Luke Foley was first Horwich Harrier home in the final round of the English Fell Championships at Langdale.

Hundreds of the country’s best fell runners descended on the Old Dungeon Ghyll to take on the Blisco Dash, the route taking competitors from the valley floor to the rocky peak of the eponymous Pike of Blisco 2.5 miles and 2,000 feet of ascent away, before a hair-raising descent back down.

Foley was again the first Horwich runner home, stopping the clock at 42mins 34secs in 34th place. This was good enough to clinch 26th overall in the highly competitive Men’s Open championships. Nick Leigh (64th, 46:22) secured joint second place overall in the M45+ category behind erstwhile Horwich member Rob Hope. Likewise, Julian Goudge consolidated his excellent sixth place in the M50+ category with his 101st place finish (48:55). Those three, along with Sam Fairhurst (65th, 46:26) and James Titmuss (125th, 51:49) finished ninth team on the day.

In the English Championships overall, Horwich were 10th in the Men’s Open and M40+ team prizes and seventh in the M50+ standings, wrapping up a fine campaign from the club’s evergreen veterans.

The annual club race ‘Murder Mile’ took place last Thursday. As the name suggests, the course is a killer, consisting entirely of steep uphill gradients up Gingham Brow, via the gravel footpath to George’s Lane, before finishing on the mast road.

Fairhurst (first, 8:10) overtook V55 Paul Freary (8:21) at just over halfway, with Alastair Murray (8:25) rounding out the podium. The ladies’ race was won by Charlotte Wilkinson, who led from gun to tape, finishing 10th overall in 9:55.

The first junior was Elliot Walker Wilson (9:41), beating his brother, Oscar (9:51), in a close finish.

Steve Thomasson clocked 45:35 at the Run Media City 10k, finishing seventh V40. He was pleased with his result given the twisty and crowded nature of the course that made it hard to maintain a rhythm on a humid evening.

Rob Jackson said “Auf Wiedersehen” to south Manchester as he took to Bremen Unisee Parkrun, in Germany. The country may have differed, but the result was the same as he clocked 18:46 to finish fourth overall, first in age category and first in overall age grading. Given Bremen’s industrial heritage and reputation as a major cultural and economic hub of the north of the country, it’s no wonder Jackson felt right at home.

Richard Pollitt was first finisher in Dublin’s Bushy Parkrun, showing he has been reaping the benefits of a few months’ solid training.

Phil Marsden stopped the clock at 16:53 to finish first in Clarence, while Chris Essex-Crosby took to Henly Wood, in Oswestry, finishing fifth in 21:25.

Popular Peel attracted three Harriers, with Harry Yates clocking 19:19 (21st place and first JM 11-14), Louis Yates finishing in 26:45 and Andrew Storey crossing the line in 26:51.