A SQUAD of 23 Blue Vests were amongst the 582-strong field at the Bolton Community Half Marathon, with Tommy Harrison leading them all home.

He clocked 1hr 14mins 21secs, just over two minutes behind Leigh’s Neil Pendlebury, to net the silver medal position.

With eight of the top 20 being Bolton United Harriers, it was a keenly-contested affair with great performances all round.

Andrew Cafferky made his first appearance in more than a year and finished in 1:27:04 (20th), with debutant Mark Wolstencroft one place behind.

Rarely seen competing, Lesley Heyes showed class in leading the women’s team with 1:43:15, while Gail Harrison and Cath Jones crossed the finish line together.

BUH&AC results: 2 Tommy Harrison 1:14:21, 5 John Knowles 1:18:48, 8 Simon Dally 1:20:14, 12 Scott Crompton 1:23:23, 15 Andrew Crickmore 1:25:28, 17 Tom Lucas 1:25:50, 19 Dominic Gavin 1:26:49, 20 Andrew Cafferky 1:27:04, 21 Mark Wolstencroft 1:27:21, 33 Stephen Bonney 1:29:51, 37 James Rideout 1:30:21, 49 Craig Renshaw 1:33:26, 71 Gary Jones 1:38:15, 78 Stefan Nan 1:38:17, 104 Laurence Jackson 1:42:57, 106 Andrew Gallagher 1:43:15, 107 Lesley Heyes 1:43:15, 174 Katie McNulty 1:50:12, 215 Donna Cooper 1:54:33, 262 Paul Rankin 1:58:28, 302 Gail Harrison 2:02:05, 303 Catherine Jones 2:02:05, 407 Nicola Halsall 2:13:32.

Elsewhere, Nick Howarth returned from Florida having brought home the bacon – he ‘trotted’ around the Great American Bacon 5K in 19mins 20secs, netting a brilliant bronze of the 700-strong field.