CHRIS Farrell came within an ace of winning the fourth round of the Mid-Lancs Cross Country League at Burnley.

He finished second out of 280 runners in the senior men’s race, narrowly beaten by North Cumbria’s Chris Steele.

Horwich team-mates Nick Leigh and Richard Howarth – the latter competing for the first time in 15 years – were eighth and 18th, respectively.

David Jackson finished 23rd, Alastair Murray 43rd, and Dave Milliken 52nd and there were also creditable finishes for Ryan Stevenson, who crossed the line in 57th place, and Chris Essex-Crosby in 77th as Horwich defeated their closest rivals in the league by more than 100 points.

There was a solid showing from the women's team of Suzanne Budgett, Erica Booth and Sandra Kelly, backed up by Clare McKenna and Christa Whatmough, on the Towneley Park course which was made especially difficult by dismal weather conditions, mud and wind.

Several juniors had their best races to date. In the under-11s girls' race, Ella Pendlebury had her best result yet in the league, taking second place, while Freya Whittle finished 17th and Lydia Johnson 27th.

New member, Lily Boon had a respectable 52nd place in her first cross-country race.

The u11s boys also had a second place in the form of Matthew Flatters having his best result so far in the series, and Isaac Simmonite also had a strong run in finishing 17th.

The u13s boys team won their team event, with Lewis Wilkes finishing third – his best ever finish – Tom Massey ninth and Kieran Kinearly 15th.

They beat Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde to give them the chance to leapfrog their rivals to take gold in the series.

Robert Gibson also had his best result to date in the series finishing 20th in the u15s race.

Senior men: 2 Chris Farrell 32:06; 8 Nick Leigh 33:47; 18 Richard Howarth (V45) 34:17; 23 David Jackson (V45) 34:50; 43 Alastair Murray 36:10; 52 Dave Millikan (V40) 36:53; 57 Ryan Stevenson 37:15; 77 Chris Essex-Crosby 38:29; 132 Garry Chadderton (V50) 40:46; 135 Nick Kelly (V45) 40:55; 174 Tony Hesketh (V65) 43:11; 192 Doug Fleming (V50) 44:23; 233 David Barnes (V55) 46:50; 256 John Parker (V70) 49:20; 261 Gordon Stone (V50) 50:12.

Ladies: 15 Suzanne Budgett (F50) 22:31; 36 Erica Booth (F35) 24:32; 37 Sandra Kelly (F45) 24:35; 66 Clare McKenna (F35) 26:10; 91 Christa Whatmough (F35) 27:36.

U11s girls: 2 Ella Pendlebury 7:46; 17 Freya Whittle 8:25; 28 Lydia Johnson 8:59; 53 Lily Boon 10:44.

U11s boys: 2 Matthew Flatters 7:05; 17 Isaac Simmonite 7:5.

U13s boys: 3 Lewis Wilkes 10:57; 9 Tom Massey 11:52; 15 Kieran Kinealy 12:16.

U15s boys: 20 Robert Gibson 16:04.

At the Auld Lang Syne Race from Penistone Hill near Haworth, a large field of almost 400 started this fell race in very muddy and extremely cold conditions.

The line-up included Olympic gold and bronze medallists, the Brownlee brothers, who swapped their tri-suits for fell shoes and between them, led the field around the snow and ice-covered fells.

Alistair won for the second year in succession with Jonny third.

Horwich new signing Killian Moody was 15th, followed by Ian Conroy in 52nd. Tony Hesketh was 147th and first veteran over-60, just over a minute ahead of Paul Boardman.

Four Horwich runners took part in the tough Billy Knox New Year Awakening multi-terrain 5k, with Paul Boardman 11th and second V50, and Tony Hesketh 28th and first V65, followed by Dave Barnes in 50th and Brenda Hesketh 79th overall and 21st lady.