The recent Red Rose League at Bury saw some superb runs by Bolton Harriers athletes. The highlight was a tremendous run by new recruit Tom Carson, who marked his debut for the club with a resounding win in the Under 15 boys’ race, leading his new team to victory. He was backed up by another fine performance by Matt Longworth in 3rd, and the winning trio was completed by Andrew Griffin in 15th, closely followed by Jacob McManus one place behind.
The evergreen John Ward made it a double win in the Over 55s category, finishing 57th from over 150 in the open race. Eric Ranicar was close behind as 2nd Over 55 and 60th overall.

The Under 11 boys were also on form, with Jack Garmory in 2nd, Simon Walker in 4th, and William Grimshaw 5th. Another runner up was Fraser Jardine in the Under 17 boys’ race. Showing a big improvement on his last outing, Fraser only just lost out on the line as Horwich’s Joe Christopher made in two wins out of two. He was backed up by Rob Ashworth in 9th.
In the Under 17 girls’ race, Rachel Pounds and Rebecca Fordham finished 6th and 8th, while Oriel Hardman placed 10th in the Under 15s. In the senior women’s’ race Katie Magee ran very well in her first Cross Country outing for the club in 8th place.

A week later the Under 15 boys who won at Bury made their mark at a National level. They finished in an impressive 26th place at the National Cross country relays in Mansfield. Matt Longworth got the boys off to an excellent start in 10th on Leg 1, with the team’s fastest time. Tom Carson ran superbly once again to move up to 5th, leaving Andrew Griffin in the firing line against some of the nation best Under 15 Cross Country runners. Andrew ran bravely and battled to on of the highest positions the club has seen in recent years in the event.

Meanwhile on the roads Anthony Valentine showed that he is back to form after recently suffering a debilitating illness. The 34 year-old finished 8th out of over 300 runners in the tough ‘Through The Villages’ 8.5 mile road race near Chorley. The race was won for the second year running by former Bolton Harrier Paul Freary.