HORWICH members have their fingers crossed waiting to hear if Chris Farrell has achieved selection for Great Britain at the World Mountain Championships next month in Bulgaria.

Farrell finished fourth at Skiddaw in the British Athletics Mountain Running Championships incorporating the trial race for the world championships on Saturday.

Farrell was competing for England in the race and showed his class at the sharp end, finishing only 12 seconds down on second-placed Chris Smith – a seasoned GB international and winner of the Snowdon international race two weeks ago.

Farrell took some significant scalps and gained great credibility amongst his elite peers.

He now has an excellent chance of making the GB team for the World Mountain Championships with the team set to be announced today.

The event took place on a mainly uphill course on Skiddaw and Latrigg over a distance of 11.3km and including 1,080m climb.

With spots on the GB team up for grabs, the competition was fierce and heading the line-up was Andrew Douglas who won comfortably to build on his fourth-place finish at the Europeans only a few weeks ago.

Horwich had two more runners in the race. Mike Cayton took 22nd place, impressing with his progress, managing to beat some of the England team and ensuring he is tracking back to his potential.

Nick Leigh, in 34th place, ran a solid race and built on his recent performance at Ingleborough but knew the uphill only nature of the race was not his thing yet he was only a handful of minutes away from an England counter.

These performances are inspirational for many Harriers who continue to turn out in perhaps less-exulted company but still great settings around the region.

Last week it included Holme Moss which is an A grade race over 15 miles and 4,000ft of ascent and one of the toughest races south of the Lakes.

Midweek it was the Lee Mills race in Rossendale – one of the most testing of midweek evening races in the calendar.

Last weekend, the Area Fell Grand Prix moved to Beetham where, amidst the delightful annual sports day, some Harriers, notably Gary Chadderton, enhanced their standings.

Turnslack Fell Race attracted two Horwich runners with Tony Hesketh taking the V65 prize.

And in Yorkshire at the Cowling Gala race, Graham Schofield demonstrated yet again his downhill skills in achieving a V60 category win and fine overall placing.

Away from the fells and on the track at Leigh Sports Village, Rob Jackson just missed out on a podium place, finishing fourth in the 5,000m Northern Masters under-60 championship.

In parkrun, Horwich runners had second, third and fourth places at Bolton including two juniors, Lewis Wilkes and Matthew Flatters, pipping the V50 vet Sean McMyler.

At the same venue 10-year-old Isabella Merritt was second female overall in a time of 22mins 03secs. Meanwhile at Heaton parkrun in north Manchester, under-14 junior Toby Middleton gained 18th place out of 554 runners.

The following day in the Queens Park junior parkrun, Isabella went one better and won outright in 8:10 for the 2km. Lucas Collings, also aged 10, finished third overall in 8:44.

Results: Holme Moss fell race (nr. Holmfirth) – 42nd Dan Gilbert 3:23:14; 59th Gary Chadderton 3:32:14; 63rd Doug Fleming 3:33:24; 104th Suzanne Budgett 4:05:20; 152nd Lawrence Pinnell 4:54:40; Vernons 5k road race (Preston) – 22nd Erica Booth 21:28; Lee Mill fell race (Rossendale) – 32nd Michael Kay 58:17; 85th Gordon Stone 1:18:47; 93rd Peter Scott 1:25:57; 97th Ed Swift 1:50:57; Northern Masters 5,000m (Leigh Sports Village) – 4th Rob Jackson 17:47; British Mountain Running Champs (Skiddaw) – 4th Chris Farrell 56:24; 22nd Mike Cayton 60:27; 34th Nick Leigh 62:18; Turnslack fell race (nr Littleborough) – 42nd Tony Hesketh 1:28:57; 48th Mark Swindell 1:31:10; Beetham Sports fell race – 11th Gary Chadderton 43:14; 20th Doug Fleming 45:34; 22nd Richard Marlton 45:57; 40th David Barnes 51:33; 51st Lawrence Pinnell 53:56; Cowling Gala fell race – 13th Graham Schofield 22:39.