

The performance sets Sparke up perfectly for the World Cross Trials, which will take place at the University of Bath on Saturday, February 3. Should she win a place in the Great Britain & Northern Ireland team, the young athlete will fly out to Kenya to compete in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in March.

Sparke was delighted with her effort at the weekend: “I felt really strong all the way and now, with the World Cross trials coming up, I just need to keep healthy and injury free.

“My confidence is growing and I’m starting to feel more and more confident. I was gaining on Aniko a bit and I really tried to chase her down. I’d been excited coming into the race – I knew I was getting closer and closer to Hayley after my performance in Edinburgh and I’m pleased to have bettered that today.”

Meanwhile, there were more performances for the local athletics club to be proud of, as Alex Cornwell led the band of runners at the Essex Schools Cross Country Championships at Hylands Park, Chelmsford.

He took second place in the senior boys’ race, thus qualifying for both the English Schools Championships and the Southern Inter-Counties, together with Darren Southgate, who came home in an impressive eighth.

Also qualifying for both races were Becky Hewitt, who came a superb third in the senior girls’ class, and she was closely followed by Sidnie Sales in fifth and Claudia Conway one place further back.

Old rivals James Stockings and Liam Blaikie enjoyed a tussle in their race, the former eventually pipping his clubmate to eighth. As a result, Stockings qualified for both future races and Blaikie will compete at the Southern Inter Counties.

A number of Woodford athletes were also in indoor action this weekend. Results were highlighted by good sprint results from internationals Joice Maduaka and Tim Abeyie.

Competing at the Midland Counties Open Meeting in Birmingham, Abeyie placed second over 60m to fellow GB international Leon Baptiste.

Meanwhile, competing in Fayetteville, Arizona, in America, Joice Maduaka moved to the top of the UK rankings over 200m after placing third in 23.77secs. She is now also ranked second in the country over 400m, following a personal best of 55.45secs.

At the Bath Open Meeting, long jumper Kim Murray won with a leap of 5.81m, and also recorded 8.03 secs for third over 60m.