The Manchester Half-Marathon saw several Horwich runners hit the streets of Stretford and Sale with success.

More than 18,000 runners finished and Joe Mercer was a splendid 33rd in 1hr 10mins 35secs, while Simon Bruton finished in the top 200 with a fine time of 1:16:43 and Steven Horrocks was well inside the top half of the field in a respectable 1:50:18.

Away from the roads, both the Red Rose and Manchester League had cross-country events on last weekend. The Manchester League event took place at Heaton Park, where Archie Fletcher, Oliver Hughes and Jennifer Irving competed in the under-11s, Leo Orrell produced a fine run in the U13s to be well inside the top half, while Jessie Cox, Maya Gosh and Abigail Taylor all ran well.

Finlay Mann almost reached the top 25 in the U15s, while Charlie Cowburn, Flynn Harris, Olivia Taylor, Sophie Orrell, Amelia Shan and Holly Turner took part. Mark Titmuss did reach the top 25 in the U17s, ably supported by Joseph Lawman and Tia Harris.

Hayley Winder was the sole club runner in the senior women’s race and came in the top half of the field, while Nick Leigh was 25th in the senior men’s race and second V45. Powerful performances from Julian Goudge, Alistair Murray and James Titmuss, ably supported by David Barnes, Matthew Wilson and Phil Marsden, saw the senior men’s team finish 16th out of 50 teams.

The Red Rose event at Witton Park, Blackburn, saw Ben Essex-Crosby take third in the U11s boys’ race and Louis Yates finishing just outside the top 10, while April Mort held her own in the girls’ race. Matthew MacDonald came in the middle of the pack in the U13s, while Kitty Crossland produced the performance of the day to win the U13s girls’ race by more than 20 seconds. Harry Yates continued his fine form with a third position in the U15s, Eve MacDonald running well in the girls’ version. The senior women were fourth of 14 teams as six runners, namely Stephanie McKee, Helen MacDonald, Alice Tucker, Alison Mort and Emma Bradley, finished within just over a minute of each other in the top 30, while Mary White was first LV70 again. The senior men’s team were seventh out of 12, with Sam Fairhurst leading them home and a fine V60 win for Adrian Bramham as second Horwich counter, followed by Adam MacDonald, Matt Walsh and Chris Essex-Crosby. Richard O’Reilly came in as sixth counter in his first race for months after knee injuries, while Simeon Lucas and Jason Middleton also competed.

Several Harriers also got their parkrun fix across the UK and Ireland. Chris Charnley travelled furthest this week to Limerick where, instead of five lines, he reeled off five kilometres in 21:29.

Rob Jackson took on a slightly wetter Peel course after injury and came first V55 in 18:44, while Andrew Crickmore saw a PB in 20:20. Danny Hope came third at Worden in 18:49, Adele Lever ran a PB at Lytham Hall in 32:15. Gillian Smith was first V75 at Haigh Woodland in 36:08, Ellie Leach broke 30 minutes for the first time, running a 29:52 PB at Preston, Mark Seddon ran 26:25 at Bolton and the trio of Andrew Storey, Gail Maxfield and Marcus Taylor clocked 27:47, 28:39 and 33:20, respectively, at Worsley Woods.