McBride storms to personal best

ATHLETICS: DAVE McBride of Royton Road Runners smashed his personal best in the Chester Half Marathon.

He recorded a time of one hour 20 minutes and seven seconds to claim 24th spot in a field of more than 2,000 finishers.

McBride split the Royton club’s pre-race favourites Stuart Carroll and Ian Bishop.

Carroll (1:18:50) continued his fantastic form with yet another PB and maximum points in the club championship series. Bishop was 28th, less than a minute behind McBride.

The women’s race was as competitive as ever. Carole Madden won second FV50 prize in 1:30:41, but in a strong field her position as 10th woman overall is even more impressive.

Debbie Fiddling was the next Royton woman home, her time of 1:36:55 putting her more than two minutes ahead of Debbie Shaw.

Teresa Hollins was third in the F55 (1:48:52), and was followed by Kay Fitton (2:01:55), Diane Allingan (2:10:57), Anne Jones (2:12:40) and June Allingan (2:15:22).


O’Brien leads way for Harriers

LEE O’Brien led the way for Oldham and Royton Harriers in the Great Manchester Run, posting a new personal best of 41 minutes 19 seconds.

Returning after a long lay-off, Jason Horsfield recorded a fine time of 42:19, and was followed by Paula Lashley (52:47), Chris Beadsworth (52:48), Elloise Garside (55:13) and Maggie Elliott (62:40).

In the junior run, Christopher Brown was fourth in the under-15s race in 11:05 and Rachel Emmott was ninth in the girls race (14:54). Megan Murphy clocked 15:23, Emma Burman 15:54 and Megan Whitworth 17:00.