While the eyes of most of the country were on the Great Manchester Run, last weekend several Horwich Harriers ventured away from the roads.

Danny Hope and Dan Gilbert took on the Blackstone Edge fell race in Littleborough, a 3.5-mile race with 1,200 feet of ascent. Hope came second, taking first V40 in a rapid 34mins 7secs, while Gilbert took third M40 in 37:42.

Suzanne Budgett had another fine day on sunlit fells at the Hutton Roof fell race, near Kirkby Lonsdale, taking first V60 over a seven-mile course with 1,300 feet of ascent.

Unsurprisingly, the Great Manchester Run also featured several Harriers.

Gareth Webb was one of those running the half-marathon as England Masters faced their Welsh counterparts, and he came fourth V65 and just missed the podium in a splendid time of 1:30:13, putting him 17th in the UK rankings at his age group and he ran a minute faster compared to two years ago.

Gary Aylett was the second Harrier home in an impressive 1:35:37, Sam Fairhurst was on pacing duties for his partner Stephanie McKee, who was aiming for sub 1:45 and deservedly broke it by a minute, while Lawrence and Heather Pinnell also ran the event together on a course that took in the unexpected climb on Mancunian Way as well as the Etihad and Old Trafford football grounds.

Over in the shorter 10k, Rob Jackson continued his splendid form in a superb battle with clubmate Keagan Rowe. Jackson edged out Rowe in a hard-fought battle by two seconds in a fast 38:24, taking third position in the V55 category in the process and also discovering his coaching also helped his niece and her boyfriend to personal-best times.

Steve Thomasson found the humid conditions a touch too tropical for his liking and just missed a sub-45 time, while Grant Allen took off in one of his first runs in a Horwich vest with a fine result of 48:03. Jamie De Maio broke 70 minutes with 1:09:30, while Michael Houghton got around in a capable 1:26:16 in one of the highlights of the British road racing calendar with around 25,000 finishers.

Parkrun saw plenty of Harriers putting their collective best foot forward.

Nick Kelly produced the fastest parkrun of the weekend from Horwich, breaking 20 minutes at Haigh Woodland, while Lawrence Pinnell continued his return to action and Gillian Smith maintained her consistency in performance.

Michael Crook ran 34:23 at Pennington Flash, Gary Porteous ran 23:35 at Bolton, Gordon Stone clocked up 30:30 at Worsley Woods, Graham Schofield did 24:23 at Witton, while Jason and Janet Middleton ran another parkrun together in Alderley Edge and Sam Fairhurst took things easy at Worden, running 27:09.

Some crossed borders to take part, as Mark Kmiec and Angela Greene went to Penrhyn Parkrun, near Bangor in north-west Wales, while Sean McMyler and Maria Lowe remembered their barcodes in Mullingar, Ireland.