Six Lostock fell runners headed over to Pendle Hill to compete in the Stan Bradshaw Pendle Round last Saturday and competed well.

Starting at Barley Village Hall, the race is advertised as a 10.4-mile race with an elevation gain of 1,936 feet.

It begins with a mile of road to the fell before a lung-busting climb to the summit of Pendle Hill. From the summit, the race headed over the spine of Pendle in a mix of snow and bogs down to Churn Reservoir. Visibility during this section was down to 40 feet ,with flurries of snow and hail falling intermittently.

After enduring the final big climb and run across the bogs of Driver and Sadler’s height, the race finished with a treacherous descent to Lower Ogden Reservoir and a fast run down the road back to Barley.

Crossing the line in 1hr 29mins 29secs, and as first Lostocker, was Rob Sharkey, followed closely behind by Tom Grundy in 1:32:02.

First Lostock female home was Josie Greenhalgh in 1:35:39, also picking up first LV50 prize.

Finishing 20 minutes faster than last year, Mark Shuttleworth clocked an impressive time 1:42:35, followed by a gutsy performance from first-timer Rachel Hancock on her first race of the weekend in 1:57:10.

Mark Checkley exceeded his own expectations in completing the Lostock team in 2:15:23.

Sunday saw the third event on the road/trail championships - the Trotters 5 mile community trail race. There was another great turnout of 11 Lostockers taking on this challenging, varied and sometimes brutal route - yet another new one for this well-established and well-run race.

Starting in ankle-deep mud on a football field, this was never going to be the fastest of get aways as competitors left the football pitches behind to follow a route heading uphill on the trails towards Smithills Hall.

Then it was down some steps, up some steps before the highlight of the race running alongside a field with three ostriches running around and living their best lives.

Lots more uphill trails followed for the first half of the race then the second half was predominantly downhill. However, every time runners built up speed and momentum the route threw another energy-sapping hill at them to knock the wind out of their sails.

Greg Kilshaw was the first Lostocker across the finish line in an epic time of 43:58, followed by Andy Laycock, who despite having a nasty fall, finished in 44:36.

Gareth Pratt completed the race in 45:36, followed by Chris Baker (45:51) and Paul Lacey (48:14).

Janet Rhodes was the first Lostock female in 49:06, followed by Johanna McManus (49:44) and Rachel Hancock (50:03), completing her second race of the weekend.

Next home was Martin Smith (56:42), Ste Hancock (58:10) and Gill Caldwell (59:06).

Meanwhile, Natalie Godfrey and Tim Lippett headed to Wales to compete in the Anglesey half-marathon.

This was a beautiful, sunny run starting at Menai Bridge and then heading along the coast to Beaumaris and back.

Both had a fantastic race, with Lippett finishing in 1:47:41 and Godfrey clocking 1:49:03, securing third in her age category.

Away from racing, Lostock AC members joined the Rivington Heritage Trust to collect litter around Rivington.

Members spent two hours collecting a range of items, including a fishing pole, T-shirt, glasses, and lots of empty alcohol containers.

Lostockers filled six rubbish bags with items they found.