THE third Last Drop Loop fell race from Bromley Cross was always going to be a record-breaking affair as the leaders took just over 11 minutes to complete the first steep climb to Cheetham Close hill.

Now sporting the colours of Calder Valley, former BUH&AC junior member Tim Ellis gradually pulled away from the chasing pack to smash the 9.2km course record by four minutes, crossing the line in 35mins 55secs.

Bolton's Karl Darcy took silver in 37:34, an incredible 4.5 minutes quicker than 12 months ago, and retained the Brian Mawdsley Trophy as first Blue Vest for the third year.

Horwich’s Nick Leigh was just 30 seconds behind for bronze, while the hosts’ Tommy Harrison edged team-mate Phil Marsden by three seconds to form the top five that all went quicker than the previous record of 39:52.

Inaugural winner Simon O’Meara was sixth.

In taking the women’s gold, Bolton’s Nicola Cartridge clocked 46:19 – two and a half minutes quicker than 2014.

With 20 per cent of the 76 field, Burnden Road Runners’ flying F55 Lesley Fisher and F40 Katy Thompson took the podium positions.

BUH&AC times: Karl Darcy 37:34, Tommy Harrison 39:37, Phil Marsden 39:40, Chris Povey 43:56, Nicola Cartridge 46:19, Andrew Gallacher 52:32, Phil Boardman 62:32, Hannah Edwards 63:03, Adrienne Fisher 63:06, David Morrison 64:16.

Sunday’s Horwich Festival Of Racing Open 5k saw Bolton take three of the top four spots as Tony Valentine collected silver (16:22) ahead of Karl Darcy’s bronze, 12 seconds back.

Shaun O'Dwyer completed the trio for the first team with 17:05. Junior Danny Shaw (18:43 11th) was two places ahead of the returning Craig Renshaw (19:16), whilst Paul Rankin (22:13), Chris Worthington (22:48) and Sara Green (25:09) all appeared in the low turnout of 50 after the Jubilee 5 Mile on Wednesday.

The British Masters 5k race earlier in the day saw a high class field of 147 feature two flying Blue Vests.

The measure of quality was M35 Marc Tillotson placing 10th (16:33) and M40 John Knowles (16:52) placing 20th.

The juniors’ One Mile Fun Run saw Isabella Merritt first F11 (seventh overall) in 5:57, Harvey Kenny first M9 (6:17) four spots back, and fellow M9 Marcus Valentine (8:12) all in the top third of the 119 field.