THE Bolton half marathon is back and organisers believe it will be bigger than last year.

Runners are now invited to enter this year’s event which will take place on September 10.

Last year’s inaugural event was a big success with 800 entries taking on a route which started and finished on Le Mans Cresent in the town centre and took in Chorley New Road, Lostock and Westhoughton.

It is organised by Mad Bull Events which is run by local running club members whose ultimate idea is to bring back a road marathon to Bolton.

They started with a half marathon last year and following it up with the same this year in the hope the first full road marathon since the 1980s is not far away.

As last year, the entry limit is 2,000 and Mad Bull’s Stewart Jones believes

there is every chance numbers will be higher than 2016 due to runners having more time to enter and the positive feedback from last year’s event.

“We had 800 last year because we only had a small lead time before the event as we only introduced it to the public in late May,” he said.

“The comments we got from people last year were fantastic.

“We had nothing but praise from the competitors saying how well organised it was and how refreshing it was to see the smiling faces of the stewards and marshals.

“Everyone was saying they couldn’t believe the turnout of spectators and what a buzz it was at the start and finish on Le Mans Crescent.

“They couldn’t believe the encouragement from spectators in and around Westhoughton – it felt like the whole town turned out to support.

“We got nothing but praise all day long and we received over 500 emails thanking us for bringing back a proper running event to Bolton and asking when could they expect the marathon.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t answer when the marathon would be introduced as this is dependant on how successful the half marathon is this year.”

Mad Bull have teamed up with partners Bolton Hospice, Bolton Lyons, Decathlon, Up & Running and Tower FM in organising this year’s half marathon which can be entered at www.boltoncommunitymarathon.com or www.madbullevents.com.