HORWICH'S team finished an impressive second in the fourth round of the Manchester Area Cross-Country League at Kenworthy Woods.

Only Sale Harriers' first team bettered their display on the day as Horwich beat a strong Stockport Harriers into third.

At the sharp end, Chris Farrell and Mike Cayton pushed hard with a trio of Stockport Harriers and after 12 minutes of race time this had dwindled to a lead group of three, with Cayton running in isolation in fourth position and well clear of any further threats.

There was an exciting sprint finish between overall match leader Jack Morris (Stockport) and Farrell.

With only five metres left it looked certain Farrell would win but Morris just managed to steal that extra stride for his fourth straight win in the series.

In finishing fourth, Cayton continued the form he showed the previous week at the county championship which has earned him a county vest.

Dave Jackson made sure of this year’s V45 title with one match in hand, while Luke Massey – watched by his dad, Rivington Pike legend Paul Massey – continues to show he can handle the transition to senior races.

The result leaves Horwich well placed for promotion to Division One next winter.

Other notable results this week were Chris Essex-Crosby’s ninth place with the head torches in the Night Runner race at Rivington.

Paul Muller was on the road again, this time improving his result of last year by three places in the half marathon at Helsby in Cheshire, finishing ahead of 1,559 other runners.

On the fells, Toby Middleton took fourth place in the Stanbury Splash which attracted a strong field of Yorkshire junior fell runners.

In parkrun at Preston the club was represented by two England Masters.

Gareth Booth continued to prepare for the 2017 season with yet another first place, followed in second by Richard Howarth who later this year will represent England in the masters marathon road race series.

For the juniors taking part in the main parkrun races, Toby Middleton warmed up for the Stanbury Splash by finishing 16th out of 403 runners at Worsley Woods, not far behind consistent parkrun specialist Matthew Smith in 10th.

At Haigh Woodland, under-10 Imogen Andreassen was ninth female finisher in a new personal best of 26mins 52secs.

Horwich RMI Harriers results: Mid Lancs XC (Towneley Park, Burnley) – u13 girls – 10th Isabella Merritt 10:34; u13 boys – 9th Matthew Mair 11:03, 10th Lucas Milliken 11:08; u15 boys – 12th Robert Seddon 14:35; senior men – 42nd Dave Milliken 38:25.

Night Runner 10k trail race (Rivington) – 9th Chris Essex-Crosby 52:34, 231st Julie Williamson 1:24:51.

Four Villages Half Marathon road race (Helsby) – 28th Paul Muller 1:20:19.

Soreen Stanbury Splash fell race (Haworth) – u9 – 20th Gracie Sherbourne 4:30; u15 – 4th Toby Middleton 6:52, 51st Theo Middleton 9:37; seniors – 82nd Lindsay Brindle 60:21, 136th Paul Boardman 65:34.

Manchester Area XC (Manchester University playing fields) – senior men – 2nd Chris Farrell 32:04, 4th Mike Cayton 33:27, 13th Phil Marsden 35:00, 20th Tim Ellis 35:33, 28th Simon Pymm 36:17, 31st Alastair Murray 36:24, 51st David Jackson 37:29, 60th Luke Massey 38:07, 174th Gary Chadderton 42:29, 187th Doug Fleming 43:20, 275th Ian Hepburn 46:39.