PLANNING for next year's Horwich Festival of Racing is already underway as organisers celebrate a record year.

About 800 competitors travelling from around the country braved a cool day to take part in the festival around Horwich town centre on June 21.

Organisers have released the full set of results from this year's festival, and are now looking for help from the community to raise enough money to make sure next year's event goes ahead.

A total of 220 competitors took part in the cycling events on the day, with competitors being aged from six to 69-years-old, including 140 competitors under the age of 16.

In addition, about 25 unicyclists from as far away as Newcastle, Anglesey and Taunton took part in the unicycle race, with 20-year-old engineering student Matt Morris triumphing for the second year in a row.

Orienteering had a welcome return to the festival after a break at 2014's event, with a competition in Lever Park in the morning and an urban style competition in the afternoon.

Winners included Elspeth Ingleby from Horwich in the Women's Open title and Bradley Dickerson of Leeds-based club Airienteers in the men's category.

A 5km road race saw 147 runners compete, and another 119 people took part in the one mile fun run, with a number of competitors attending in fancy dress.

The festival's 5k road walk saw record entries, with teams entering from England, Ireland and Scotland.

Barbara Ronson, president of the festival, appealed for anyone who can help with fundraising to come forward.

She said: "I want to thank all of our local sponsors, including Express Banners who do so much for us.

"It’s getting harder and harder to pull together the funds we need to put on this community event and we’ll be spending the next few months trying to identify additional funding to ensure that next year’s event can go ahead.

"This year we raised £203.70 from a street collection and sale of goods - just a drop in the ocean, but we would appreciate any other ideas for fundraising."

The results of all the events at the festival are available by visiting horwichfestivalofracing.co.uk