Horwich Harriers youngsters took part in the final round of the Manchester Area Cross Country League at Kenworthy Woods.

Archie Fletcher was 39th (11mins 7secs) and Oliver Hughes 44th (12:02) in the under-11 boys, while Abigail Taylor ran 23:28 to take 55th in the U13 girls’ category. In the U15s, Harry Yates placed 18th (19:15) and Finlay Mann 26th (20:31), while Olivia Taylor and Holly Turner finished in 37th (24:42) and 42nd (25:41), respectively in the U15 girls’ group. Mark Titmuss claimed 21st (26:24) for the U17 team and Tia Harris took 18th (38:20) in the respective girls’ age group, while in the senior ladies aged 17-19, Charlotte Wilkinson in seventh (36:59), Alice Tucker eighth (39:54) and Emma Bradley 10th (41:32) competed and won the first team prize. Sole senior lady aged 20-34, Milly Lever, was ninth (36:30) and Helen MacDonald was also ninth (vet 40, 39:32).

England Fell runner Isaac Battaye finished eighth (37:19) in the U20s, while fellow international Joe Mercer placed 10th (34:23) in the senior men’s (aged 20-39). In the highly competitive vet40 category, Michael Wilkinson was 38th (46:47) and James Titmuss had a strong run in the Vet45 category finishing eighth in 38:39.

The U15, U17 and U20 England Athletics National Indoor Championships at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield saw Harriers send four boys to compete in three different age groups - Oscar Burke and Jack Fletcher in the U15s, Joel Ige in the U17s and Alistair Sharrock in the U20s.

In the 60m, Burke ran a superb PB time of 7.83 and qualified for the semi-final, while Fletcher ran a decent 7.25s to also qualify. In the 200m, Ige finished eighth (23:16) overall just missing out on the final, whilet Sharrock (23:16) also just missed out on the finals. Fletcher did, however, claim a PB of 9:54 in the 60m hurdles, but just missed out on qualification.

Elsewhere, the Long Distance Walkers Association’s annual challenge - the Amblezarke Amble - took place in the West Pennine Moors.

The start of the ‘walk’ begins with a trip through the Lord Leverhulme gifted Lever Park, passes the well-known landmark of Rivington Pike, on the way to Winter Hill before the descent to Belmont and the Turton and Entwistle Reservoirs. It then heads across the A666 and on to Darwen Moors for a loop around Darwen Tower, which takes amblers to the very pleasant Roddlesworth Woods where the long and short routes converge.

After some refreshments at Slipper Lowe it is on to the climb of Great Hill before arriving at White Coppice with its picturesque cricket field. From White Coppice good ‘walking’ threads a line between, first Anglezarke Reservoir , then Yarrow Reservoir and finally the Upper Rivington Reservoir and on to the end of the walk at Rivington.

While not strictly races, the 16 and 26-mile routes have a time limit of 10 hours to be completed in. Hill-running aficionado, Matt Fawthrop, was first finisher in a commendable time of 3:38:00, and Sam Sale was first lady finisher. Husband-and-wife team, Nick and Sandra Kelly, also completed the long route.

Parkrunners may think the 9am start here is early but in Thailand the gun goes off at 7am. Imagine the disappointment for intrepid runner-traveller, Richard O’Reilly, who arrived at Chiang Rai Provincial Stadium only to find he was the only participant!

Local Harriers results: Heaton Park - Sean McMyler (62nd) 21:15; Pennington Flash - Lynn Smith (95th) 41:43, Lesley Davidson (97th) 42.16; Bolton - Nick Leigh (second) 18:29, Gareth Webb (24th, first vet65) 23:25); Worsley Woods - Dominic Jones (18th) 20:11, Jason Middleton (87th) 24:19, Janet Middleton (316th) 33:05; Burnley - Dominic McKenna (221st) 30:05; Haigh Hall - Leo Orrell (36th) 24:07, Sophie Orrell (60th) 26:03, Paul Lewis (67th) 26:43, Jeanette Lewis (85th) 27:44, Mary White (90th) 27:47, Andrew Storey (91st) 27:53, Gail Maxfield (94th) 27:58; Coldham’s Common - Isaac Parker (fifth) 20:25, Rob Jackson (11th) 18:52; Worden Park - Sam Fairhead (fifth) 19:05.