GARETH Booth added more international recognition for Horwich when he represented England in Glasgow at the British and Irish Masters International cross country meeting.

He helped the England team to gold in the overall competition and was the fourth counting member of the M45 team that was second to Ireland in the age category.

Booth was ninth in his age group, only 69 seconds behind the winner, Don Naylor from Wales (ex-international steeplechaser). He said: "The course was fantastic – ideal to be honest and to be asked to run for your country, no matter what age you are, is great, so being asked as a 45-year-old was an honour."

Booth’s sister, Erica, also runs for the Harriers and has already qualified for the Great Britain Triathlon team to compete at the ETU European Championships in Germany and Austria in 2017.

She first achieved GB status earlier this year while competing for her other club Tri-Rivington in the qualifier at Chatsworth House, finishing third.

She said: “My performances this year have not quite sunk in, this being my first season competing in triathlon.

"It all started with an injury from running; getting in the pool and on a road bike for the first time and thinking ‘hey I’m not bad at this’”.

Gareth and Erica both realise they could not have achieved all this without the support of family and friends around them, and Erica’s coach, Lukas Siska, also trains with and competes for Horwich.

More of this pride in the vest and family spirit was evident in junior cross-country meetings with several Horwich youngsters turning out, supported by their parents and the coaching team.

At Leverhulme Park in the Red Rose Cross Country League, the under-13 boys were in especially good form, winning the team competition with Cian Healy, Matthew Flatters and Matthew Mair in the top four.

The u11 girls are beginning to match the older girls' group and achieved fifth place out of 11 teams with Emma Bradley, Caitlyn Sefton and Alice Tucker putting in solid performances.

In the English Schools Regional Cross Country finals in Birkenhead, two of the mainstays of the Harriers’ u13 squad, Isabella Merritt and Ella Pendlebury, were second and fourth in their age group, while for the u13 boys, Toby Middleton was 10th and Robert Seddon came 19th in the u15 group.

Most of the senior men were at Boggart Hole Clough for the Manchester Cross Country League seeking to make sure of promotion to the top flight this year.

They enhanced this claim by beating all of the teams, including the strong Sale Harriers into second place.

Tim Ellis, in fourth, led the team home with Nick Leigh in eighth and a welcome first appearance in the red and black for Phil Marsden.

There was also a well-measured race from Dave Jackson who now heads the M45 category after two races in the series which moves on to Heaton Park in December for the next round.

A few of the club’s runners group went to the Fylde for the Windmill 10k and the steadily-improving Geoff Leech came away with a personal best, closely followed by club-mate Paul Lewis.

Horwich RMI Harriers results: Windmill 10k road race – 70th Geoff Leech 45:06; 72nd Paul Lewis 45:17; 365th Jeanette Lewis 55:14; 536th Stacy Young 59:54; 722nd Lesley Davidson 65:48; 722nd Lynn Smith 65:48; Red Rose XC League – 7th Sam Wardle 37:18; 30th David Milliken 40:41; 108th Michael Kay 46:53; 155th Tony Hesketh 49:56 Manchester XC League – 4th Tim Ellis 33:56; 8th Nick Leigh 34:38; 12th Phil Marsden 35:02; 20th Dave Jackson 36:28; 22nd Simon Pymm 36:34; 24th Jonathan Bruton 36:36; 39th Alastair Murray 37:27; 40th Luke Massey 37:28; 47th Paul Massey 38:05; 86th Michael Hallas 40:29; 156th Gary Chadderton 43:13; 186th Doug Fleming 44:22; 335th Lawrence Pinnell 52:38;