THE Horwich junior teams shone at the National Road Relay Championships in Birmingham on Saturday.

The girls' under-13s A team set the bar high by taking 24th place of 56 teams, Isabella Merritt recording one of the fastest times in the first leg, very well supported by Milly Lever and Freya Whittle.

Lydia Johnson and Alyssia Jackson were ready to stand-in if needed in the A team but ran well as an incomplete B team.

Horwich turned out two full teams for the boys at u13s' level.

The A team finished fourth of 50 teams – only 14 seconds off a podium place with Matthew Flatters recording a second fastest time on the second leg.

He was well supported by Cian Healy and Matthew Mair.

The B team of Nathan Lancaster, Toby Middleton and Isaac Battye finished 14th with an aggregate time of 43mins 28secs – just less than two minutes behind the A team and the Harriers even had two extra runners, Lucas Milliken and Finley Reid, making up an incomplete C team.

The boys’ u15s team finished 15th of 49 teams.

Lewis Wilkes, Robert Seddon and Luke Brindle each ran under 14 minutes to be the third-best placed of the North West teams.

The senior team at Sutton Park finished 38th of 79 teams.

Simon Pymm, more often found on the fells, set the team up well in the first leg, while Mike Cayton shrugged off a cold to improve the position after the second leg.

Gareth Booth held the team together and looks to have earned the chance of another England Masters vest with his performances this year.

GB international Chris Farrell recorded Horwich’s fastest leg despite a lack of speed training this year and then Alastair Murray and Ian Conroy brought Horwich home to make it a day to remember for the club in the national road relays.

Lindsey Brindle returned to fell competition for the first time this season at the Withins Skyline race where Gracie Brindle also made her debut in the u8s' race.

Toby Middleton, after his endeavours in Birmingham the previous day, had a great race to finish third in the u12s' event.

In the classic Lake District race at Langdale, Jonathan Bruton warmed up for the relay championships with a solid 76th place and Steve Jackson took the V60 third prize.

Off the fells, a couple of vets shone bright again.

Another of the Jackson family, this time Rob, took the silver in the Northern Masters 10,000m at Leigh Sports Village, adding to his Masters track golds from earlier in the season at 1500m, 3,000m and 5,000m.

But perhaps the top Horwich performance of all in a week of much fine racing across all ages was the evergreen Paul Muller’s outright win, at the age of 59, in the West Coast Half Marathon at Lytham St Annes.

In parkrun, Lukas Siska was first home at Bolton for the sixth time this year, while at Newby Bridge Nick Leigh became the fifth fastest ever at that venue, coming home first in 16:44.

Horwich RMI Harriers results: Langdale fell race – 76th Jonathan Bruton 2:34:54; 164th Steve Jackson 2:55:53; Withins Skyline fell race (Haworth) – 82nd Lindsey Brindle 54:27; West Coast Half Marathon (Lytham St Annes) – 1st Paul Muller 1:20:05; Gin Pit 5-mile trail race (Tyldesley) – 113th Lawrence Pinnell 38:27; 214th Heather Pinnell 56:30; Northern Masters (Leigh) 10,000m – 2nd Rob Jackson 37:19.