BURNDEN’S ladies scored a memorable victory at the British Masters Open Cross Country Championships.

The club took 11 members to the championships at Wavertree Park in Liverpool and in wet and blustery conditions came away with the ladies 55-64 age category team prize.

Over the 6.2km course Lesley Fisher (28mins 59secs), Gwen Kinloch (29:55) and Anne Ferguson (30:41) became British Masters Cross Country team gold medallists.

In the ladies team 45-54 age category Lyndsay Darbyshire (29:43) and Julie Newton (33:31) were just one team member away from claiming the bronze medal position.

In the men’s 8km race, the trio of Marcus Taylor (31:03), Colin Rigby (31:31) and Ed Ashton (32:40) finished in seventh place in the highly competitive 45-54 category.

In the 55-64 category Keith Thomas (32:47), Stew Jones (34:58) and Andy Warburton (41:06) finished just outside the medal positions in fourth place.

Marcus Taylor led home the five members who travelled to Lancaster Castle for the Trimpell 20, a popular choice for spring marathon runners. 

In tough weather conditions, particularly over the last few miles with driving wind and rain, he finished in 2:27:57.

Matt Barker’s Ironman training was tested and he came through in 2:58:41, followed by Carolyn Barker (3:02:45), Sarah Woodiwiss (3:13:34) and Emma Walker (3:38:24).

Maria Parkinson and Trevor Fishwick put in a double shift at the Gin Pit Marathon weekend, completing the two full distance races on successive days.

On day one they ran 5:47:13 and followed that up on Sunday with a time of 5:40:33.

Laurence Keighley, Michael Cook and Phil Lamb represented the club at the Wigan Half Marathon. Keighley was first home in 1:38:31, with Cook also finishing inside two hours with a time of 1:59:09 and Lamb crossing in 2:13:23.

A posse of Burnden ladies headed south for the Hampton Court Half Marathon, in which Diane Morrison led the way in 2:15:38.

Joanne Darby and Susan Wood crossed together in 2:27:13, a few seconds ahead of Louise Wall, who recorded a personal best of 2:27:45.

Louise Geoghegan posted 2:31:49, ahead of Rita Ledwards (2:33:02), Jackie Cairns (2:36:01), Gillian McGowan (2:37:23) and Dawn Evans (2:45:29).

Two teams of Burnden members took part in the Firefighters 2Up Duathlon, starting and finishing at Rivington School.

Steve Nolan teamed up with Martyn Pollitt and Isaline Pollitt took part with Liz McLellan.

The event requires all teams of two to compete together throughout the event. Each pair must run together and cycle together while remaining within 20 metres of each other at all times. 

The 37.2km bike ride, which takes in Rivington, Belmont and Anglezarke, is sandwiched between two 5.6km runs.

Nolan and Martyn Pollitt stayed side by side the whole way and finished with each recording a total time of 2:33:16. Runs of 25:54 and 33:11 were either side of their 1:31:05 bike time.

Isaline Pollitt and McLennan had first runs of 31:03 and 31:02 respectively, followed by bike times of 1:31:06 and second runs of 35:11 and 35:07. Their totals were a second apart with 2:40:58 for the former and 2:40:59 for the latter earning them third ladies team place overall and first ladies vets team.