A rising star of a Chester handball club has been selected to represent Great Britain.

Laura Black, of Deva Hanball Club, who train at Bishops’ High School, has had her excellent form rewarded with a call-up to the women’s GB side to face the Faroe Islands.

It is Black’s first selection for the GB squad and the first full international call-up for a Deva member, and arrives with the senior women’s trials on the horizon early next year.

Deva duo Owen Tyrie and Ash Jones have also been given reason to celebrate after being invited to the England men’s under20/U21s training camp, which will be held at Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Buckinghamshire on December 13.

Athletics

Lucia Pyne starred for West Cheshire AC at Sefton Park.

The youngster secured 18th position in a field of 118 competitors at the British Cross Country Challenge event in Liverpool.

Pyne ran a controlled race and completed the under 13 girls event in a time of 12 minutes six seconds.

West Cheshire clubmate Harvey Tegg clocked 11:33 for 42nd spot in the under 13 boys race, while his brother, Louis, posted 8:30 for 44th position in the under 11 boys event. Dave Dentith was the first of four West Cheshire finishers in the under 15 boys race, clocking 10:43 for 45th place, ahead of Jac Goodall (80th in 11:19), Rory Willson (103rd in 11:45), and Patrick Tait (116th in 12:21).

Ethan Greenland completed the under 17 men's race in 20:14, ahead of Harri Britton who posted 25:04 for 129th place.

Zeinab Weyers (158th in 39:16) and Anne-Marie Tait (167th in 40:31) represented West Cheshire in the senior women’s race.

Mark Davies (384th in 43:12) headed West Cheshire’s men’s contingent, backed up by Bob Benson (458th in 47:08), and Peter Smith (504th in 49:40).

Water polo

City of Chester Water Polo club have defied the odds to overcome pool problems and secure success in the Liverpool and District Championship.

The club is based at the Chester City Baths and the closure of the Victorian venue for extensive renovation works two years ago forced them to seek out alternative facilities.

However, there are few pools suitable for water polo available in the area and it became a struggle for the club’s teams to remain together.

But thanks to cooperation and help from University of Chester and the Epic Leisure Centre in Ellesmere Port, the club’s senior sides and junior section, which has teams for U12s, U14s and U16s, have been able to continue training.

Chester City Baths has now reopened following a £2.5m refurbishment and although the closure did lead to some players moving on, the club’s persistence has been rewarded with victory in this year’s Liverpool and District Grade Two E Wright Trophy. Chester, who are coached by Eddie Wild, beat Bridgfield 11-3 in the final.

Chester’s winning squad: Alasdair Grubb, Balint Borbas, Ciaran O’Sullivan, Daniel Johnson, Dave Wheldon (assistant coach), Eddie Wild (coach), Ian Bates, Jack Murray, Joe Clegg, Liam McCarthy, Mike Richards, Miklos Erdi-Krauszi, Paul Williams, Ryan Goulding, Simon Horsfield, Tom Sztejer, Will Brown.

The City of Chester Water Polo squad
The City of Chester Water Polo squad

Tennis

Hoole Lawn Tennis Club are toasting what has been an excellent 2015 that has seen the club make strides at both senior and junior level.

Notable successes at senior level have included Liam Sherbourne being crowned North Wales Open champion, with club-mate Peter Leatherbarrow finishing as runner-up.

The Hoole Open Tournament also proved a success despite wet weather as talented junior Saleem Rizvi defeated club coaches Sherbourne and Leatherbarrow to claim the men’s title.

Junior successes have included the boys under-14s team winning the Cheshire Aegon Division One, the U16s boys winning Division Two and the U10s taking the Wirral Junior League boys title.

The U14s boys squad were also crowned Chester League champions, a feat matched by their U16 counterparts.

The club also had two individual Cheshire county champions in the shape of Daniel Longshaw (U8) and Ruby Roberts (U8).

The club, who have a thriving junior section of 150 members, also held their ‘Great British Tennis Weekend’ in August as part of a nationwide campaign.

Bowls

One of the area’s oldest bowls clubs has closed.

Manley Bowling Club has struggled with a shortage of members in recent years.

Committee members and team captains could not be found, while rising maintenance costs were also an issue which contributed to the decision to close the club.

Crown green bowling has been played at Manley Village Hall for around 60-70 years.

The final act for the club saw them make cheque presentations to Claire House Children’s Hospice and Macmillan Cancer Support.

Running

Ellesmere Port Running Club’s Pete Barton took part in the challenging and scenic Philadelphia Half Marathon on Sunday.

He completed the race in 1:56:18.

On Saturday, five members took part in the Sefton Park National Challenge which was a flat and fast course. First home for the club and finishing 57th overall was Carol Parsons (31:09) followed by Max Woollard (39:13), Mike Burns (44:35), Matt Whitfield (45:34) , Tom Sirett (45:53).

Robbie Shanahan made the trip to Italy and on Sunday he completed the Florence Marathon in five hours, 45 minutes.

Hockey

Deeside Ramblers claimed a 3-2 win in a crucial game against Lichfield to consolidate the club’s position in the National League but made hard work of it.

Ali Ghazanfar’s penalty stroke and a Matt Cocks strike had them 2-0 up at the break but Lichfield battled back in the second-half to draw level at 2-2 before a late goal from Ed Peel sealed the victory for Ramblers, who enter the festive break in a comfortable fifth position.