by Steve Houghton

TOM Carson remains on course to retain his Red Rose Cross Country (RRXC) senior men's title after a thrilling finish to the third round at Bolton's Leverhulme Park.

The Bolton United Harriers ace held off a late challenge from Blackburn's Robert Warner to clinch victory last weekend in a time on 34mins 49secs – the same time as Warner as he pipped him by just two metres.

After three laps, and having led from the start in the sub-zero temperatures, Carson had to strain every sinew over the final 200m to hold off Warner in the final 20 metres.

It means Carson now needs just a top-eight finish at Rossendale’s Marl Pits in a fortnight to retain his crown.

In the same race, Tommy Harrison’s excellent seventh place saw him leap into the series’ bronze medal position, leaving a four-way fight for the runners-up spot with Dave Smith (Leigh), Tim Raynes (Blackburn) and Danny Collinge (Burnley) and the tantalising prospect of a Bolton one-two.

Behind Karl Darcy (12th), there was more certainty about the results for Declan Toomey (15th) and John Knowles (17th) as both took unassailable leads in their respective U20 and M40 categories, to clinch the Junior and overall Veterans’ titles. Phil Marsden (18th) completed the six-counter team line-up to net 65 points, comfortably seeing off Blackburn’s 120 to bag the series team trophy with one race to spare.

Mark Swannell, Chris Povey and Chris Pickford joined Knowles to form the Vets’ team, whose 69 points was bettered by Todmorden’s 44.

Only five points separate the two in the RRXC standings, so Rossendale will witness another heads-up battle for the title. Dean Johnson’s 48:09 followed a six-hour stint helping to set up the course, while Stuart Parsonson was enthusiastic about the deeper-than-usual water crossing that claimed Tony Warham.

For the women, U20 Fiona Gande (44th) was again the club’s leading light, showing a clean pair of heels to mum Karen, who was just over a minute behind. Further back, Laura Crawley upped her pace as Sara Green challenged in the home straight, to give a four-second gap and show good awareness.

Results: Men – Tom Carson 34:49; Tommy Harrison 36:42; Karl Darcy 37:13; Declan Toomey 37:29 (U20); John Knowles 37:54; Phil Marsden 37:59; Mark Swannell 39:58; Scott Crompton 40:48; Chris Povey 41:45; Frazer Jardine 42:05; Craig Renshaw 42:57; Chris Pickford 43:27; Peter Walker 44:06; Howard Taylor 46:58; Dean Johnson 48:09; Eric Rannicar 50:25; Stuart Parsonson 51:39; Andrew Hood 53:38 (1/16 Team 65 pts); Women – Fiona Gande 26:18 (U20); Karen Hood 27:29; Julie Lomax 28:23; Laura Crawley 28:59; Sara Green 29:03; Adrienne Fisher 29:34 (15/16 Team 176 pts)

Bolton’s juniors experienced a few ups and downs as slips and slides in the mud took their toll across the age-groups.

It began with the U11 boys, where Harvey Kenny’s stumble down the ‘golf’ slope allowed Oisin Behan to overtake and the inter-club seesaw for RRXC supremacy between the two tipped back towards Oisin.

Harvey’s determination was evident, though, as he battled back to keep the gap to just nine seconds.

Home territory saw 13 Blue Vests – Bolton’s largest representation yet – with Liam Allison and Finn Coop embodying the team ethic.

For the girls, Izzy Merritt set the early pace which yielded a fabulous second place.

She is in pole position for the age-group title, though with Clayton-le-Moors’ Ella Dorrington only one point behind, it promises to be close.

Idowu Taiwo bookended the team with excellent spirit and it resulted in second-place behind Wigan by the narrowest of margins.

Ruairi Behan (12th) and Ella Richardson (29th) were Bolton’s leading counters for the U13s, while Madeline Erzan-Essien (ninth) led the U15 girls.

In the U17 age group, there was more drama as Rachel Bailey caught and battled it out with Katie Oakley.

Similar to the situation Carson would find himself in an hour later, the last 150m saw both Bolton girls sprinting shoulder-to-shoulder.

In the final 25m, a combination of exhaustion, off-balance posture and arms tangling in the jostle for the line resulted in Oakley falling to the ground and Bailey taking third. Mercedes Mercer and Georgia Greenhalgh completed the team.

Results: U11s boys – Oisin Behan 7:44; Harvey Kenny 7:53; Laurence Britton 7:55; Adam Vickers 8:10; Sam Hazelwood 8:33; Kevin Longthorne 8:38; Joshua Bentley-Hughes 8:45; Jack Vickers 8:54; Lucas Pilling 8:54; Matthew Wilkinson 9:03; Christopher Fordham 9:18; Liam Allison 10:30; Finn Coop 10:36 (5/8 Team 37 pts); U11 girls – Isabella Merritt 7:29; Ruby Erzan-Essien 7:47; Lily Philbin 8:06; Amy Rossington 8:48; Hannah Swales 8:49; Erin Barlow 8:51; Abigail Steele-Lesh 9:13; Sofia Aftab 9:53; Idowu Taiwo 9:58 (2/12 Team 24 pts); U13 boys – Ruairi Behan 12:45; Ben Pickford 12:53; Louis Greenhalgh 14:44; Tobias Coop 15:00 (8/10 Team 71 pts); U13 girls – Ella Richardson 15:08; Clemencia Longthorne 15:56; U15 girls – Madeline Erzan-Essien 18:07; Molly Philbin 18:34; Francesca Fordham 19:25; Leah Rushworth 20:34; Ellie Forrest 23:40 (4/6 Team 35 pts); U17 girls – Rachel Bailey 23:40; Katie Oakley 23:50; Mercedes Mercer 25:00; Georgia Greenhalgh 26:58 (2/2 Team 15 pts).

Elsewhere, two stunning performances were witnessed at the Chorley Fire Fighters 10K.

Tony Valentine, road-racing for the first time as an M40 veteran, turned in his quickest time for nearly three years, winning in 33:10.

Also on the podium as third of the 409-strong field, M45 Simon Dally smashed his personal best by more than a minute to clock 34:27.