Burnden Road Runners athletes were out and about competing well at a variety of events last weekend.

And some joined the best cross-country runners across the region at Witton Park in Blackburn to compete in the Northern Athletics Championships.

Mud was ever present – and it had churned up royally for the senior races in the afternoon where runners had the challenge of not only staying upright, but of avoiding their shoes being sucked into the murky depths at notorious points of the route.

Three laps were challenging – particularly for Burnden’s back three ladies who were christened ‘The Three Musketeers’ by club captain Paul Duke, but quickly renamed ‘The Three Must-Get-Here’s’ as it took them a little while longer to finish the course.

High spirits were plentiful however and the atmosphere of the Championships was great, with good support along the route from the marshals and the public.

Gwen Kinloch was first home for the Burnden ladies in 39mins 21secs, followed by Shirley Staveley, in 39:28, and Vicki Hamer, in 39:38.

Other results: Francesca Caine 44:56, Sarah McConnell 1:17:49, Gillian McGowan 1:17:49, Jennifer Forkin 1:17:50.

A group of 750 men set off on their slightly longer and more challenging lapped route and first for Burnden was Duke, who finished in 49:15, followed by Andy Staveley (51:47) and Ian Pudge (1:00:35). Tony Fulop completed two of the three laps in his resilient style then finished in 1:05:17.

With 1,273 feet of elevation and darkness all around, it is no mean feat to finish the Petzl Night Run at Rivington but that is what Carolyn Edwards and Maggie Slamin managed this week.

Though admittedly disappointed not to receive a pretzel on completing, Edwards said this of the tough race: “All my recent Yorkshire hill training really helped tonight and I loved it. Mud and drizzle and fog, and all those steep rocky ascents, and one or two steep descents, too.”

The race, organised by Epic Events, sends competitors out to navigate the boggy, rough and rocky course round Rivington, up to the Pike and across to the Two Lads – something tricky enough in daylight.

Runners were treated to a glow-in-the-dark t-shirt and medal once they had tracked down all the reflective signs illuminating the course. The Burndeners finished in a time of 1:31:00 for the 6.6. miles.

Elsewhere, Shirley Robinson and Jen Forkin were on the coast as they took on a breezy Morecambe 10 Mile as part of their training for the Manchester Marathon.

One of three distances along the promenade, with a 10K and a 5K, this was a mostly flat route beginning at Half Moon Café then following the coastal road past the Eric Morecambe statue up to Happy Mount Park and then returning.

The pair kept up a brisk pace with some fuel and water walks and just scraped sub 2 hours with 1:59:37.

Meanwhile, Andy Dunleavy added another string to his bow this week as he achieved the highest age-graded time at Bolton’s parkrun – a brilliant 76.50 per cent for his time of 21:55 – placing him seventh overall.

Terrific Tom Stratton was first Burnden male and placed second overall with 21:02 at Bolton and he was followed by Mark Jackson in fourth with 21:25.

First lady for Burnden was Katherine Baines, who was sixth female in 25:06.

Other Bolton results: Gareth Doherty 22:13, Mark Cannon 22:35, Stephen Horsman 22:54, Chris Worthington 23:37, Martin Cullen 25:21, Lawrence McDonald 26:20, Simon Entwistle 27:23, Ged Turner 27:54, Paul Johnson 28:39, Lyall Mew 30:13, Linda O’Byrne 30:39, Michael Caine 30:45, Teresa Riley 30:47, Philip Glassbrook 31:14, Howard Sparke 32:00, Nia Bell 32:01, Sandra Caine 33:22, Mel Walker 33:50, Kathryn Berry 34:05, Jennifer Entwistle 34:06, Sarah Brown 34:19, Alyson Cullen 34:32, Jenni Partington 35:06, Simon Irving 35:13, Debra Hennessey 39:21, Michelle Carter 44:05.

At Burnley, it was a hop, skip and a jump for Pete Hopley as he finished in a super sub-20 time of 19:43, while wife, Liz, crossed the line in 31:46.

Carol Richardson (35:02) and Michelle Livesey (38:40) were at Haigh Woodland, while Stretford saw Martin Fielding across the field in 22:01 with Adrian Ashburn following exactly half a minute later in 22:31 and Mark Butler joining in 25:16.

Sale Water Park welcomed Chris Greenall across the finish line in 25:10, while Paul Drew was finished at Fleetwood Promenade in 23:24.

Suleman Badat was home in a brilliant 18:12 at Peel and the soon-to-be two Marlands - Simon Marland and Sue Blackman - cheered each other on at Charlton where Marland was back in 23:56 and Blackman finished in 33:49.

Marcus Chester finished ‘Run the date January’ for Burnden Road Runners this week.

He ran 31 unique-length runs between 1 and 31km for 499.7km or 310 miles, 101 of those in the last seven days.

Speaking about the challenge, he said: “It’s been great fun. I did 27k today with Gareth and with Chris, who has gone out of his way to do the first, the last, and the long ones with me.

"It is much appreciated. His support has been invaluable.

"I set off on the first of January not really believing that my foot would hold up, but all of the rehab work seems to have done the trick as it’s been great.

"I know that people do far harder stuff than this, but I wanted to show myself that I can still do things despite a miserable time of it with endless injury over the last 18 months. I could barely jog in November.

"I can draw a line under that now. If it has made you think that you too could do something outside of your own comfort zone, then happy days! Get after it."

Chester's daily average was 16.1km or 10 miles.

Meanwhile, club-mate Emma Walker travelled to the seaside on Sunday for the annual St Anne’s 10-miler.

Conditions are always a little breezy, or in her words ‘bloomin’ windy’ but it is a pleasant route following the promenade and around Fairhaven Lake.

Walker came home in a super time of 1:35:13.