PARTNERS Will Tomlinson and Heather Brown may have made history at Bolton Parkrun as the first couple to win their gender events.

Both recent recruits to Dave Shaw’s Harriers group, Tomlinson stormed home as the only runner vhome in less than 19 minutes in 18mins 27secs and Brown was first lady in 20:54.

She continued her fine form from the Rochdale 10k and Manchester Marathon proving her strength as a great all rounder.

Last Saturday’s parkrun was made even more notable by the fact that five out of the first six finishers were from Bolton Harriers.

Sully Badat was second with a personal-best time of 19:10, while Joe Grisdale was not far behind in third with another sub-20 minutes run. Rachel Bailey was second lady and sixth overall in 21:13.

Other notable Harriers runs came from Gary Porteous in 23 minutes and another sub-24 run from young Lily Philbin.

New recruit to Harriers’ Endurance Group, Caroline (Caz) Mullineaux, made an excellent start on her ‘Blue Vest’ debut.

She made the short journey to Tatton Park on Sunday and eclipsed her best half-marathon time by more than 18 minutes.

She finished in 1:42:00 and was fifth in her age category and 18th overall by gender out of a field of more than 760 runners.

Mullineaux said: “I am really pleased with that. I haven’t been at the club for very long but Bolton Harriers is a really great club and everyone is so friendly.

“The structure to the training sessions is well balanced and you can feel yourself improving week on week.”

Elsewhere, Tommy Harrison put in back-to-back runs last weekend.

Still feeling some life in his legs after Saturday’s Cross-Country Championships, he lined up at the start line of the Through The Villages race 24 hours later.

Starting and finishing at The Dresser’s Arms, Wheelton, 275 runners made their way through a tough 8.5-mile course taking in Brinscall, Abbey Village and Withnell.

Harrison turned it into something of a procession and stormed round winning in a time of 48:41 – 90 seconds clear of second spot.

Seasoned Harriers campaigners Mark Wolstencroft and Chris Pickford also made their way to Wheelton and both ran strongly.

Wolstencroft has an incredible engine and finished 18th in a time of 54:28, while Pickford made a welcome return in the famous blue vest after suffering for quite a while with niggling injuries.

He will come out of the race in better shape after a top-40 finish in a time of 57:55.

Commenting on his display, Harrison said: “It went really well for me - I just got in a solid rhythm from the start and it was enough to pull away from the chasing pack on the second hill.

“By the time I got to Abbey Village I was well clear and could just concentrate on getting home.

“I felt better on Sunday than Saturday which was weird as Villages is a tough race - it’s seven hills between Bolton and Bury.

“Mark and Chris ran well. Mark finished really strong and came flying down the last hill to the finish.

“And it was nice to see Big Chris back in club colours as he has been missed around the group.”

On Saturday, Harriers finished in the top third of teams at the National Cross-Country Relays event in Mansfield last weekend.

Danny Shaw, Harrison, Martin Reid and Jonny Kay made up the Harriers team at Berry Hill Park taking on a two-lap parkland course which ran through a wooded area in addition to grassland.

It had been meticulously prepared with lots of undulation and a fast finishing section, despite the blustery and wet conditions.

Since its advent all the top British cross country runners have competed with some athletes involved aiming for international call-ups.

There was fighting talk from the athletes prior to the start with Shaw saying “go hard or go home”.

Meanwhile, Harrison said: “This is my kind of course and I am going all out and won’t be leaving anything out there.”

The Bolton runners were up against it but yet again rose to the challenge.

Out of 112 teams they came home in 36th position and would have been a place higher but for some confusion at one of the change-overs.

To finish in the top third of teams in a seriously contested national competition is a great achievement by the Harriers quartet.

They came home in 1hr 8mins 32secs overall with individual times of: Jonny Kay 15:45, Daniel Shaw 17:14, Tommy Harrison 17:32 and Martin Reid 18:00. Kay finished in an excellent 18th position overall.

After his leg, he said: “The start was rapid – really quick.

“I was feeling really good coming down the hill after the first lap and made up about 10 places in the second.

“I am really pleased with my time.”