A GROUP of 11 Bolton United Harriers ended the year on a high at the Ribble Valley 10K, which was also hosting the Northern Athletics 10K championships.

On a day which was ideal for running with the temperature a balmy 10 degrees and a light wind more than 1,300 athletes started the race, and all but nine finished.

The high-quality race was won by Marc Scott from Cambridge and Coleridge in a new course record of 28mins 32secs, with two other athletes also breaking the previous record.

The Harriers were led home by Chris Povey, who broke into the top 200 finishers in 189th place in an excellent time of 36:59, his best 10K time of the year.

He was followed by Chris Pickford in 37:55, an unofficial seasons’s best, due to a faulty timing chip.

David Chrystal was the third Harrier home in 38:15 which was shy of his 10K PB set earlier in the year, but was a course PB for him and Dom Gavin posted a time of 40:58, which was a creditable performance following a season in which his training has been severely curtailed.

Matt Atkinson finished in his second fastest 10K time of 41:29 and Rachel Bailey was the first female Harrier home in a new PB of 42:07.

Other notable performances came from James Rideout in 42:19, husband-and-wife team Gary and Catherine Jones in 43:58 and 57:43 respectively and Dave Jones (no relative) in a season’s best 52:45.

Gary Porteous finished in 46:24 and Ian Smith was the seventh V65 athlete home in 48:10.