HORWICH teams were out in strength this week in cross country leagues and fell championships.

The Harriers entered three teams in the British Fell Relay Championship at Llanberis with nearly 200 teams entered.

The A team were led out fast on leg one by Michael Cayton, followed by the pairings of Phil Marsden and James Kevan, and Joe Mercer and Nick Leigh before Ian Conroy brought the team home for a fabulous ninth place overall.

The Horwich B team’s result featured an outstanding run on leg four by youngster Sam Wardle, who pulled the team through to 32nd.

The mixed team finished 57th, showing the depth of fell running talent in the club.

At Heaton Park in the Manchester Area Cross Country League, Horwich had a great result in the ladies’ race, with fifth place of 48 teams taking part.

Janet Rashleigh led the way with a fine 27th place. Horwich men start the season in the top flight but with fell relays the next day some members were missing, which made the 17th place a good result with more than 400 runners in a competitive race.

Paul Massey led the team in with a strong run and David Jackson warmed up well before taking on the Llanberis event.

The junior squad is focusing on the Red Rose League and had a cracking start with three team wins. Emma Bradley won the u11s race and was backed up by Pip Nuttall in fourth and Imogen Andreassen in sixth.

They were followed on the Leigh Sports Village course by the u13s boys, who gained a team win with Cian Healy in third, Isaac Battye eighth and Ethan Isaacs 10th.

The u13s girls were not to be outdone and also took first place with Lucy Dixon third, Eva Baldwin fourth and Freya Whittle 13th.

The u15s girls had third and seventh places, with Ella Pendlebury and Milly Lever, but an injury to the third member prevented them from a team result.

The u15s boys were close to a team win but lost to Rossendale by one point as Robert Seddon, Thomas Massey and Matthew Flatters excelled in a fast race.

In the new Sportshall season, Horwich had a big turnout at SportCity for the Greater Manchester competition.

Many of these juniors then turned out for their schools in the Bolton Cross Country Championships and Aleks Clayden followed up his cross country debut at Leigh with first place at Queens Park junior parkrun.

There was a raft of vet prizes too. Paul Muller was beaten by 15 seconds for second place at the Blackpool 10k but won the M60 prize, having been first at the local parkrun the previous day.

At the Manchester Half Marathon, Neil Holding nearly won the V55 prize, losing out by 11 seconds and was not far behind the V50 Rob Jackson in a field of more than 7,000 runners. There were veteran first places at the cross country events for Mary White (L65), Janet Rashleigh (L55), Tony

Hesketh (M65), John Parker (M75) and Graham Schofield (M60).

Results: Barrow Bridge 5k – 19th Steve Thomasson 23:11. Mid Lancs Cross Country – 51st Graham Schofield 43:45. Red Rose League Ladies – 73rd Mary White 28:51, 93rd Emma Collings 30:55, 117th Katie Lever 35:15. Men – 26th David Milliken 40:26, 56th Ian Collings 43:47, 76th Steve Williams 45:15, 136th Tony Hesketh 51:05, 146th Steve Jackson 52:28, 170th John Parker 01:01:35, 172nd Peter Ramsdale 01:02:29. Manchester Cross Country Ladies – 27th Janet Rashleigh 39:42, 35th Erica Booth 40:22, 36th Kathryn Berry 40:23, 64th Rowen Ratcliffe 42:15, 131st Gemma Stokes 47:28. Men – 48th Paul Massey 38:16, 100th David Jackson 40:38, 122nd Mike Hallas 41:34, 138th Michael Chadderton 42:14, 171st Nick Leigh 43:26, 211th Gary Chadderton 45:34, 291st Doug Fleming 49:13, 312th David Barnes 50:25, 375th Lawrence Pinnell 55:25. Manchester Half Marathon – 162nd Rob Jackson 1:23:45, 178th Neil Holding 1:24:24. Blackpool 10k road race – 2nd Paul Muller 36:42, 44th Geoff Leech 44:59. British Fell Relay Championships – A team: Michael Cayton 52:44, Phil Marsden/James Kevan 1:23:55, Joe Mercer/Nick Leigh 1:34:14, Ian Conroy 44:40. B team: Alastair Murray 1:03:15, Simon Pymm/Jonathon Bruton 1:28:43, Gareth Booth/Dan Gilbert 1:42:09, Sam Wardle 45:14. Mixed team: Dave Jackson 58:17, Andy Lloyd/Andy Ford 1:38:37, Steve Foley/Mick Green 1:52:41, Rowen Ratcliffe 1:01:12.