AN Oldham teenager is following in his parents’ footsteps and shining as a competitive athlete.

Thirteen-year-old Evan Grime represented England at the Schools International Athletic Board Cross-Country championships in Swansea at the weekend.

It came just a week after he ran for Greater Manchester in Kent and he is already competing at Under-15s level despite being 13.

But it is no surprise as The Blue Coat School pupil comes from athletics stock.

The youngster, who runs for Salford Harriers, has been a club runner since the age of eight and has clearly inherited the running genes as both his parents, Ian and Jill were also accomplished athletes.

Ian competed for both England and Great Britain at 1,500m and 3,000m and Evan’s sister, Erin, is also a successful athlete, meaning all four members of the family have run for their county at inter-countries competitions.

At Pembrey Country Park on Saturday, Evan was 12th in a time of 14mins 59secs in the Junior Boys’ 3,000m - eighth English Schools’ competitor home.

And the family hope it will be just the start for the Royton youngster.

His gran, Linda Grime, is a big fan of her grandson’s achievements and said it made her proud to see him competing for England Schools.

She said: “I’m very very proud of him.

“My husband (Evan’s grandad) died last year, and he was really supportive of Evan’s running.

“He would have loved to know that Evan had made it onto the England team.

“He (Evan) has worked really hard to get to where he is and should be proud of himself.”