ELEVEN Lostock AC members took part in the penultimate race on the road/trail calendar – the ever-popular Through the Villages race.

A very peculiar distance of eight miles and 781 yards, it is a challenging undulating course and there was a competitive field of 275 strong runners running around the picturesque roads through the villages of Wheelton, Withnell, Brinscall and Abbey Village.

Chairman and fell runner Tony Marlow showed the roadies how it is done by being the first member of Team Green back in an impressive 1hr 4mins 7secs and 82nd place overall.

Not far behind were Andy Laycock and Paul Lacey who fought a titanic duel throughout the race to come in 93rd and 94th places respectively - both with the same finishing time of 1:05:19.

Arguably the most impressive performance, though, was from Hazel Hatfield who came second F40 (out of 17) in a tough category and was fourth Lostocker home in 1:06:54.

She was followed by Garath Pratt (1:07:17), Mark Shuttleworth (1:08:02), Tony Maxwell (1:14:09), Martin Smith (1:17:03), Barry Wroe (1:18:28), Emma Wroe and Sheila Garewel (both on 1:26:14).

Saturday saw club fell captain Mark Shuttleworth travel to Todmorden to take on the Shepherds Skyline race and after six miles and 1,400 feet of climb, he finished in a credible 66th place in 67:06.

Suleman Badat put in a fantastic performance in the Bolton parkrun, coming in second overall with a personal best time of 19:10.

He was followed by club member Rachel Hancock in a time of 53:35, while at Haigh Woodland parkrun Andy Laycock was first home for the club in 22:53, with Garath Pratt (24:51), Ian Burns (26:59), Karen Taylor (with daughter Florrie 36:35) also involved.

Lurdes Corlett continued her fine recent form in the Fleetwood 10k race, coming in second FV55 in a time of 50:47.