A STUDENT from St Peter s School in Huntingdon is taking on the cream of junior cross-country running on Merseyside this weekend. Fifteen-year-old Jacob Wisbey is bidding to win the English Schools Cross-Country Championships in Liverpool on Saturday. Wis

A STUDENT from St Peter's School in Huntingdon is taking on the cream of junior cross-country running on Merseyside this weekend.

Fifteen-year-old Jacob Wisbey is bidding to win the English Schools Cross-Country Championships in Liverpool on Saturday.

Wisbey, who trains with Peterborough Athletics Club, has been running competitively for three years and will be one of eight Cambridgeshire athletes travelling to the north west.

His selection into the Cambridgeshire Schools team comes after some outstanding performances recently.

He won the Schools District Cross Country Championships in December and came sixth in the following round which consisted of athletes from all Cambridgeshire schools.

Last month he competed in the under-15 boys' national Cross Country Championships held at Alton Towers and was the first Cambridgeshire boy home.

These performances have also seen his inclusion into the Cambridgeshire side for the under-15 boys in the Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championships at Woollaton Park, Nottingham on March 15.

Also competing for Cambridgeshire will be a Longsands College student preparing to follow in his father's footsteps.

Matthew Nicholson, 13, only started running in September and will be the first boy to represent Longsands at the event for many years.

However, one of the previous representatives from the school was Matthew's dad Stephen, who raced in the event exactly 35 years ago.

Stephen told The Hunts Post: "We are extremely proud of Matthew and it is a strange co-incidence that he will be running in the same race I did so many years ago."

Matthew, who runs for Huntingdonshire Athletics Club is preparing for the biggest race meeting of his running career to-date.

Stephen added: "He only started running by chance when he joined in a training session and before he knew it he was selected for the team.

"He is absolutely sports-mad but it very level-headed about everything."

As well as running, Matthew plays cricket for Eaton Socon, football for Priory Parkside and has represented his school in a wide variety of sports.

The Schools Cross-Country Championships are run over a 3.7-kilometre course at Sefton Park, Liverpool.