THE in-from Karl Darcy led Bolton United Harriers and Athletic Club runners smashing their personal best times at the traditionally quick Wilmslow Half Marathon course.

Key splits included 33mins 51mins for 10k and 56:11 for 10 miles, with the full 13.1-mile distance completed in an impressive 1:14:17.

That was good enough for 41st place, while the sub-90 minutes group included Chris Povey (117th) edging ahead of Simon Dally (126th) by 25 seconds – although three miles out the positions were reversed – and Ben Scott.

Nick Howarth paced himself superbly to beat Daryl Bentley by 13 seconds to win the ‘battle of the coaches’ – the 100 seconds difference at the halfway point was reeled in, perhaps due to the latter going off too quickly and running out of steam in the final mile.

Aidy Costello and Laurence Jackson finished ahead of Bolton’s female trio Olivia McGreavy, Donna Cooper and Hannah Edwards.

McGreavy, more at home to single lap sprints and hurdles, debuted brilliantly at long distance to finish 252nd, whilst Cooper and Edwards worked in tandem to cross the line jointly in 1:49:51.

BUH&AC times: Karl Darcy 1:14:17, Chris Povey 1:21:06, Simon Dally 1:21:31, Ben Scott 1:23:55, Nick Howarth 1:31:43, Daryl Bentley 1:31:56, Adrian Costello 1:39:35, Laurence Jackson 1:45:19, Olivia McGreavy 1:47:32, Donna Cooper 1:49:51, Hannah Edwards 1:49:51.

A BUH&AC quintet were also taking advantage of the good weather for the traditional early Spring long-distance races at the Trimpell 20 Mile in Lancaster.

Mark Swannell was disappointed to be 11th out of 530 runners, having got quicker 20-mile splits within a full marathon.

Tony Warham (112th), Stuart Parsonson (119th) and Chris Pickford (120th) finished within 90 seconds of each other after some early teamwork, whilst Adrienne Fisher just missed out on her three-hour target by a couple of minutes.

BUH&AC times: Mark Swannell 2:05:39, Tony Warham 2:30:34, Stuart Parsonson 2:31:42, Chris Pickford 2:31:58, Adrienne Fisher 3:01:59.

Sixty-nine BUH&AC juniors completed the club’s Easter Egg Cross Country at Leverhulme Park on Sunday.

The first race was two laps of around 700 metres for under-9s boys and girls which were won by Sam Hazelwood and Isobel Hall.

The u6s completed one lap, with Sam Philbin and Charlotte Vickers crossing the line first.

The second race of around 2,000m was for the u11s, u13s and u15s and both were led by the hare for the day Rachel Bailey.

Jason Scaife and Isabella Merritt, Edvard Velicka and Molly Philbin, and Leah Rushworth were the respective winners.

The next junior race is the One Mile Fun Run, held as part of the Bolton 10k on April 26.

With nearly 500 people already entered, runners interested in taking part should go to the event website www.bolton10k.org for more information.

Four juniors featured in the March Open Meeting at SportCity organised by Sale Harriers, with two personal bests recorded by u15s Kehinde Taiwo, who clocked 8.22secs, and his sister Taiwo (8.46) over 60m.

Over the same distance, Danielle Parrot’s 8.57 in the u20 category was followed by u17 Anna Chadbond’s 8.18.

Bolton UH&AC coach Allen Parkinson has had more success with his long-distance sprinter Abbas Falatah, from Saudi Arabia.

The runner regained his national 200m title three weeks ago, clocking 21.6 to win the national championships.

Parkinson has been Falatah's long-term coach, conducting all coaching sessions and drills via by phone calls and text messages between Bolton and Saudi Arabia.

One session even cost BUH&AC life member Parkinson £28.

Last Saturday, he won the Saudi team trials in 21.25 – just outside his personal best of 21.00 set under Parkinson in 2011 – to qualify for the World Championships in Beijing in August.

It is also hoped he will appear in the Bolton UH&AC squad this summer.