HORWICH RMI Harriers' Nick Leigh ran an incredibly fast 16mins 43secs around the 5k Leverhulme Park course to cross the finish line first on Saturday.

His time was 37 seconds slower than the course record set by Michael Aspinall in October, 2011.

There was just over a minute before the next runner came in, James Scott-Farrington clocking 17:48, with Thomas Fletcher joining them by the refreshment table almost another minute later in 18:42.

Debbie Proctor was the first lady to get her barcode scanned in 22:05, with junior runner Isabella Merritt (22:24) the second female to finish, ahead of Victoria McNulty in 23:53.

Perpetual points competition leader Rob Short heads up the men's annual competition with 767 points, while Tony Wall (761) and Thomas Fletcher (685) are hot on his heels.

In the ladies' competition, Olivia Kearney (960) leads Linda O'Byrne (805) and Judith Bonnar (750).

It was an impressive week for age-graded scores – an official system of comparing all runners by scoring their parkrun time against the current world record for their age category.

Saturday's winner recorded the best score of the day, as he ran 80.46 per cent of the world record, while young Isabella's 22:24 scored her a percentage of 78:35, and the second best score overall.

Mel Walker, from the 70-74-year-old category, scored 77.83 per cent for his time of 23:14.

There were 247 runners this week, of whom 26 were first timers and 46 recorded new personal best times and there were representatives of 22 different athletics clubs.

Each month, the Bolton parkrun event team selects one person as the Sweatshop prize winner – the deserving recipient being entitled to a free pair of running shoes from event sponsors Sweatshop in recognition of their commitment, endeavour and hard work.

This month's winner is Cecilia Woods. She has run 70 times in total, with 62 of those runs at Bolton, and arrives early every week to help set up the course.

Bolton parkrun takes place every Saturday at 9am, starting on the running track at Leverhulme Park. It is free to take part and to take part simply visit parkrun.org.uk, register and print off your unique personal barcode which you need to take to the event.