The snow and ice wreaked havoc on fixtures over the weekend with many fell and road races being postponed or cancelled for Horwich Harriers.

Before the worst of the weather, the Lancashire County Cross Country Championships went ahead as planned at Witton Park, Blackburn.

But with Horwich falling inside the Greater Manchester area, few members meet the entry requirements (birth or residency in Lancashire) meaning just three RMI Harriers were present - all senior men.

They ran 5.6 miles with 666 feet of ascent, tackling a devilish climb on each of the four laps. Conditions were a lot tougher underfoot than the Red Rose match at the same venue in October, with one runner from Blackburn losing a shoe in the mire and another in the tangerine Blackpool vest going full length on the descent and emerging head to toe in sludge.

Luke Foley was in the mix at the business end of the race, with a third-place finish looking on the cards. However, he got overhauled in the long sprint across the finish field, eventually placing sixth in 34mins 14secs. Despite his understandable frustration, his high placing meant he qualified to wear a Lancashire vest at the inter-counties championships, in Nottingham, in March.

Adrian Bramham ran in his first championship in RMI colours and continued his flying start with the club, netting third V60 and 48th overall (40:50). Sam Fairhurst was 16th with a time of 36:34.

Rob Jackson had to contend with a field of more than 500 at Peel Parkrun as runners from across Greater Manchester flocked to one of the only venues not to cancel.

Considering the cold and icy patches, Jackson ran an exceptional time of 18:47 to once again finish first in his age category, first in age grading and 10th overall.

Heaton Parkrun hosted a mammoth field of more than a thousand runners, with four Horwich members among them. Lindsey Brindle was third female finisher, with a time of 20:05, while Sean McMyler (21:23) celebrated his 60th attendance at Heaton. Jason Middleton clocked his fastest time at the venue for nearly a decade, with 25:00 and Janet Middleton was just three seconds off a Heaton PB, with 32:03. Marcus Taylor snuck in the top 10 at Worsley Woods - his 19:06 earning eighth and first MV50 as he closes in on 50 parkruns.

Two members went to extreme lengths to avoid the inclement weather, travelling as far south as possible. Nick Leigh (18:54, third) was in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, while Miriam Harrison (27:57, seventh female) went to Sharpham Estate Parkrun, in Totnes, Devon.

Paul Kaye (22:39) travelled to Nottingham for Rushcliffe Parkrun, while Chris Charnley (23:13) and Gillian Smith (51:13) stayed local at Haigh Woodland Park. Also at Haigh were siblings Matthew, Eve and Toby MacDonald, competing in their first ever parkrun. Matthew, an under-13, set a blistering time of 22:00 on his debut.