YORK runner Richard Buck is making up for lost time.

The rising 18-year-old Nestl Rowntree Athletics Club 400-metres star roared back in great style after a ten-week enforced lay-off with a great outing in the National Under-20 Championships at Bedford.

Now he has his sights set on a coveted place in the Great Britain European Junior Championships at the end of this month.

Buck's early season was left in tatters after a bout of appendicitis forced him out of action.

That put his training well behind schedule but he made a stunning comeback in the Nationals at Bedford where he clocked 47.60 to finish second behind GB team-mate Martin Rooney, from Croydon.

It was Buck's first 400m of the season, coming just a few days after sharpening his speed work at the York Schools Championships at Huntington Stadium.

His time means he is the third-ranked runner in the country and is hoping he has done enough to secure a place in the GB relay squad for the Europeans on July 21-24 at Kaunas, Lithuania.

Remarkably, Buck, who has just finished his 'A' levels at Lady Lumley's School, Pickering, still has not given up hope of grabbing an individual place in the European 400m.

"I was just 0.10 seconds outside a European qualifying time at Bedford. I want to try to achieve that at Birmingham this weekend," he said.

Buck, whose personal best of 47 seconds flat was set last season, will be representing North Yorkshire in the English Schools Championships at Birmingham where he is hoping to book his ticket on the plane to Lithuania.

He said: "I am 100 per cent focused on my athletics at the moment and am planning a strong end to my season."

Appendicitis ruled him out of the Yorkshire Championships, Northern Championships and the Loughborough International - a four team fixture comprising the GB Under-20 squad, GB senior squad, Loughborough University and an International Select side.

That makes his performance at Bedford all the more remarkable and drew praise from the international selectors who will be monitoring his progress at Birmingham this weekend.

After the Europeans Buck is also hoping to run in the Home Internationals in August and, if his times are good enough, the Grand Prix at Sheffield, a meeting which will be televised.

Last year Buck won a bronze medal at the Junior Commonweath Games.

Updated: 10:16 Tuesday, July 05, 2005