HORWICH’S own superstar James Kevan once again sporting the green colours of Ireland in his third European Championships in Arco.

In the European Mountain Championships he finished a creditable 44th position of 66 finishers in the event, staged at the heart of the northern Lake Garda region.

The race, at the world captial of free climbing, attracts athletes from all over the world.

Kevan has now run at six World Mountain Championships, two internationals at Snowdon and has an international vest at 10k, making him a significant player in the world of mountain and road racing. And closer to home, he was a winner at the Curley’s 5k trail races in Horwich earlier in the season.

On the national scene at Skiddaw for the England fell trials, Chris Farrell took second place in the uphill race with Michael Cayton in 10th while, in the full race, Suzanne Budgett was first W50.

Also in the Lake District Mark Swindell showed bravery in taking on the Ultimate Trails Challenge over 110km featuring 14,000ft of ascent and six mountain passes along the way. He finished 127th of 211 runners and has achieved this with a planned and determined approach in overcoming injuries in the last couple of years.

A smaller than usual contingent of Horwich juniors travelled to Shropshire for the final race in the English Championships with some tough courses to contend with.

The first race for u8s saw Grace Pendlebury have her best race to date, to win her first race outright. Despite going slightly off course she had only four boys in front of her at the finish.

In the u10 race Theo Middleton found the race tough but still finished in 16th position. The u12 race saw outstanding performances with Ella Pendlebury finishing a superb fifth which meant she took bronze in the overall English championship.

Lydia Johnson followed up her silver medal the previous night in the YDL track meeting with a fine result for 13th place. For the boys Toby Middleton had another great race to record sixth, though this was not enough to win an overall medal as he finished fourth. The u14 course was particularly tough but Robert Seddon had his usual steady race to finish 16th with Lucas Milliken was just over a minute behind in 21st.

Locally, the recent run of second places continued for Horwich runners this week but Gareth Booth, who has had a string of top-two places, won the Vernons 5k before taking two more second places on successive days at Lostock Hall and Trawden.

In the Area Fell Grand Prix Nick Kelly, Gary Chadderton and Doug Fleming all enhanced their standings in the competition of seven clubs with good finishes in the Eddie’s Revenge fell race near Oldham.

Andy Ford, who is also usually found on the long mountain trails, added another second place to the Horwich honours list at the Lymm 10k road race. In Radcliffe Rob Jackson did the same but his second place also gave him first in the Northern Masters AC championship.

The Joan Rhodes/Fred Norris Memorial 5k had a bit of everything on its course – tarmac, mud and cobbles. Rob Jackson is getting back to form and was picking off runners towards the end to finish 35 seconds behind the winner, England international Colin Bishop of Helsby, who ran 18.02.

Tony Hesketh finished 16th and was the NMAC V65 winner, the consistent John Parker was the clear V75 winner in 28th and Brenda Hesketh won the ladies V60 trophy.

In parkrunning the Harriers could boast a fantastic first places at five venues. They were Matthew Flatters at the Queens Park junior parkrun, Richard Howarth at Preston, Lukas Siska at Pennington Flash, Paul Muller at Lytham Hall and Nick Leigh at Haigh Woodland.

Results

Vernons 5k road race (Preston) – first Gareth Booth 16:43, 23rd Erica Booth 20:54.

Eddie’s Revenge fell race (Shaw) – 20th Gary Chadderton 29:23, 41st Doug Fleming 32:34, 52nd Nick Kelly 33:08, 69th David Barnes 34:51, 86th Lawrence Pinnell 37:18.

Lostock Hall Carnival 5k – 2nd Gareth Booth 16:31.

Lakeland Ultimate Trails Challenge 110k – 127th Mark Swindell 20:35:26

Lymm 10k – second Andy Ford 36:41.

Joan Rhodes/Fred Norris Memorial 5k trail race (Radcliffe) – second Rob Jackson 18:37, 16th Tony Hesketh 22:04, 28th John Parker 25:39, 40th Brenda Hesketh 30:03.

Trawden 7 Trail race – 2nd Gareth Booth 42:17.

Skiddaw Uphill race – second Chris Farrell 41:55, 10th Michael Cayton 43:53, Skiddaw fell race – 93rd Suzanne Budgett 01:40:02.

European Mountain Running Championships (Arco, Italy) – 44th James Kevan 01:01:13