Horwich Harriers has always had a fine tradition of developing promising young athletes, and at the latest Youth Development League outing many of the club’s youngsters put in pleasing performances and clocked up personal-best times.

In the Under-13 boys’ events, Harry O’Connor, Theo Bolton, Oscar Burke and Oliver Torr all had two personal-best performances, while in the U15 boys’ events, Chidera Ajet and Flynn Harris jumped to two new best ever performances, and Francis Crossland, Archie Parker, Jack Fletcher and Joel Ige all ran to one new lifetime best effort each.

The girls were not to be outdone either, as Lily Mort ran to two PBs in the U13s girls, Abi Ajet got one of her own, and in the U15s, Millie Green and Gracie Sherbourne both produced three PBs and three first places. Amelia Shan, Rebecca Essex-Crosby and Leah Stokes also had two PBs and Eve MacDonald got one.

Several Harriers took on the notoriously demanding Three Peaks Fell Race in the Yorkshire Dales - a mighty 24.2-mile race featuring more than 5,200 feet of ascent.

Luke Foley led them home and finished seventh, while Nick Leigh also finished in the top 20 and Keagan Rowe and Dan Gilbert rounded off the rankings, meaning Horwich came 13th out of 37 teams taking part.

A new event came to Bolton with the Bolton Wanderers Community 10K last Sunday.

It saw more than a thousand finishers, featuring a start and finish outside the Toughsheet Stadium and an undulating course that took in the Beehive roundabout and a prolonged stretch out and back along Chorley New Road.

Rob Jackson continued his fine form with a fast 38:47, Gareth Webb and Sean McMyler came first and second in the V60 category with times of 40:31 and 42:24, respectively, while Neil Holding came fourth in the same category, in 44:39 and William Hayes took second place in the U20 section with a rapid 43:14.

Meanwhile Stephen Pearson returned to road and did 58:25, and Gillian White finished in 1:09:36.

Various parkruns saw several Harriers out and about - the quickest Horwich run of the weekend coming from Richard Pollitt, who blasted around Alexandra Parkrun on the famously flat route in an excellent time of 17mins 27secs. It also represented a PB, while taking first V45 in the process.

Graham Schofield ran a fine age percentage of 74 per cent at Pendle, taking first V65 in 23:16, while Sophie Orrell was first junior girl at Peel, in 24:43.

Andrew Crickmore was found in more distant climes in the Cambridgeshire town of Huntingdon, running a fine 24:02, while the evergreen Mary White took on the wilds of Worsley Woods, coming home as first F70 in an excellent 26:51 and running up the best age percentage of the day, with 87.21 per cent.