ACROSS the country the weekend was dominated by the county AA track and field championships.

Horwich’s main presence was in the Greater Manchester event at Longford Stadium. Isabella Merritt achieved double gold medals with personal bests in the 800m and 1,200m races. In both races Isabella fought off strong challenges and showed real grit and style in winning.

Isaac Parker was also a double medal winner, taking silver over the hurdles and gold for the triple jump while Danny Lavin was on the podium in third place for the 100m sprint.

Sophie Walton narrowly missed a bronze in the 100m.

Meanwhile in the Lancs AA championships Niall Maloney went close to gold in the 100m and the long jump while also taking bronze in the 200m and Joe Millne-Ellison collected silver in the 400m hurdles.

On the fell scene the big performance of the week came from Phil Marsden who powered to second place in the Lakes classic race at Fairfield Horseshoe, less than a minute behind Ben Abdelnoor of host club Ambleside.

With Nick Leigh and Simon Pymm also in the top 15, Horwich were second in the team rankings, behind Ambleside.

Andy Ford was not alone in having done recent night duty in support of attempts on the long distance Bob Graham Round and in the horseshoe race he was feeling the effects of his stint on Blencathra at 3am that morning but still

easily managed a sub-two hour time.

On the same day at Great Whernside in the uphill race Michael Cayton returned to racing with a strong fifth place.

At Mearley Clough, in a short but tough A grade race, Mark Walsh was 12th and Graham Schofield took the V60 prize.

Other vets winners this week were Paul Muller (V60) in the Blacksticks 10k race and Tony Hesketh (V65) at Haigh

Hall in the four-mile trail race.

In parkrun at Bolton Luke Massey was first home in 17:53 with dad Paul not far behind in fourth place.

Lindsey Brindle, sixth overall, took the women’s first place while Erica Booth was first

female at Preston as she prepares for international triathlon events.

At the big South Manchester parkrun, under-14s runner Matthew Flatters was 17th of 577 with a smart time of 18:57 and Isaac Battye, also u14, was 10th at Haigh Woodland. Alyssia Jackson and Imogen Andreassen were third and fifth at the Queens Park junior parkrun.

Blacksticks 10k road race (Preston) – 8th Paul Muller 38:20; Mearley Clough (nr. Clitheroe) – 12th Mark Walsh 35:25; 19th Dan Gilbert 36:24; 27th Graham Schofield 38:04; Haigh Hall four-mile trail race (Wigan) – 42nd Sean McMyler 27:34; 43rd Chris Essex-Crosby 27:38; 45th Michael Chadderton 27:44; 74th David Unsworth 29:23; 88th Tony Hesketh 30:18; 146th David Barnes 34:09; 176th Bernie Unsworth 36:46; 251st Heather Pinnell 50:16; Fairfield Horseshoe fell race (Rydal, Cumbria) – 2nd Phil Marsden 01:23:27; 8th Nick Leigh 01:27:40; 11th Simon Pymm 01:31:14; 98th Steven Foley 01:50:01; 117th Andy Ford 01:51:22; 142nd Ian Hepburn 01:55:15; 333rd David Barnes 02:28:53; 345th Emily Cobb 02:32:00; 368th Tony Varley 02:57:26; Great Whernside Uphill (Kettlewell) – Seniors – 5th Michael Cayton 19:50; U17s – 21st Robert Seddon 20:48; U15s – 10th Toby Middleton 12:43; 11th Lucas Milliken 12:49; U13s – 30th Ethan Isaacs 10:54; 35th Emma Bradley 11:02; U11s 59th Theo Middleton 09:05; Lancashire AA County Champs (Blackpool) – U15 100m boys – 2nd Niall Maloney 12.1; 200m boys – 3rd Niall Maloney 24.8; Long Jump boys 2nd Niall Maloney 5.30; U20 men 400m Hurdles – 2nd Joe Millne-Ellison 62.2; Greater Manchester AA County Champs (Stretford) – U13 girls – 75m 5th Isabella Merritt 10.75; 800m 1st Isabella Merritt 2:27.30; 150m 4th Isabella Merritt 20.88; 1200m 1st Isabella Merritt 03:57.58; U15 girls – 100m 4th Sophie Walton 12.98; Long Jump 9th Sophie Walton 4.62; U17 men 100m 3rd Danny Lavin 11.85; 400m Hurdles 2nd Isaac Parker 62.21; Triple jump 1st Isaac Parker 10.08.