BURNDEN Road Runner George Butler qualified to represent Great Britain in the world triathlon championships in Mexico in September with an emphatic performance in the Southport standard distance event at the weekend.

Butler, who lives in Astley Bridge, won the under-20 category finishing more than 17 minutes ahead of his nearest challenger in a superb time of 2hrs 16mins 4secs to earn automatic qualification.

He completed the 1,500m swim in 21mins 28secs and followed that up on the bike with a time of 1:12:15 for the 40k course. He finished off with 38:52 in the 10k run to storm to victory.

Glen Kenyon continued his great form with another accomplished showing in the same event. He completed the swim in 32:55, registered an impressive 1:10:28 on the bike section and finished with a 40:26 run for a total of 2:29:54.

Elsewhere, Phil Eccleston stormed to third place in the inaugural Brathay Windermere half marathon in 1hr 17mins.

The new event, introduced to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Brathay Marathon and the climax of the 10-in-10 Brathay series, covers a route of breathtaking scenery with the start and finish at Brathay Hall at the north of the great lake.

Eccleston was fourth at the halfway stage, reaching it in 37:18 before pushing on to claim another place by the finish line. Either side of the half marathon he ran two 5k races – registering 16:23 for the Christleton 5k the Friday before Windermere and then winning the Vernons 5k in Preston in 16:36.

Jackie Oakes also tackled the demanding Windermere course and was the fifth F40 in a great time of 1:54:29 with a halfway split of 53:49.

The Great Manchester Run attracted six club members and Paul Duke led them home in 39:42. Marcus Chester (41:35) was close behind with Sean Owens dipping under the 50-minute mark, crossing the line in 49:07. David Aulton was next to cross the line in 50:47. Gemma Chapman recorded a time of 1:03:39 with Dawn Evans hot on her heels in 1:04:02.

Phil Eccleston led a strong club representation at the first of the Horwich Jubilee Midweek series of races with Keith Thomas, Lyndsay Darbyshire and Katy Thompson claiming category wins.

Thomas was first V55 in 33:55, Darbyshire claimed first L45 in 35:12 and Thompson took the honours in the L40 category in 39:05.

Anne Ferguson was second L55 in 37:46 and Rebecca Wensley third L35 in 38:00. Their times, along with Darbyshire’s, earned the club the ladies’ team prize.

Eccleston and Thomas’ times plus those of Lee White (31:39) and Ed Ashton (32:30) saw the men finish fourth in the team standings.

Stewart Jones was second V55 with a time of 34:26 while Fiona Ashton claimed second place in the L50 category in 46:00.

Results:

Laurence Keighley 34:21, Steven Bate 36:38, Craig Philpot 41:15, Jeff Pendlebury 45:07, Jenna Leeks 47:31, Kierenne Baldwin 50:31.

Colin Faulds headed for the hills again at the weekend at the Keswick Mountain Festival in the Lake District to take part in its tough 25k trail race.

Faulds finished a brilliant 24th of 407 finishers in a time of 2:24.38.

Paul Johnson was the sole Burnden representative at the Worden 10k near Leyland. He covered the course in 47:31, an improvement of two minutes on his 2014 time.

Four of the club’s triathletes headed to Nantwich for the Cheshire Sprint triathlon, an event involving a 500m swim in the town’s 30m outdoor brine pool, a 20k bike course around the surrounding countryside (including a tricky last section along Nantwich bypass) and a 5k parkland run.

Ann Butler clocked the fastest time, finishing the swim in 12:07, the cycle in 45:23 and the run in 28:56 for a total of 1:31:50.

Diane Morrison was out of the pool in 13:48 and followed that up with 51:06 on the bike and a 28:43 run for a total of 1:39:24, just 18 seconds quicker than Julie Newton who posted times of 13:54 for the swim, 51:15 on the bike and 29:11 for the run.

Louise Geoghegan made sure the whole quartet came in well under two hours with 15:24 for the swim, 59:02 for the bike and 32:06 on the run for a total time of 1:53:46.