BURNDEN Road Runners athletes noctehd category wins and personal-best times at Wheelton last weekend.

The 37th Annual Dressers’ Arms’ ‘Through The Villages’ was the route of choice. with the tough 8.5 miles famous among Burndeners for its hilly route that offers beautiful scenery as the paths lead through Wheelton, Abbey Village and Brinscall.

Lee White was first man home in a speedy 55mins 21secs – taking a PB for his fourth time finishing this race.

Gwen Kinloch was first Burnden lady in a superb 1:02:58, winning V60, and Lyndsay Darbyshire was second Burnden lady winning V50 in a brilliant 1:05:59.

Peter Hopley was not far behind with a brilliant 57:38 and Mark Jackson finished as third man in 59:04.

Also in the top five were newly-appointed club coach, Andy Dunleavy, in 1:00:35 and recent graduate of the Burnden Bees, Martin Whitehead, in 1:05:15.

Other results: Adrian Ashburn 1:05:25, David Smith 1:05:39, Marcus Hamer 1:05:50, Keith Thomas 1:07:11, Ged Turner 1:08:00, Adam Austin 1:08:27, Anne Ferguson 1:09:07, Neil Counsell 1:09:07, Steven Bate 1:12:34, Gayle Gerrard 1:12:54, Verity Harrison 1:14:11, Andy Warburton 1:17:28, Lawrence McDonald 1:19:41, Tess Riley 1:23:19, Philip Glassbrook 1:24:09, Nia Bell 1:29:37, Cheryl Dunleavy 1:40:04, Jennifer Forkin 1:40:05, Gillian McGowan 1:47:47, Shirley Robinson, Sarah McConnell 1:49:53, Trevor Eagle 2:14:52.

Wild wind, driving rain and Helvellyn elevation were no match for our three intrepid Burndeners as Holly Craggs, Jonathan Sangster and Sarah Watton brought home super times from the Lakeland Trails.

Craggs was aiming to complete the Helvellyn 15K while Watton and Sangster decided to tackle the ‘Dirty Double’ of both the Helvellyn 15 and Ullswater 14K races.

For the Helvellyn race, Sangster was the quickest to cross the course – making it home in an eye-watering 1:07:39.

As the ‘biblical’ weather made it tough to stay upright on the gruelling course, Craggs conquered it in a cracking 1:31:47 with Watton battling through in a wonderful 1:34:37.

Sangster and Watton completed the stunning Ullswater 14K in 1:14:55 and 1:38:44 respectively.

Louise Righini inched ever nearer to her goal of 40 10Ks before the age of 40 as she completed a virtual run for the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal.

She headed out to Bury along the canal and then returning to Radcliffe along part of the old railway lines.

Burnden chairman, Paul Christie, represented the club at the British Masters 5K, finishing in 11th position of the V65. Strong blustery winds made the 4.6 laps of the 1.1 km circuit challenging but he finished in 22:17.

Congratulations go to Anne Ferguson and Steve Nolan, winners of the 2021 Fell Championship.

Thirty three members did at least one fell race but only four did enough to count in the Championship.

Burnden will run an off-road championship next year which will have a mixture of off-road, trail and cross country runs.

The Fell races were Edenfield, Aldermans, Turnslack, Ged Turner’s Fell at Turton, Rivington Pike, Yarrow, Waddington and Race to the Summit.

Ferguson achieved 200 points for completing five fells, while Nolan achieved 199 points for also completing five.

Ged Turner and Gareth Lowe also completed the required four fells to qualify – earning 195 and 190 points respectively.