Five intrepid Lostockers head to Ambleside to join 218 competitors to compete in the Fairfield Horseshoe fell race, the latest round in the club championship.

The race starts at Rydal Hall in the Lake District, covering nine miles and 3,000 feet of climbing.

The race consisted of eight summits and checkpoint one at Nab Scar. From checkpoint one, runners pushed slowly upwards along the ridge with beautiful views across Lakeland over Heron Pike to Great Rigg and checkpoint two. By now the field had started to thin out with those remaining pushing on over the highest summit of Fairfield - at 2,800 feet. The descent, over Hart Crag, high and low Rigg’s, unlike the ascent, which loosely follows the main pat,h is characterised by several fell-running lines, avoiding the rocky sections.

A free can of ice-cold drink was pushed into the hands of all runners as they finished - a fantastic touch on such a hot day.

Despite the tough conditions Lostockers had an awesome race. Tony Marlow was the first to finish in 2hrs 14mins 22secs, followed by Markus Shuttleworth, in 2:17:45. Amanda Smith and Josie Greenhalgh ran together as they were recovering from injuries, finishing in 3:19:11. The results for Mark Checkely had not been published at the time of this report.

Last Sunday, five Lostock AC members participated in the Wigan Trail 10k, organised by Wigan Harriers Endurance Running Club.

Starting at Spring View Community and Sports Centre, it completes two laps of Amberswood.

It was another extremely hot day, but there was a fast start to the race. However, after a mile many runners opted not to race and just enjoy the lovely route which takes in the trails of the woods and circles Ambers Lake. The support on the course helped runners to finish, despite wanting to stop due to the powerful sunshine beating down.

As the race was in Wigan, not only were finishers rewarded with a medal but also a pie, peas and gravy.

Hazel Hatfield had a fantastic race, finishing in an impressive 48:10, securing seventh female and third in her age category. Hatfield was followed by Matt Turner-Allen, in 1:00:01, Rachel Stevens (1:02:18), Martin Smith (1:02:46) and Kaen Taylor (1:10:11).

Parkrun results: Haigh Woodland - Chris Baker 23:55, Rachel Stevens 28:14 (second in age category), Karen Taylor 30:58, Matt Withers 31:54; Bolton - Sheila Garewal 31:47 (second in age category).