On the last day of British Summer Time, Horwich Harriers were out in force at Leverhulme Park for the second Red Rose League Cross Country match.

Being the closest venue for many, plenty of runners of all ages turned out in the red and black.

The juniors showed they were a force to be reckoned with, securing top-10 finishes across various age categories.

Theo Pickstone kicked the day off with 15th in the under-11 boys’ category, while Louis Yates and Jacob Wilkinson ensured a sixth place in the team prize.

Florence Simm, Erin Eastham, and Jennifer Irving finished within 90 seconds of each other to place eighth U11 girls’ team, while Charlie Cowburn stormed to a commanding victory in the U13 boys’ race, with a winning margin of 10 seconds allowing him time to enjoy the applause.

Kitty Crossland ran very well to place third in the U13s girls’ race, with Amelia Shan and Maya Gosh helping secure fifth team.

Harry Yates continued his string of fine performances with sixth in the U15 boys’ race and Grace Mort came eighth in a highly-competitive U15 girls’ race - the top 10 all finishing within 90 seconds of each other.

Ted Billington narrowly missed out on a top-10 finish in the U17 men’s event, while the U17 women dominated their race, placing three in the top five. Charlotte Wilkinson ran exceptionally to finish second, with Emma Bradley rounding out the podium and Alice Tucker coming in fifth. This was a convincing win for the young women in their team classification.

In the senior women’s race, Alison Mort was first Harrier home in 29th place out of a large field of more than 100. Helen Macdonald was snapping at her heels, 10 places and less than 30 seconds behind. The two are used to running together, being good friends and regular attendees at the Tuesday night track sessions Harriers host at Bolton Arena.

The rain was sheeting down as eight Horwich Harriers lined up at the start of the senior men’s race, and it did nothing to improve underfoot conditions after a long day’s racing across already waterlogged parkland.

Many runners could be overheard bemoaning their choice of footwear and regretting not installing longer spikes for more grip up the steep, slimy climbs and round the boggy bends.

The normal ankle-deep stream crossing had become a slightly trickier proposition, with the water both deeper and faster running than usual.

Sam Fairhurst scraped inside the top 20 in his first cross-country race of the season, though he nearly lost a shoe in the slop.

Marcus Taylor began his ‘rest period’ by placing fifth MV50, while Chris Essex-Crosby prevailed in his friendly rivalry with Richard O’Reilly, who had to settle for seventh MV55.

Adam Macdonald pinched his wife Helen’s sports watch to log his 13th place V40 run and Chris Charnley was last counter to secure Horwich’s sixth place in the team results. Doug Fleming came agonisingly close to the MV60 podium, and the evergreen Tony Hesketh was first MV75.

Paul Boardman was first MV60 in the Race You to the Summit fell race - the ‘Summit’ being The Summit Inn, in Littleborough, where the race starts and finishes.

The 4.3-mile course was shrouded in mist - suitably spooky for the 56-year-old race where Halloween outfits are encouraged.

In parkrun, last week’s birthday boy Rob Jackson showed age is not slowing him down with seventh overall and first in his age group at South Manchester Parkrun on his return to Platt Fields after three months away.

Harriers turned up to Haigh Woodland Park mob-handed, with five completing the undulating course just outside of Wigan.

Richard O’Reilly used it as a warm-up before dashing over to Leverhulme for the cross-country.

Mary White was the first Horwich Harrier to tackle the brand new Worden Park course - a welcome addition for South Ribble after the demise of Cuerden Valley a couple of years ago.