Harriers on fine form

CROSS-COUNTRY: OLDHAM and Royton Harriers were in sparkling form in the third race of the Red Rose Cross-Country League at Leverhulme Park, Bolton.

Christopher Brown produced the race of his young life in the under-13 boys’ race, finishing strongly in second place in 10min, 49sec.

Other fine performances were posted by Conner Colleavey (10th in 11:49), Luke Brierley (12:28) and James Riley (15:22).

Adam Howard continued his domination of the under-15 boys’ category, winning for the third time this season in 12:40.

Alex Taylor ran well to be sixth in the under-11 boys’ race in 7:03, while Elle Morrison (7:43) was 22nd in the girls’ event.

Pam Hudson (26:54) was 57th in the senior women’s race and second in her age group.

The under-17s’ section saw Jane Augsburger run strongly for fourth in 21:58, followed by Andrea Baker (sixth in 24:19) and Emma Hook (12th in 29:47).

David Smith (44:43) finished 67th in the men’s race, ahead of Simon Smith (93rd in 46:59) and Graham Hook (116th in 48:52).

Six Harriers athletes travelled to Leeds for the Abbey Dash 10k in aid of Help the Aged.

Jason Horsforth led the team home, improving his personal best from 40:13 to 38:40 with a great run in windy conditions.

Pete Williams lowered his season’s-best by over a minute to 43:00 and was followed by Sara Bott, who ran well for 49:04.

Three recent recruits, Sharon Horsforth, Maggie Elliott and Paula Lashley, each went into the race with 10k bests of over 53 minutes. But they showed the benefit of hard training over the last two months as Sharon finished in 49:39, with Maggie and Paula crossing the line together in 49:49.