SALE Harrier Charlie Hulson’s career took a massive leap on Saturday when he won the prestigious English Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill in London.

At only 21, he became the youngest ever winner, three years younger than former British long distance track great David Bedford in 1973.

Hulson joined national legends such as Brendan Foster, Bernie Ford, Mick McCloud and Eamon Martin in winning the race that dates back to 1876.

And he created Sale Harriers history as he became the club's first ever senior national winner.

The nearest any Sale runner has come to it is the third place Paul Roden – who is now Hulson's coach – achieved in 1993, and he said: “I suspect no one expected Charlie to win apart from myself.

"He has been in great shape and he’s just returned from a month in Kenya.”

Sale also had three teams – the senior men, senior women and under-15s girls.

The men finished fifth (or seventh based on nine counting runners) which was their best ever performance, beating their seventh-placed finishes in 2008 and 2009.

The team was made up of Gaz Raven, Jaimie Roden, Dave Marsh, Paul Green and Nigel Martin – and with Ian Wetherall, Phil Scowcroft and Chris Donnelly part of the nine-man team).

Raven completed his 23rd national in succession, his first at Parliament Hill fields coming in 1993 when he was 98th in the junior race and has a best finish of third in the 2008 senior race. Now in the M40 category, he finished 44th.

The senior women's team of Katie White, Sarah Douglas, Kathy Wellam, Helen Armitage, Anne Chinoy and Cat Jones finished 19th which made them the first northern team and was a major improvement on last year.

Under-15 runner Claudia Cowan finished a fantastic 47th and was part of a junior team that also featured Francesca Brint, Alexa McTiffin, Olivia Green and Georgia Haworth.