A combination of school holidays and injuries meant a somewhat quieter week of running for Horwich Harriers.

On the fells, Sam Fairhurst took fourth position in the Pilgrims Cross fell race on August 14 in the third event of four in the series, running the 6.5-mile course with 1,400 feet of ascent in a rapid 45mins 57secs.

Matt Fawthrop rounded off the top 10 in a shade over 49 minutes, Nick Kelly was second V55 in 55:03, Kevin Newall came in under the hour, Gary Chadderton was fourth V60 in 1:02:07 and Lawrence Pinnell rounded off the evening in 1:08:26.

Meanwhile, some of Horwich’s youngsters enjoyed a weekend racing at Witton Park, in Blackburn, in a combined team with Chorley.

Alistair Sharrock came second in his heats over 100 and 200 metres, Michael Houghton came second in the discus and shot put and the girls’ 4x100m relay team of Olivia O’Connor, Shannon Knott, Bethany Reid and Blythe Cordwell won their heat in a time of 55:50.

Over at Bury, Jack Fletcher ran a pair of personal-best times, namely 13.7 in the 80m hurdles, and showed impressive speed on the flat with a 13.57 for the 100m.

Louis Yates followed Jack with a PB over 600m in a time of 1:55.55. Lily Mort, Sarah Lawman, Harry Yates, and Grace Freary also took part with all competing well. In fact, Lily won her heat in the 150m in 21.89, as well as winning in 75m in 11:04.

Out on the roads, Layne Mercer took on the twisting 10K at Tatton Park on the evening of August 14 and came home as first V55 in a fine 42:48.

Several Harriers were found at parkrun and if you went down to Worsley Woods three were in for the hilly surprise.

Gail Maxfield ran a PB for the course in 29:10 and Jeannette Lewis was one position and four seconds faster, while Geoff Leach continued his return with 30:46.

The Middletons were found at Burnage, where Jason ran 27:57 and Janet did 33:52, while the Orrells rocked up at Haigh Woodland’s hilly track where Leo recorded a very fine 23:15 and Sophie went all Yager and Evans to cross the line in 25:25.

Andrew Crickmore was on somewhat familiar turf at Huntingdon Parkrun, in Cambridgeshire, completing the course in exactly 21:00.

Brendan Bolland went to Keswick and ran 27:42, Tony Hesketh fancied a trip to Blackpool and broke 28 minutes as well, getting round in 27:53, while Dominic Jones ran Worden in 23:09.

However, the furthest traveller of the weekend happened to be the fastest as Joe Mercer popped up at Reeuwijkse Hout Parkrun, between Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and came first with a splendid 16:28.

Away from racing, Harriers made a generous donation of £1,000 to Bolton Mountain Rescue Team in recognition of the work they do in ensuring club races help pass off without a hitch.

Club track training is at 7pm on Tuesday at the Bolton Arena and for the hardier, there’s a hill session at 6.30pm starting from the Lower Barn at Rivington with everyone welcome to attend both.