BURNDEN’S Phil Eccleston stormed to victory in the EHM 10K at Warrington on Sunday.

Eccleston’s time of 34mins 07secs was nearly a full minute ahead of the second-placed runner and the perfect boost as his preparation for this year’s assault on the Snowdonia Marathon intensified.

Just 48 hours after the 10K he was on the marathon course in North Wales going through a tough training run.

In the English Half Marathon, which ran alongside the 10K, Sarah Sutcliffe crossed the line in 1hr 53mins 45secs and Steven Yates posted 2:22:40.

Steve Nolan finished joint first of the Edgworth Northern Vets 10K, dead-heating for the win in a time of 41:40, earning him first place in the V55 class. There were other wins for Andy Duffy in the V60 category in 46:13 and Lesley Fisher – first F55 in 48:24.

Don Nichol was second V60 in 54:43 and Dave Pearson completed the tough trail round Wayoh and Entwistle reservoirs in 60:14, third V60.

Burnden sent two teams to the epic Equinox 24 event in the grounds of Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire.

Solo runners and teams consisting of between two and eight runners complete as many laps of the 10K mixed terrain course through the estate as they can in 24 hours from noon on Saturday.

The club’s elite team of ladies captain Gwen Kinloch, Martin Whalley, Keith Thomas, Laurence Keighley and Reb Teyve put in a fantastic 28 laps to claim third place overall.

It was a fantastic achievement with Kinloch, Whalley and Thomas completing seven laps each, Keighley five and Teyve two before he had to pull out for medical reasons.

The second team led by Andy Warburton completed 19 laps with Alec Cottrill and George Ogden completing four laps and Paul and Brenda Sedgwick and Dave Beevers three each. Warburton, coming back from surgery, put in two very fast laps.

Three members tackled the event as part of another team. Allison Grace (six laps), Bev Walker and Maria Parkinson (five laps each) helped them to finish as top ladies small team and third ladies team overall.

John Turner led home a posse of four Burnden runners at the Lancaster Castle Half Marathon, finishing 36th in 1:41:12 with Matt Barker not far behind in 1:43:32.

Carolyn Barker put in a tremendous run on her debut at the distance taking the 1st F45 prize in a cracking time of 1:50:16. Peter Whiteside clocked 2:15:06 to complete an impressive day.

Rob Short turned in a strong performance to claim fifth place in the Yarrow 10K Trail Race with a time of 45:54. Craig Philpot followed him in 54:37 and Jane Forrest’s time of 1:02:24 saw her claim the 1st F50 prize. Colm O’Brien was 1st M55 to finish the 5K event held at the same venue, clocking a of 27:43.

Paula Pilling and her husband Rob were the first relay team home in the Holcombe Mountain Trial Duathlon with Paula tackling the two 4.6-mile fell runs and Rob the 17-mile bike ride in between.

Paula completed the gruelling runs in 41:54 and 43:02 while Rob’s excellent cycle ride of 57:40 helped them return a magnificent time of 2:22:40.