A DEPLETED Bolton Harriers men’s team produced an excellent performance to finish third at the July edition of Horwich RMI’s Jubilee Race series at Rivington, which was also the setting for the latest round of the Central Lancs Grand Prix.

Horwich were in dominant form, with James Kevan (25:47) in second, Alistair Murray (26:20) third, Andy Buttery (27:00) fourth and David Jackson (28:30) 12th, to take the honours. Astley & Tyldesley were second.

Blackburn Harrier Ben Fish (24:37) was first home out of 208 competitors.

Andrew Parker (27:39) was seventh overall and first home for Bolton, with Shay Walker (27:42), Ben Scott (30:44) and Steve Houghton (30:59) being the team counters.

The most pleasing aspect of the evening for Harriers, however, was the emergence of their women’s team, which has long since been under-represented.

Wearing the blue vest for the first time, Lindsay Standish (35:42) and Sarah Saxon (37:26) joined Jayne Dickinson (36:46) in helping the ladies come fourth.

Bolton-based Maria Lowe (31:12) won again and ensured Astley & Tyldesley just pipped Burnden Roadrunners for the team category, with Wesham Roadrunners not far behind.

There were also solid displays from James Rideout (31:47), Graham Shaw (32:16), Ken Fowler (32:24), Daryl Bentley (32:48), Gary Jones (32:55) and Chris Povey (32:59) to ensure Bolton maintained a gap of 82 points at the top of the A league over Astley & Tyldesley.

The battle between the same two teams in the B category is much closer, as Harriers finished the fifth event of the series with 2,426 points to A&T’s 2,463.

This was due to the important contributions of Paul Turner (33:14), Dean Johnson (33:40), Kaan Rassad (34:22), Craig McKenzie (35:03), Shaun Lomax (39:40), Phil Boardman (39:50), Julie Lomax (41:09), Cath Jones (41:16) and Andrea Burns (42:44).

Burnden Roadrunners were also among the prize winners.

Impressive performances from the club’s veterans saw Steve Nolan, Paul Christie and Mel Walker win the V50, V55 and V65 categories, while Izzy Hughes and Anne Ferguson also claimed first prize in the FV45 and FV50.

Martyn Pollitt and Andy Staveley were second and third V50s and Kirsty Preece was second FV40.

Burnden’s men finished fourth out of the 12 competing clubs and the ladies came third.

The next meeting is the 4.4-mile trail race in Chorley next month.

Burnden Results Horwich Jubilee 5-mile race Steve Nolan 28:24 (1st V50), Martyn Pollitt 30:17 (2nd V50), Andy Staveley 30:41 (3rd V50), Paul Christie 31:56 (1st V55), Lee White (32:07), Kirsty Preece 32:42 (2nd F40), Izzy Hughes 33:18 (1st F45), (Marcus Taylor A&T 34:0), Mel Walker 34:29 (1st V65), Anne Ferguson 35:45 (1st F50), Don Nichol 36:34, Steve Riddle 37:32, Sue Booth 40:05, Mark Butler 40:25, Mel McNulty 41:10, Sue Williams 42:02, Vannessa Knowles 42:45, Marie Holden 48:47, Maria Parkinson 50:29.