JOHN McCawley maintained his remarkable run of recording personal best times on Saturday.

The 35-39 age group runner has clocked new fastest runs in nine of his 10 appearances at Leverhulme Park since his first on November 12 last year.

And he has shown great progress in that period, lowering his time from 29:58 to 24:03 on Saturday, which was good enough to give him 39th position, his highest finish so far.

It has been steady progress, with his second-ever run exactly a minute and a half faster than his first, before completing three in the 26 minutes, three in the 25 minutes and the last two in the 24 minutes.

Nine places in front of him on Saturday was Rachel Hancock who ran her first PB for 21 runs.

Her time of 23:14 was 10 seconds quicker than her previous fastest, which she recorded last April. She is a regular of the Bolton event, having done all 84 of her parkruns on the track, trails and paths of Leverhulme Park.

PBs have not come often for the 40-44 age group runner who has recorded only four of them since getting her first on her fourth appearance in March 2012 – all four of them being in the 23 minutes.

Tom Stratton did not just dip under the 22-minute barrier for the first time, he flew under it.

His previous PB came on his fourth-last appearance when he clocked 22:08 in April 2016.

He has been an occasional visitor to Bolton since then, doing one the following week then two in successive weeks last month before running 21:37 at the weekend.

It was good enough for the 35-39 age group runner’s best position so far of 13th.

David Catterall is another who crossed the finish line in his highest place to date on Saturday.

His 78th position was the first time in his nine runs at Bolton that he has been in single figures and the celebration was a double one as he recorded a new personal best of 26:37.

The 20-24 age group runner has shown impressive improvement since running at Bolton for the first time last October, setting five PBs in his nine runs.

That initial appearance saw him complete the course in 31:04 which he beat the third time he ran at Bolton when he ran one second under 30 minutes.

His next two runs saw him break the 29-minute and 28-minute barriers while Saturday saw him get into the 26 minutes for the first time.

At the head of the field, Burnden Road Runners member and Bolton parkrun veteran Robert Short was first to cross the finish line in 19:19.

It was the 226th time the 20-24 age group runner had completed Bolton parkrun.

He finished ahead of Marcus Chester in second (20:16) who was just 15 seconds outside his PB, while Tim Knowles was third in 20:20.

The first female was Liz Proctor in 11th place overall in 21:16.

Saturday’s resu