A small, but mighty, squad of Horwich Harriers took to the cobbled main street of Heptonstall for the village’s eponymous fell race last Sunday and performed well.

As is tradition, the parish reverend blessed the 300 runners prior to the testing 15-mile and 3,200 feet elevation, moorland yomp.

Luke Foley ran a divine race to take the victory on a sunny but windswept Yorkshire morning, completing the race in 1hr 53mins 25secs on what the organiser described as, “the wettest ever February/March”.

Just outside of the podium, coming in fourth in 1:58:28, was Foley’s mentor and training partner, Nick Leigh. He had the consolation of first V40 prize just two days after sweeping up several trophies at the annual club presentation evening.

Fell captain, Dan Gilbert, himself a winner of two trophies at the presentation, finished in 31st place (2:23:21), ruing his fast early pace which saw him drop behind the group he was running with on the relentless up-and-down moorland course.

The Northern 12 and six-stage road relays were this year handily situated in Leverhulme Park, Bolton - just a short drive from most Harriers’ houses, and it was an ideal opportunity to field a strong team.

However, calendar clashes and injuries meant the men could not muster 12 runners, but the women rose to the occasion. Lindsey Brindle, Milly Lever, Helen MacDonald, Alison Mort and Beth Howard took on the short (2.7 miles) and long (4.9 miles) laps in fine style.

A mix-up with the timings has them as finishing dead last with only two runners, however, this definitely not being the case, a complaint has been lodged with the organisers and Harriers will hope an updated result will follow in the coming weeks.

Suzanne Budgett competed in the final Kendal Winter Series fell race at Elterwater on Sunday.

A short and sharp three-miler in the spring sun saw her secure first FV60 in the league in comfortable fashion.

At the Wilmslow Running Festival Half-Marathon, James Scott-Farrington placed 23rd in a competitive field of elite and international runners. The triathlete finished in a time of 1:12:09.

At Bolton Parkrun, Marcus Taylor was first finisher in a time of 19:39. Gareth Webb was hot on his heels in third place (21:08), buoyed no doubt by official confirmation of his selection to run for England in the 2025 International Representative Masters and finishing second in the club road championships at the tender age of 67.

Rob Jackson benefited from an altered Peel Parkrun course to place seventh overall, first in his age category and first in age grading with a time of 18:43.

Elsewhere, at Haigh Woodland, Richard O’Reilly continued his comeback from a chronic knee injury to finish fifth, one place behind clubmate Nick Kelly (19:50), in a time of 20:31.