Athletics

Last updated 09:16, Saturday, 10 May 2008

EGREMONT athlete James Bowness has shot to the top of the British Under-17 800 metre rankings.

In a brilliant run in a British Milers Club race in Stretford, Manchester, on Tuesday, James smashed his lifetime best time.

His time of 1:56.31 represented a 3.1 second improvement on his previous best set in 2007.

In the cool of the evening James followed the pacemakers and hit the 400-metre mark in 57 seconds. Over the second lap he overtook a number of athletes to finish second behind Niall Brooks of Sale Harriers, an under-20 athlete.

His run is currently the fastest by any Cumbrian athlete over the distance this year and is easily within the qualifying time for the English Schools Championships to be held in Gateshead in July.