Burnden’s Off-Road Championship saw a huge number of 49 runners traversing the fells for the midweek Coronation Trail race.

The race is a great challenge for runners as they navigate six miles of the lesser known Rivington paths around the source and route of the River Yarrow.

First home, and the only Burnden sub-40, was Mark Whittington, in 39mins 43secs - claiming first V50 and 10th overall position. First lady was Lyndsay Darbyshire, in 50:24 - taking first FV55.

Gwen Kinloch was first FV60, in 51:06, and winning his vet category of V65 was Marcus Hamer, in 49:21. Crowned first V70, in 55:02, was Paul Christie, who recently celebrated his milestone birthday so it was his first win of the brand new category.

Phil Glassbrook took home a second V75 for his time of 1:03:44 and claiming third vets were Suleman Badat - third V45 in 42:19 - and Mark Cannon - third V60 in 50:55. Linda Doherty took third FV50, in 53:34, and Kathryn Baron was third FV55, in 55:54. Third V60 went to Marie Parkinson, who crossed in 52:18.

Other results: Paul Duke 42:24, Gareth Doherty 43:13, Michael Kermode 45:16, Ian Pudge 45:30, Andrew Crawford 47:52, Dean Covill 50:04, Adrian Ashburn 50:06, David Smith 51:56, Martin Cullen 51:59, Colm O’Brien 52:37, Vicki Hamer 52:42, Ivan Brown 53:20, Mark Butler 53:48, Gayle Gerrard 55:31, Ryan Moore 56:56, Ged Turner 56:57, Andy Warburton 57:18, Emma Walker 1:00:31, Bernie Jones 1:00:43, Rich Burnett 1:00:50, Louise Righini 1:01:36, Steve Holt 1:01:43, Carolyn Edwards 1:02:30, Katie Walsh 1:02:32, Chris Greenall 1:03:08, Steven Bate 1:04:13, Nicola Halsall 1:04:44, Kathryn Berry 1:05:32, Jocelyn Chadderton 1:06:50, Gillian Morris 1:07:27, Jennifer Entwistle 1:10:26PB, Julie Morrison 1:10:52, David Morrison 1:10:53, Anthony Fulop 1:16:16PB, Shirley Robinson 1:17:19, Cheryl Dunleavy 1:27:30, Jennifer Forkin 1:31:10, Gillian McGowan 1:31:11.

Looking for an opportunity for a run with a bit of fun, a large contingent of Burnden members headed to Radcliffe for the annual Terry Nortley one-mile relays in Close Park. A fun day out for all, Radcliffe AC provided food stalls, expert organisation, a tough but runnable course and even decent weather.

Split into teams, the relays were a great opportunity for a bit of healthy competition within the club as four runners from each team took on a mile.

First home were the Winnards and Losers team - full of winners in this case. Martin Cullen, Rick Winnard, Katherine Baines and Tom Stratton were home in 1:03:01. Next up were the Burnden Marvels - Vicki Hamer, Andrew Crawford, Nicola Halsall and Ravi Patel - home in 1:03:38. The Newlyweds - Joanna and Martin Fielding with Linda and Gareth Doherty - were up the aisle and off through the finish line in 1:07:04. Like a bolt of lightning, The Burnden Bolts - Phil Glassbrook, Louise Righini, Natasha Clarke and Martin Whitehead - were across the finish line in 1:14:03. The Burnden Belters, Julie and Steve Riddle, Jen Forkin and Gillian McGowan were home in 1:28:46, while the Burnden Buzzy Bees, consisting of Sarah Brown, Michelle Livesey, Ian Mann and Cheryl Dunleavy, were through the four miles in 1:36:06.

On a weekend of baking hot conditions, seven Burndeners ticked off the second race of the Chester Triple Challenge, Carolyn Edwards was on the Bronte Trail in aid of Sue Ryder and Maggie Slamin was loving the Lakes as she conquered the Adidas Terrex Trail and a parkrun in Keswick.

Odds were looking good for the Chester hopefuls as they started from the historic racecourse and it was Martin Archer who was first to finish in a PB in 1:54:13. Trotting after were Simon Entwistle, who cycled to the venue, (2:37:18), Jason Attwood (2:44:31), Jennifer Entwistle (2:46:41), Shirley Robinson (3:08:15), Jen Forkin (3:26:25) and Gillian McGowan (3:26:27).

In the heart of Bronte country between her home village of Haworth and Hebden Bridge, Carolyn Edwards completed 13.1 miles of the Sue Ryder Bronte Off-Road Challenge. A new trail race, the Half takes advantage of the well-established route of the Bronte Mountain Bike event and Edwards finished in 3:06:17.

Maggie Slamin was in the thick of the Keswick Mountain Festival and finished the 6.7 miles Adidas Terrex Trail Race in 1:19:49. Held over three days, the festival offers a myriad of activities aside from running including axe-throwing, caving and canoeing. Slamin also slipped a parkrun into the weekend away, finishing Keswick in 29:54.

Last weekend we saw nine Burnden members take part in three separate triathlon events in Southport, St Annes and Nottingham.

Southport saw Sarah Woodiwiss take part in her first standard distance event and achieve a commendable time of 3:37:32.

St Annes Sprint results were:- Mike Caine 1:12:59, Gareth Doherty 1:13:04, Francesca Caine 1:23:57, Ged Turner 1:28:09, Marie Parkinson 1:25:15.

The Outlaw event in Nottingham saw Lyall Mew take part in the Sprint event with a time of 1:13:46.

Burnden also had a relay team for the Half Iron distance at Outlaw, with Josh Palmer and Michelle Carter completing this in 3:29:00.

* Burnden Road Runners truly has something for everyone with a host of training sessions available for members and non-members looking to get involved.

On Mondays between 7-8pm are the Muster Run and Intervals Session - £1 per session.

The Muster Run uses a variety of routes around Bolton to satisfy people’s running fix followed by static stretches. Muster points are opportunities to get extra running in as people have the option to run back to the last runner before returning to the Muster point. The last runner will always be accompanied by a leader or helper. Once a month on meeting night, the run will be an efforts or intervals session. Coming up at the next session on June 3 will be hill repeats to what the club calls ‘The Narnia Lamp-post’ at Barrow Bridge.

The Intervals and Efforts sessions take place at various locations around Bolton. These will start with a short warm-up run to the location followed by dynamic stretches and efforts or intervals then short bursts of running followed by recovery time. Each session will finish with static stretches

On Tuesdays, between 10-11am, is the Bolton Arena Free Community Track Session

Always followed by a chat and a coffee in the café, this session is led by coach and chair, Andy Dunleavy, at Bolton Arena. The session is completely track-based and includes dynamic and static stretches with a variety of interval-based training.

On Wednesdays from 7-8pm is One Foot on the Track , at Leverhulme Park and costing £1 per session

These vary each week from marathon training sessions to a summer-based parkrun improvers group.

To find out more about what the club has to offer, visit their website at burndenroadrunners.co.uk.