BURNDEN Road Runners broke new ground when they hosted the inaugural Trotters 5 on Sunday, but there was something familiar about the way the second race in the Central Lancs Grand Prix panned out.

Marc Tillotson, the Bolton United Harrier who has dominated recent events, won the five-miler in 27mins 14secs to record his third victory in a row – a feat matched by Astley and Tyldesley’s Maria Lowe, who won the women’s race in 32.33.

Both underlined their class, finishing more than a minute ahead of their nearest rivals and leading their teams to top podium positions.

Tom Carson was the second home for the Bolton men and third overall in 28.40, and team-mate Shay Walker ran 29.22 to finish 10th in only his second ever race.

Ian Selby (30.05), Dave Shaw (30.19), Daryl Bentley (32.48), Nick Howarth (32.56), Andrew Doyle (33.04) and Ben Scott (33.09) put in solid performances to put Bolton second overall in the championship standings.

Daniel Johnson (32.36) and Ken Fowler (34.21) won their categories.

Legendary former Bolton Harrier Ron Hill, now 71, ran 46.52.

As the host club, Burnden Road Runners only had a handful of runners on the start line as the 176-strong field left Smithills Coaching House for two laps of a challenging course over tracks, roads and trails around Smithills. But Steve Nolan flew the flag, winning the V50 prize in 30.03.

Andrew Duffy (33.20), Lee White (33.22), Tim Taylor (39.44), David Preece (41.52) and, making a long awaited comeback, Neil Critchley (42.14) were the other Burnden racers in the men’s event.

Burnden’s Kirsty Preece ran an excellent race to finish second in the women’s race and first F40 in 33.33.

Bolton Harriers women finished second in the team event and first in the women’s vets with Caroline Scholes (35.42) winning the F35 category and Jayne Dickinson (38.11) and Catherine Jones (42.08) in support.

Stuart Sharp led a 12- strong Radcliffe AC contingent, finishing fifth in 28.48 and there was success in the women’s event with Sheila Jones first V50 om 43.22 and Eileen Royle first V60 in 43.14.

Kath Davies (V45), who is training for the London Marathon, was first Radcliffe woman home in 41.12.

The Grand Prix series now takes a break for a month as the endurance season approaches.

The Bolton 10K takes place on April 17 at Leverhulme Park. Anyone interested in entering can get details by visiting the website www.bolton10k.co.uk