HORWICH'S runners enjoyed success at the Greater Manchester Cross Country Championships at Woodbank Park in Stockport.

The under-13 boys took second place behind Salford Harriers and the u13 girls were fourth out of 13 teams.

The u15 boys came second behind Trafford AC, while the first four senior Harriers gained third place for the club behind Salford and Sale.

Michael Cayton was making a welcome return to racing in the midst of a hard winter’s training schedule and finished in a strong fourth place to lead the team in.

This gives him automatic selection for Greater Manchester at the Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championships at Loughborough in March.

Several of the juniors have also put themselves in a good position for a county vest and will keenly await news of selection.

On the road at Garstang, Gareth Booth was third but could not claim the M45 age-category prize as that went to the winner, Robert Affleck of Preston AC.

But Richard Howarth, in sixth place overall, did take the M40 prize and Paul Muller was the M55 winner.

The Central Lancs Half Marathon on the road in Preston saw Andy Ford finish in the same 13th place as last year but two minutes faster, despite the misty conditions.

Meanwhile the consistent Rob Jackson won the Northern Masters 10k trail race at Smithills and Tony Hesketh was first M65, both setting their sights on more masters honours this season.

In parkrun, there were two more first places for Horwich runners.

Lukas Siska added to his growing list with his fourth consecutive first place in parkrun, this time at Haigh Woodland, and Paul Muller got his fifth consecutive first place at Lytham Hall. only a day before his Garstang performance.

Also at Haigh Woodland, Finley Reid, in only his fourth senior parkrun, finished in a cracking time of 20:43 for fourth place running as an under-14.

Horwich RMI Harriers results: Greater Manchester XC Championships (Stockport) – u13 boys – 6th Matthew Mair 13:12, 8th Toby Middleton 13:18, 9th Cian Healy 13:25, 10th Matthew Flatters 13:29, 12th Lucas Milliken 13:50; u13 girls – 7th Isabella Merritt 14:54, 9th Eva Baldwin 14:54, 22nd Milly Lever 15:45, 33rd Freya Whittle 16:20; u15 boys – 5th Lewis Wilkes 17:25, 11th Robert Seddon 18:03, 13th Luke Brindle 18:05; senior men – 4th Michael Cayton 36:19, 10th Nick Leigh 37:50, 18th Jonathan Bruton 39:04, 19th Sam Wardle 39:07, 25th Ali Murray 39:57, 26th Simon Pymm 40:03, 44th Michael Hallas 42:11, 46th Dave Milliken 42:30.

Lancashire XC Championships (Blackburn) – u13 boys – 11th Isaac Simmonite 12:17; senior men – 69th Chris Essex-Crosby 40:08.

Garstang 10k road race – 3rd Gareth Booth 33:28, 6th Richard Howarth 34:24, 8th Paul Muller 36:18.

Northern Masters 10k trail race (Smithills) – 1st Rob Jackson 36:04, 9th Tony Hesketh 43:22.

Central Lancs half marathon (Lea Town, Preston) – 13th Andy Ford 1:21:24, 103rd Ian Hamer 1:36:09, 180th Geoff Leech 1:48:16, 221st Rachel Merino 1:53:15, 314th Bernadette Unsworth 2:04:28, 440th Katie Voce 2:39:31.