THE Radcliffe Three Day Challenge kicked off with Thursday's Bull Hill Fell Race which saw a good turnout from Horwich RMI Harriers.

A large entry of over 230 runners for this popular midweek race saw fast times posted with conditions ideal for racing.

The Harriers' first counter was Andy Lloyd in 11th and second vet on the night in 38.57.

The consistent Gary Chadderton was 31st with a time of 41.24, Nick Kelly was 50th in 43.34 and John Monks 67th and third V60 in 45.22.

Doug Fleming just got the better of Tony Hesketh (second V65) by three seconds to finish one place ahead of him in 80th.

Sandra Kelly was the club's only lady running and finished fourth lady in 47.19 and 91st overall while Dave Barnes in 140th was the final counter in a time of 53.28.

The second event was Friday's Giants Seat 5 Mile Cross Country which attracted more than 60 runners on a hilly cross country course.

With good conditions underfoot Tony Hesketh finished 19th in 41.18 and first V65 and the prolific Dave Barnes finished 45th in 51.00.

The final event was the VLA Events Radcliffe 5 Mile Trail Race on Saturday which saw 84 runners take to the trails around Radcliffe.

Rob Jackson finished an excellent second, only 35 seconds behind Swinton's Mark Whittingham, and first V45 in 30.56.

Tony Hesketh was 34th in 37.44, second V65 and 17th overall in the Challenge.

Dave Barnes was 54th in 41.17 just ahead of Pete Henneghan who was first V70 in 41.36.

Dave Barnes was 37th overall of the 55 who completed the Three-Day Challenge.

On the roads, two Harriers ran in Thursday's Sale Sizzler 5 with Gareth Booth a fine ninth in 16:09 and David Lee 194th in 21:04 amongst the 398 finishers.

This Saturday sees the Snowdon International Mountain Race in which four Horwich RMI Harriers will be representing their country.

Lindsey Brindle makes her senior debut for England while James Kevan, Ian Conroy and Killian Mooney will be running for Ireland.

There will also be a number of red and black vests to the fore with the club represented by Chris Farrell, fresh from last week's track 5k personal best, Michael Cayton, Nick Leigh, Paul Massey and Alastair Murray.

The televised highlights will be shown on S4C at 6pm on Sunday evening.