Cassidy is first home

BERNARD Cassidy was the first of 24 Royton Road Runners to cross the line in the Ron Hill’s 70th Birthday 5k race at Littleborough.

Cassidy’s time of 18 minutes 47 seconds was good enough to edge out Dave Kershaw, whose time of 18:55 was a personal best for this distance.

Colin Green (19:32), Dave Emanuel (19:57), Dave Whittam (19:58) and Robert Kellett (20:00) were the next to finish, followed by Dave Hall (20:20) and Stuart Hulme (20:21), two new members.

John Higgins (20:45), Steve Shaw (20:53), Ian Casey (20:57), over-60s runner Dave Phillips (21:12) and Debbie Shaw (21:17) all recorded creditable times.

Sheila Waite (22:25) was closely followed by Andy Nuttall (22:42) and Dave Smith (22:53).

The other finishers were Helen Knight (23:39), Teresa Hollins (24:08), Michael Bowler (24:39), 75-year-old Louise Gilchrist (24:58), George Meynell (25:41) running despite a knee problem, Tony Hunking (28:19), June Allingan (32:15) and Brian Hurst (36:30).

Three days later, four runners took part in the Royal Children’s Hospital Half Marathon at Swinton.

Barry Greaves was the first Royton runner to complete the race in one hour 26 minutes 32 seconds followed by Robert Kellett (1:33:56), Dave Phillips (1:38:12) and Teresa Hollins (1:49:22).