SEVEN Horwich RMI Harriers made the long trip to Parliament Hill in London on Saturday for the National Cross Country Championships.

Horwich were the only club from the Bolton area to field a team in the national championships and the proud red and black vests, despite lacking the club's two most successful athletes of the season, finished an excellent 32nd of the 145 teams to complete teams of six.

The race attracted more than 2,000 runners and was won by Charlie Hulson of Sale Harriers in 39mins 12secs.

Leading the way for Horwich was Joe Mercer with a fine run in 67th place, closely followed by Greater Manchester silver medallist Nick Leigh in 79th. Making the trip over from his home in Dublin, Irish international fell runner Ian Conroy was the next Horwich finisher in 156th.

Other Horwich finishers were Alastair Murray in 419th, Dave Jackson in 538th and Tom Cowling in 643rd completed the team with Chris Essex-Crosby only a couple of minutes further back in 833rd.

Results: 67 Joe Mercer 42:37, 79 Nick Leigh 43:01, 156 Ian Conroy 44:32, 419 Alastair Murray 48:23, 537 David Jackson 49:47, 643 Tom Cowling 50:56, 833 Chris Essex-Crosby 52:52.

Four Horwich Harriers took part in the Standish Hall Trail Race on Saturday with three winning their categories.

The race was held in extremely muddy conditions and new member Steven Foley took the veterans over-45s honours with an 11th-place finish overall and Tony Hesketh and Gillian Smith won their respective V65 categories amongst the 239 runners.

Results: 11 Steven Foley (V45) 42:11, 29 Paul Boardman (V50) 44:43, 57 Tony Hesketh (V65) 48:12, 219 Gillian Smith (F65) 69:26.

Saturday's Bleasdale Circle Fell Race saw Graham Schofield finish 25th in 45:44 and Mick Green 55th in 50:49 amongst the 136 finishers.

Tom Carson had a fine victory on Sunday at the Terry Nortley 10-mile trail race in Radcliffe where he beat his nearest challenger by more than three minutes.

Rob Jackson was first in the veterans' over-45s race and Sean McMyler was second in the V50 race while David Barnes also performed well in a race which attracted 185 runners.

The undulating course was made even more challenging with cold weather quickly turning to sleet and then snow from the halfway point.

Results: 1 Tom Carson 58:08, 6 Robert Jackson (V45) 65:07, 13 Sean McMyler (V50) 68:22, 95 David Barnes (V55) 82:59.

The 33rd running of the Lostock 6 mile Road Race was supported by 10 Horwich Harriers who all finished in the top half of the 201 runners on Sunday.

Under-17 runner Nathan Townsend was the first Horwich Harrier home in an impressive third place overall on a cold morning.

There were category wins for Paul Massey, now in the veterans' over-45 category. He was seventh overall.

Suzanne Budgett won the F50 ladies' race and John Parker was first V70 category in a thrilling finish which saw him beat his nearest rival by just four seconds.

Results: 3 Nathan Townsend (U17) 33:37, 7 Paul Massey (V45) 35:02, 27 Kevin Newall (V40) 39:07, 35 Chris Maher (V45) 39:30, 42 Suzanne Budgett (F50) 39:56, 52 Nick Isherwood (V40) 41:33, 75 Gemma Stokes (F35) 44:05, 85 Gordon Stone (V55) 45:03, 99 John Parker (V70) 46:12.