TOM Lancashire literally led the way for Bolton United Harriers from the off at the Northern Athletics 12-Stage Road Relays, blasting into the lead around Liverpool’s Sefton Park.

Local lad Jonny Mellor and Leeds’ Tesfaye Debele tucked in behind Lancashire in the breakaway group at the halfway point.

His customary increase in pace just left Liverpool man Mellor, who perhaps benefitted from the shelter afforded by running on Tom’s shoulders and was able to power away in the last half a mile to hand over a 16-second gap.

That the third quickest leg of the day was recorded by Lancashire was testament to the enduring class of the Bolton runner that has stayed true to his roots in proudly wearing the Blue Vest.

Relay stages alternated between the two laps of odd-numbered 4.6-mile long legs and even 2.5-mile legs.

Marc Tillotson took over from Lancashire and, despite only racing for the first time in 18 months due to injury, he was able to hand over in fourth position of the 83 men's teams.

Promising junior Jonny Kay maintained Bolton's top five position before Martin Reid put in an aggressive effort to drag Bolton back into the podium standings.

Karl Darcy’s handed over to newcomer Tommy Harrison who did not disappoint on his debut, although he was unlucky that local rivals Horwich overtook on his stint after steadily reeling in Bolton with their strong fell line-up.

Mark Swannell, Andrew Doyle, Chris Povey and late substitute Daryl Bentley played their part and Dave Shaw rolled back the years to dip just under 14 minutes on the anchor leg, running 13 seconds slower than Danny Shaw, the youngest of the team at 18-years old.

When Liverpool were disqualified on the final leg, Leeds retained their 2014 gold in a time of 3hrs 11mins 10secs) from Morpeth (3:12:07) in second and Salford (3:12:45) third.

Bolton’s cumulative 3:28:04 earned an impressive 13th place, an improvement of four places from last year and securing comfortable qualification for the nationals championships in Birmingham the weekend after next.

In the women’s Six-Stage competition, relative newcomer Nicola Cartridge blew away pre-race nerves with an assured first lap, before relaxing into the second as confidence grew.

Overtaking several runners on the final hill of a mildly undulating course came as no surprise given her preference for the steeper terrain and she clocked the 42nd quickest long leg.

Handing over in 23rd position, Donna Cooper and Hannah Edwards maintained the mid-20s position over two gritty short legs before Cherry Collison put in sterling work as the wind picked up.

The ever-improving Sara Green released F55 Cathy Flitcroft, who took four scalps on the final leg, enabling the team to edge into the top half of the 61 field, an improvement of five places from last year.

Leeds made it a double victory in 1:47:20 with Stockport (1:51:41) second and Rotherham (1:51:54) third.

Results: Men – 3:28:04, 13th – Tom Lancashire (2nd place) 22:52, Marc Tillotson (4th) 12:39, Jonothan Kay (4th) 24:21, Martin Reid (3rd) 12:17, Karl Darcy (5th) 25:18, Tommy Harrison (7th) 13:24, Mark Swannell (8th) 26:33, Daniel Shaw (10th) 13:46, Andrew Doyle (14th) 14:10, Chris Povey (14th) 13:56, Daryl Bentley (14th) 14:49, David Shaw (13th) 13:59.

Ladies – 2:16:18 – 30th – Nicola Cartridge (23rd) 31:00, Donna Cooper (27th) 17:20, Hannah Edwards (26th) 18:03, Cherry Collison (33rd) 34:49, Sara Green (34th) 18:55, Cathy Flitcroft (30th) 16:11.

Elsewhere, Shaun O’Dwyer won the Harlech Duathlon by 21 seconds in 1:13:0.

The first race of the English Fell Running Championship Junior Series saw five Blue Vests weather the testing course and awful conditions at Errwood Hall in Buxton.

Building on her successes in the under-8' last year, Lily Philbin clocked 14:02 to finish second in the u10 girls’ race. There were creditable performances by the u14s – over a technical 4.1k route, Francesca Fordham finished a fine 11th, despite it being her first outing on the fells.

After having worked together up the steep opening 2k, Molly Philbin was just two spots behind (13th), whilst Leah Rushworth was also in the top 20 (18th). Rachel Bailey ran well round the challenging 5.6k u16 course, finishing 18th girl.

The following day the Sale Harriers’ hosted Over The Bales cross-country at Crossford Bridge.

Despite heavy legs, Lily Philbin put in a tremendous finish in the u9s girls’ race to clinch bronze in the 41 field in 5:26. In the u11s, Isabella Merritt – who will still be eligible next year – made a strong start and ran well to clinch fourth place.