KARL Darcy saw off a late charge from Tom Carson to ensure Bolton stopped Horwich making it a one-two-three at the Haigh Hall Four-Mile race.

Darcy collected bronze in a time of 21mins 9secs, 14 second behind second and with daylight separating everyone from Chris Farrell who set a new course record of 20:17 in the fourth Central Lancashire Grand Prix fixture.

Bolton's M40 veteran John Knowles made a stunning second debut for the Blue Vests after returning from Burnden Road Runners, finishing seventh ahead of Tommy Harrison who sneaked into the top 10.

Phil Marsden, racing in this year's series for the first time, finished just three places back, while coach Daryl Bentley edged team-mate Christian Pickford by a nose following Pete Kearney’s early retirement.

Even closer, M60 winner Ken Fowler showed his experience to pip Chris Topping as the final counter for the A Team, which took Bolton's points for the series to 365 and extended their lead over Leigh at the top of the table by 18 points.

The club's ladies outscored Astley and Tyldesley to climb to second in the table, 79 points behind Burnden. Catherine O’Dwyer led the way with a second place in 24:37, with the ever-improving Cathy Flitcroft, Julie Lomax, Hannah Edwards and Deb Flitcroft performing well.

BUH&AC times: Karl Darcy 21:09, John Knowles 22:09, Tommy Harrison 22:12, Phil Marsden 22:40, Dave Shaw 23:25, Chris Povey 23:37, Catherine O'Dwyer 24:37, Daryl Bentley 25:33, Christian Pickford 25:34, Ken Fowler 26:20, Topping Chris 26:20, Gary Jones 26:47, Pete Walker 27:18, Andy Barrow 27:32, Cathy Flitcroft 27:42, Adrian Costello 27:55, Simon Thorne 28:26, Zoe Gibson 29:00, Olivia Kearney 29:06, Steve Houghton 29:06, Paul Rankin 29:30, Donna Cooper 31:00, Julie Lomax 31:14, Hannah Edwards 31:30, Megan Robinson 32:08, Adrienne Fisher 32:26, Sara Green 33:50, Geoff Knowles 35:53, Deb Flitcroft 36:30, Gail Harrison 36:51, Ged Tucker 37:40, Dave Huddleston 44:15, Richard Clegg 44:27.

The Christleton 5k, hosted by Chester Tri Club, saw six Bolton entrants smash five personal bests. Darcy again led the line with 15:34 for 22nd, a personal best by just over a minute.

Shaun O’Dwyer (16:11 45th) was over half a minute quicker than the fastest he had previously done, and Dave Shaw (17:04) ran his fastest time in 11 years.

Chris Povey was 100th in 17:22 – giving an indication of the high quality of the 433 field – as he set personal best by more than a minute, while Aidy Costello knocked a minute of his lifetime best (20:43).

Hannah Edwards's 22:25 was more than two and a half minute minutes faster than her previous best.

M40 Shay Walker clocked 1:19:43 in the Chester Half Marathon to finish 40th in the 5,606 field.

Two BUH&AC juniors medalled for Greater Manchester at the FRA Inter-County championships at Betws-y-Coed in North Wales.

Rachel Bailey (26:17) was 13th in the under-16s race while Katie Oakley (28:08) was 12th in the u18s race. Both won bronze as part of their teams of three.