Easton and Otley College sports student Tom Hook secured a top-three finish in the British Colleges Sport (BCS) national cross country championships at Bath University.

The Cringleford athlete finished in third place when competing against 130 other athletes who came from colleges across the country.

The 18-year-old's success adds to a great start to the year which saw him win the Norfolk's Men's Cross Country Championships at Euston Park in Thetford in January.

Hook, from Cringleford on the outskirts of Norwich, finished third in a time of 23.39 minutes, which was 20 seconds behind the overall winner.

The City of Norwich Athletics Club member is in his final few months of study at Eaton & Oltley College and is hoping to get a place at Brunel University in Uxbridge to study sports science.

Hook said: 'I actually won this (BCS cross country) competition last year so I was a tad disappointed not to do the same. But it was good to get placed and with the athletics season about to start there is much to look forward to in the months ahead.

'In terms of the future, I'm going to continue with my running and studies and see how far I can go with my athletics career. If it doesn't work out, I would ideally like to become a physiotherapist.'

Next up for Hook will be national events in Crystal Palace over the summer where he hopes to break some of his personal bests, including bringing his 1500m PB down by three seconds to 3.46mins.

Assistant Manager for sports development and facilities at Easton and Otley College, Karl Chapman, said, 'Tom is very talented and is a great student. I believe he has the attributes to get to the top of his sport. He just needs to believe in himself and he will definitely get there.'

Hook was also chosen to take part in a 60th anniversary race commemorating Roger Bannister's record breaking four-minute mile in Watford recently. He just missed out on a sub-four-minute mile finishing in a time of 4.10mins.