TWO TEENAGERS from Barnsley continued their exciting junior careers in events thousands of miles away this week.
Jonson Hughes finished 35th in the under 20 age group representing Great Britain at the World Cross Country Championships.
The 18-year-old from Darfield was competing at his first world event in Tallahassee, Florida.
Jonson, who trains with top coach Andrew Henderson in Leeds and works as an apprentice gas engineer, is hoping to compete in the Olympics over 5,000m.
His main goal for this year is the World Under 20 Championships in Eugene, USA in August.
It has been a very successful cross country season for Jonson who finished fourth in the British Championships then was part of the GB team which took a silver in the European Championships in Portugal last month.
He has also been selected to run for England at the ‘CrossCup’ in Belgium later this month.
Meanwhile, Maya Schofield won the under 17s girls title over 800m at the North of England Indoor Championships in Sheffield.
The 15-year-old from Royston took the win by four seconds in 2-13 at the English Institute of Sport.
Maya said: “It’s a great start to 2026.
“Once I start my speed training, my times will drop.”
The Barnsley AC under 17 athletes competed. Poppy Kaye made it to the 60m semi-finals and ran a PB of 8.27.
Thomas Clarke recorded PBs in all his heats – 60m at 7.87, 400m at 56.91 and 200m at 25.20.
Riley Hall made it to the semi-finals of the 60m, with a PB of 7.66, and the 400m semi-finals running a PB of 54.51. He also ran a PB of 24.45 in his 200m heat.
The Trigger Fell Race runs from Marsden Cricket Club in West Yorkshire to Edale in the Peak District.
Covering almost 40km with more than 1600m of elevation in arduous conditions following the snow last week, Barnsley AC’s Phil Montgomery was victorious by 21 seconds in a time of 5-14-55.
Penistone brothers James and Tom Fryers finished 48th and 49th respectively, with just a second separating their times of 6-19-33 and 6-19-44.
Daniel Limb just missed the eight-hour mark, finishing 103rd in 8-00.29, closely followed by Oliver Pike in 104th in 8-00-30.
In the winter edition of the Round Sheffield Run, run over an icy multi-terrain course of a little over 12 miles, there were excellent runs from Penistone’s Flynn Rogers (43rd in 89-21), Alex Best (71st in 94-01) and Michael Nicholson (644th in 125-58).
Barnsley Harriers Jo Taylor and Dean Bradley ran as a pair in 2-30-47 for 1,214th place while Kelly Ford was 608th as a solo runner in 2-04-23.
Penistone’s Peter Beever travelled across the Pennines to run in the Central Lancs New Year Half Marathon, finishing in a time of 115-39.
Penistone joined Barnsley AC in being promoted from Division Two of the South Yorkshire Cross Country League.
There were first place category series wins for Keith Gordon and Nichola McNally while they also won gold in the South Yorkshire Championship Race.
Ian Neville was second in the league and won bronze in the championship.
