Bishop’s Stortford High School student Luke Dunham gets bronze medal at Cardiff Cross Challenge featuring Niels Laros and Keneth Kiprop

Talented teenager Luke Dunham claimed a bronze medal at a cross country event that attracted some of the world’s finest runners.

The Bishop’s Stortford High School student came seventh in the combined under-20 and under-17 race - and was the third under-17 finisher - at the Cardiff Cross Challenge.

Dunham, who is in Year 12 in the Beaumont Avenue secondary school’s sixth form, crossed the line in 16min 21sec over the 5,560m distance.

Joint winners William Rabjohns and Matthew Clark, who both clocked 16.12, also took the under-20 and under-17 titles respectively.

The fixture, which took place at Llandaff Fields on the outskirts of the Welsh capital, had prestigious World Athletics Cross Country Tour gold status.

Competitors came from as far afield as Burundi, Ethiopia, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands, Denmark, Morocco and Uganda.

Among the stand-out entries in the senior men’s race was rising Dutch star Niels Laros, who finished sixth in the 1,500m final at this summer’s Paris Olympics, but he had to settle for 10th place in a race won by defending champion Keneth Kiprop of Uganda.