BURNDEN’S Matt Barker rose to the challenge of his debut Ironman in magnificent fashion, finishing with a time of 15hrs 41mins 29secs.

Despite carrying an injury going into the Ironman UK event in Bolton, he dug deep to complete the arduous marathon section in 5hrs 59mins 2secs, to add to times of 1:40:41 for the 2.4-mile swim in Pennington Flash and 7:41:03 for the tough and hilly 112-mile bike course.

Fellow Road Runner John Turner finished in 12:57:27.

He was out of the water in 1:24:20 and completed the bike section in 6:51:30 before running a 4:21:38 marathon to complete the event.

The inaugural Wellybobs 10K race in Darwen attracted 13 Burnden members with Mark Jackson the first of them to cross the finish line, ninth overall and fourth V35 in 42:30.

Lucille Corrigan was the first female club member, coming 25th overall, fourth female finisher and first F45 with a time of 50:00.

Mumtaz Patel was second F40 competitor in 50:47 with Claire Taylor fourth in the same category with a time of 57:34. Elaine Roper was fourth F55 in 56:00.

Other results: Louise Fox (1:04:03), Emma Walker (1:04:04), Vanessa Knowles (1:04:37), Linda Haines (1:07:51), Jackie Oakes (1:07:51), Wasyl Gelyczak (1:11:17), Iain Conner (1:11:20), Ann Hardman (1:29:31).

Martyn Pollitt led home the Burnden contingent at the Elswick Express 10-Mile road race near Preston with a time of 1:06:08.

Isaline Pollitt was next with 1:17:25, followed by Gayle Gerrard in 1:22:29, Denise Hodgkinson in 1:32:17 and Debra Hennessey in 1:39:19.

Liz McLellan completed her first standard duathlon at Ambleside and emerged first F45 on her debut and fourth female finisher overall.