A TRIO of Lostock members were among the 24,000 runners who took part in the Manchester Marathon last Sunday and each performed well.

Taking part in his first ever marathon was Tommy Smith who finished in a fantastic 2hrs 56mins and although the knees were hurting the next day, he said it was definitely worth the pain.

Running the 26.2 miles together were Hazel Hatfield and Paul Lacey, who were both running to raise money for Ukraine by supporting Unicef.

Hatfield described the day as perfect in every way and the pair crossed the line together finishing in 3:53:00 and a personal best for Hatfield. Not only was it fantastic running from the duo, but they also raised a whopping £630 for Unicef.

The previous Wednesday, eight Lostockers turned out alongside 144 other runners for the first midweek race of the Fell Championships, Rossendale’s Pete Hartley Memorial Race over 4.3 miles with 820 feet of ascent.

The men made a good start to the race across Marls Pit playing fields with the ladies giving chase. The race then climbs gradually up onto the tops with some undulating fields over an out-and-back course as far as Liver Hill.

Young Tom Grundy was well up the field and the first Lostocker to finish - an impressive comeback after recovering from Covid.

Tony Marlow had a clear win over his V50 club-mates, but Mark Shuttleworth and Chris Taylor ran neck and neck for some time with Shuttleworth just taking the lead in the closing mile.

The ladies’ race was much more cut and dry with Melissa Anglesea taking the lead and showing great confidence in her first season of fell racing.

Last week also saw the start of the Curley’s 5km trail series, starting at Curley fishery before a 5km loop on the edge of Rivington.

First to finish for Lostock was James Jackson in an impressive 23:27, followed by Gareth Pratt (25:41) and Nikki Hamerton (26:00), as Richard Marlton competed in his first Curley’s race.

Other results: Rachel Hancock 28:12, Anthony Maxwell 29:33, Rachel Stevens 30:16, Ian Burns 30:14, Stephen Hancock 30:49, Jocelyn Chadderton 32:09, Sheila Garewal (34:37).

Racing for a second time in the week were Sheila Garewal and Tony Maxwell, who on Saturday took part in the Trotters 5, starting at Smithills coaching house, which saw Maxwell finish in a respectable 43:28 and Garewal in 52:03.