RYEDALE runner Richard Buck is targeting the World Athletics Championships in Moscow after shining for Great Britain on the international stage.

The 26-year-old brought Great Britain’s 4x400 metres relay quartet home in first place in the final event of the European Athletics Team Championships in Gateshead on Sunday.

Buck was handed the baton in first place after Conrad Williams and Rhys Williams had made up ground lost by Michael Bingham on the opening leg, and the City of York Athletic Club star finished in style.

The former pupil at Pickering’s Lady Lumley’s School clocked the joint fastest leg time of 46.2 seconds, matching the time recorded by Williams.

Second-placed Russia and Poland, in third, were unable to make an impression on Buck’s lead as Great Britain clocked three minutes 5.37 seconds, the best time in Europe this year.

Buck said: “I just tried to keep an even pace and make sure no one caught me. You don’t want to expend too much too early, you need to keep something to come home with. The guys set it up so well.

“I tried to race the television camera down the home straight.”

Buck is currently ranked fourth in the UK at 400 metres in 2013, behind Bingham, Nigel Levine and Williams. His best time this year is 45.88, putting him marginally ahead of previous number one Martyn Rooney.

Bingham and Levine are leading the race to represent Great Britain in the individual 400m at the World Championships from August 10 to 18, but Buck is hoping to force his way in.

The final squad will be decided after the Sainsbury’s British Championships in Birmingham from July 12 to 14, where Buck will be aiming to secure at least a relay team spot.

Having funded his own training by working for Tesco in Loughborough in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympics, Buck’s National Lottery backing was restored by UK Athletics last December.

In the wake of his Gateshead success, Buck said: “I want to thank the National Lottery because nothing is possible without their help.”

Great Britain finished third overall in the two-day competition. GB collected a total of 338 points, behind Germany, on 347.5, and Russia, who took the title with 354.5.