At 10pm on Friday night, Horwich Harriers Marcus Taylor set off on one of the iconic fell running challenges in these isles - the Bob Graham Round.

To join the BG Round Club, the aspirant member has to successfully complete a 66-mile, 27,000-foot ascent circuit of 42 of the highest peaks in the English Lake District - all within 24 hours.

Only one in three who attempt it actually succeed and for Taylor it was a difficult first three legs leaving him with a deficit on schedule of more than 30 minutes. But he was able to regain that time with stunning runs on legs four and five to finish at the Moot Hall in Keswick in 23hrs 53mins.

The BG Round is a test of teamwork as the runner needs a good back-up team and after Taylor supported Horwich’s Jeff Capps in completing it earlier this year, he returned the favour alongside club members, Dan Gilbert, Colin Rigby, Julian Goudge, Matt Fawthrop, Mark Seddon and Richard O’Reilly running with Marcus on the various legs.

Both have drawn on support of runners from other clubs such as Lostock AC, an indication of the impressive co-operative spirit in the fell-running community.

The Run The Moors Grand Prix (RTMGP) provides local clubs the opportunity to compete against each other in 11 races. - the latest being the Golf Ball fell race from Loveclough in Rossendale where the club’s men claimed another 150 points to remain in fourth place out of the eight competing clubs. Dan Gilbert was top Harrier in 11th place and claimed top M45 points for the RTMGP, as did Gary Chadderton at M60. Gilbert is currently second in the men’s open series and Chadderton took over the lead in the M60 age category from club colleague Doug Fleming, who finished third in the RTMGP category on the night and is now second in the series.

Mark Walsh (M55) was the third harrier to claim top age-category points, while Alison Mort was third F40 RTMGP qualifier and is currently second in the series age category with just two races to go. Lawrence Pinnell completed the Horwich team with a strong run after a niggling injury.

On the same evening, it was the fourth fixture of the Harrock Hill series where Colin Rigby had a 32nd-place finish in 41:59 for fourth M50. George Butler had a good run, too, and Steph McKee returned to competition with an impressive 49:50 time.

In the Mid Cheshire 5k the three Horwich athletes shone. Isaac Battye took 16 seconds off his previous personal best by finishing 65th out of 871 runners, giving him 10th out of 54 under-21 competitors. Two Harriers went close to new PBs - Luke Foley in 112th place was three seconds short in 15:38 and Richard O’Reilly finished in 19:20, six seconds off his PB.

Meanwhile, junior Joel Ige was in Birmingham at the national U15/U17 open championships and got an excellent new 100m PB in 11.79 as the youngest u15 in his heat.

In parkrun, James Scott-Farrington was first home at Woodhouse Moor to make it 12 firsts out of 26 parkruns in a new parkrun PB of 15:51, while Richard Pollitt was at Worsley Woods and took his 12th first place at nine different venues.

Worsley Woods also witnessed Gordon Stone’s 100th parkrun, while at Haigh Woodland Richard O’Reilly was fourth and Mary White was first VW70-74 with her age grading of 84.26 per cent only beaten by Rob Jackson’s 85.04 per cent at Peel. Also at Peel, Harry Yates, in 11th place, was the first JM11-14 in 18:58 and Grace Freary was first female in 21:21. Louis Yates was first JM10. Lauren Freary and Francis Crossland made their debut at Peel.