BURNDEN’S George Butler withstood the intense heat in Cozumel, Mexico, as he took on the world’s best in his age group at the ITU World Triathlon Championships at the weekend.

Butler, aged 18, lives in Astley Bridge and works as a lifeguard at Bolton’s David Lloyd Centre in Chorley Street, and he more than held his own in a quality field in the M18-19 category of the age group race, finishing in 21st place with a superb time of 2hrs 27mins 10secs.

He completed the 1500m swim in 25:10, the 40K bike ride in 1:06:34 and the 10K run in 51:29 in what was a magnificent effort.

Four days earlier he had taken part in the aquathlon world championships and finished a superb 15th in his age group.

He completed his first 2.5K run in 8:44, took 16:20 for the 1K swim and 10:27 for his second run to give him a total time of 38:37.

On home shores, Burnden's Phil Eccleston was third in the Tadcaster 10-Mile race in Yorkshire.

Eccleston completed the race in 57:06, just over two minutes behind the winner.

Seven members tackled the Bury 10K, starting and finishing near The Rock.

Gareth Doherty was the first of the contingent to finish in 40:30 with Linda O’Byrne also dipping under the 50-minute mark in 48:58.

Sarah Sutcliffe crossed the line in 50:18, closely followed by Jeff Pendlebury in 51:54.

Jackie Spiby completed the course in 57:24, followed by Peter Whiteside in 63:27 and Gillian McGowan in 69:54.

Julie Bower travelled to Lancaster to take part in the Lancaster Castle Half Marathon and crossed the finish line in 2:31:54.

Dave Swift led a quartet of Burndeners home in the Yarrow River Splash Trail Run.

Swift finished in 54:32, slightly ahead of Ged Turner (56:24) and Tim Taylor (59:16. Gemma Chapman completed the club’s representation with a time of 1:18:31.

Three members travelled to Thurstonland just south of Huddersfield for the Yorkshire Wineathlon, an eight-mile run with a swig of wine at every feed station.

Julie Newton, Jackie Oakes and Karen Taylor crossed the line in 1:30:00 to finish in 38th place out of 200 finishers.

Gretta Rainford followed up her first F65 in the Bolton Community Half Marathon by winning her category again a week later in the Wirral Half Marathon.

Rainford, a founder member of Burnden Road Runners who only resumed racing at the half marathon distance late in 2015 after a break of 15 years, knocked 15 seconds off her Bolton time, crossing the line in Wirral in 2:06:45.

Colin Faulds headed over to the Isle of Man at the weekend for a gruelling test of his fitness.

He competed in the Seven Kingdoms Adventure Race, his debut in the multi-discipline sport, and finished in second place in an overall time of 3:53:13, pipped for first by only 2mins 46secs.

The race was a self-navigated course with competitors having to visit 20 checkpoints.

It consisted of a 14-mile mountain bike stage, followed by a seven-mile run along the coastal path.

Additional special stages included kayaking, orienteering, an abseil off Milner’s Tower in Port Erin and a short sea swim before finishing with a final sprint to the finish on Port Erin beach.