It was a weekend of stormy weather that greeted Horwich Harriers but that did not stop some good cross-country performances.

Runners were left waiting with some trepidation as to whether the combined South East Lancashire, itself the re-arranged and previously postponed Tandle Hill third leg of that series, and the Red Rose series would be postponed or cancelled.

On Saturday morning good news was received the course was safe and runnable, and competitors were invited to pack their spikes and attend the Marl Pits event.

At the time of writing the South East Lancashire results are provisional and known to be erroneous. Louis Yates was 14th (9mins 41secs), Toby MacDonald 21st (10:22) and Alex Westwood 29th (11:08) with the team placing fifth overall in the under-11 boys’ category. Isla Newton, Imogen Meakin and Jennifer Irvine were second (9:30), 21st (11:19) and 24th (12:40), respectively.

Matthew MacDonald was the only red-vested runner in the U13s boys’ race, finishing sixth (12:44), while grabbing a fourth overall U13s girls’ result were Grace Freary in ninth (12:55) and Amelia Shan in 12th (13:41), pipping her team-mate Eve McDonald by one second.

In the seniors, Lindsey Bridle was 44th (37:43) and sixth Vet 40 lady, while in the senior men’s, Lawrence Pinnell made a Lazarus-like appearance to be first Harrier back in sixth position (35:55) and first Vet, marginally ahead of Alastair Murray in seventh (36:02) and second Vet 44.

Mark Walsh was 15th (37:04) and second Vet 55. Simeon Lucas completed the course in 44:20 for 44th position.

At the Red Rose series co-hosted with South East Lancashire, in the U11s, Louis Yates placed 21st (9:41) for the boys, with Isla Newton in sixth (9:30) and Jennifer Irving 35th (12:40) for the girls.

Kitty Crossland and Amelia Shan finished seventh (11:21) and 20th (13:40), respectively, in the girls’ U13s, while Harry Yates finished 10th (19:03) and Francis Crossland 18th (20:31) for the boys in the U15s race.

Grace Mort placed 10th (21:34) in the U15 girls’ category and in the U17s girls, Charlotte Wilkinson finished second (25:42), securing second overall in the series. Emma Bradley was fourth in 27:59.

There was another solid race for Helen MacDonald in the senior ladies, completing the course in 22nd (29:09), third Vet40 and eyeing a podium there being only three points separating bronze, silver and gold.

In the senior men’s the first two Harriers, Alastair Murray and Marcus Taylor, had a close battle, being separated by mere seconds at the line. Murray was 18th (36:02) overall and third Vet 45, while Taylor was 19th (36:12) with a vet 50 category win. Mark Walsh was 25th (37.04) and second Vet 55, while another MacDonald clan member, Adam, placed 42nd (38:50) and ninth Vet 40.

Douglas Fleming finished 65th (43:13) and third Vet 60, with Simeon Lucas 74th in 44:20.

Club legend, Tony Hesketh, was 97th (53:06) and first vet 75 as the results helped Harriers to fifth senior team and an excellent second-placed senior vet team.

On the other side of the Pennines from the cross-country action, fell running captain, Dan Gilbert, was out racing in his favourite discipline at Todmorden in the Hoofstones Fell Race.

An eight-mile long course, with 1,250 feet of ascent, the race has a steep start line followed by a traipse across unmarked boggy moorland to visit two checkpoints, including the trig point at Hoofstones, the highest point on the moors surrounding Todmorden.

The section after Hoofstones is the crux of the race, offering options to take the fence lines to rejoin the outward route or take a shorter direct route across pathless open moorland.

Steadily working his way through the field up to fourth position for the climb up to Hoofstones, matters took a turn for the worse on the direct route with a slip on a boggy section and a pulled muscle in the process.

A hobble rather than a dash to the finish ended in dropped places and an eighth overall finish, second vet 40 (1:13:19)

In the weekly parkrun, Lindsey Brindle was 28th (21:38) and second lady at the rather hilly Heaton Park.

Club chairman, Glynne Lever, is on the comeback trail, finishing 58th (23.02) and sixth Vet 50 out of a large field of 412 runners at Preston, while Andrew Crickmore was 66th (26:43) at Huntington and there was a win for Killian Mooney at Cabinteely with an excellent time of 16:33.