THE running community came together for the Great Manchester half marathon and 10k on Sunday and a large contingent of Horwich RMI Harriers provided valuable support on the finishing line in handing out the goody bags to the 35,000-plus taking part.

The Harriers’ team was led by Tony Hesketh who did a vital pacing task in the 10k race for those aiming for 50 minutes. Rob Jackson was aiming for a V50 personal best in the 10k but just missed out and settled for an excellent 112th overall place.

Alastair Murray, now running at V40, continues to threaten his all-time 5k personal best, this time at Dunham Massey with a sub-17 minute run.

At the Blackburn open track and field meeting, Isabella Merritt and Alyssia Jackson set new PBs in the 1000m, as did Alistair Sharrock in the 150m sprint at the Warrington open meeting.

Danny Hope is now seeking a hat trick of consecutive first places in fell races, having repeated his feat of last week at Blackstone Edge, this time by winning at Hutton Roof Crags.

This race was run in the middle of a thunderstorm with torrential rain, sending the registration marquee aloft and leaving the runners sore from the hail and ice raining down on them.

Similar conditions were experienced at the English Championships fell race at Barnoldswick where glorious sunshine for the women’s race rapidly changed to a soaking for the men.

Phil Marsden fared best with 17th place in a hotly-contested race with 21 men all finishing within three minutes of the winner, Bowland’s Chris Arthur.

Richard Howarth, who regularly features as first placed runner at the Cuerden Valley parkrun, is also a road marathon specialist and at the Edinburgh marathon he secured an excellent 13th place in a field of 6,100 runners, finishing as second MV40 athlete.

In parkrun this week, under-14s' Isaac Battye was only six seconds off a PB at Haigh Woodland but V60 athlete Graham Schofield, usually found on the fells, had the best age-graded parkrun result this week with a 79.33-per-cent run at Witton.

Horwich RMI results: Buttermere Sailbeck fell race – 13th Dan Gilbert 1:50:02, 47th Gary Chadderton 2:08:58, 63rd Doug Fleming 2:23:39.

Foe Edge fell race (Waterfoot) – 8th Dan Gilbert 36:00.

Dunham Massey 5k road race – 5th Alastair Murray 16:59, 22nd James Jordan 18:19.

Blackburn Harriers Open (track and field) – 1000m 1st Isabella Merritt 3:16.4, 2nd Alyssia Jackson 3:35.3.

Harrock Hill fell race (Parbold) – 9th Paul Muller 37:10, 97th David Barnes 48:56.

Ian Hesketh Memorial Duathlon (Rivington) – 70th Barry Allman 2:10:20.

Weets English Championships fell race (Barnoldswick) – 17th Phil Marsden 40:49, 66th Jonathan Bruton 44:58, 105th Andy Lloyd 47:49, 160th Steve Jackson 52:52, 163rd Brian Walton 53:13.

Hutton Roof Crags fell race (near Kirkby Lonsdale) – 1st Danny Hope 56:00, 22nd Neil Holdup (no time recorded), 121st David Barnes 1:22:09.

Great Manchester 10k – 114th Rob Jackson 37:20, 176th Layne Mercer 38:52, 2,359th Tony Hesketh 49:04.

Great Manchester half-marathon – 1,226th Linda Webb 1:48:01, 2,746th David Crawford 2:01:49, 3,189th Lawrence Pinnell 2:06:17, 4,934th Mark Dacre 2:29:10.

Edinburgh marathon – 13th Richard Howarth 2:41:36.