This Wednesday, 28 Radcliffe AC members headed to the latest of the Central Lancashire Grand Prix fixtures, the Haigh Hall 4 Mile Trail Race. Mark Williams was the first back for the club in 27:22 (1st MV60), followed by Michael Kontowtt (28:39), Mark Garner (29:01), Nathan Walker (29:22), Mark Taylor (30:45), Dominic Parry (30:48), John Szubert (31:18), Chemane Thomas (31:46), Paula Abernethy (31:53), Laura Aiken (31:57), Lucie Tighe (32:26), Lisa Antrobus (33:34), David Schofield (35:23), Sharon Bowden (36:02), Steve Crowe (36:34), Katherine Swithenbank (37:18), Sarah Wilson (37:24), Alison Howarth (37:27), Cath Jones (38:11), Elaine Bailey (39:02), Gail Harrison (41:47), Ella Henry (43:39), Tracy Wroe (43:56), Nikki Anderson (44:50), Sheila McNulty (45:14), Michael Scott (49:25), Bev Quinton (50:24) and Sara Parry (54:01).  

Thursday saw Ian Swan in Horwich for the Walsh Two Lads Fell Race, a tough 5 mile route with 1,030 feet of elevation up onto the Pennines, heading for Two Lads before descending back to the finish line in just 45:08.  

On Friday, Karen Doherty took part in the first race of the Rochdale Three Day Event hosted by the Rochdale Harriers, with this year marking the 30th annual staging. Doherty finished the Norden 6 Mile Road Race with around 700 feet of ascent in 59:00. The next day, she took on the Naden Valley Multi Terrain Race, an undulating three lap 9.3K course with with 241 metres of ascent, in 1:10:06. Finally, she completed the Knowl Hill Fell Race, a six mile route alongside Greenbooth and Naden Reservoirs with a scramble up to the moors around the Knowl Hill trig point, in 1:32:08, taking first FV50 for the full series.  

The latest Cragg Runners Sprint 5k was run by Nathan Walker in a speedy 22:11 with Dominic Parry only seconds later in 22:14. 

  
Junior Lexi was the third girl in the 3k of the series in 12:37 and Skyler did brilliantly in the 2k in 11:08. 

Kath Biddle’s latest distance was the Windermere Marathon, which she finished in 4:39:28. This challenging road event took runners around England's largest lake in the Lake District with around 600m of elevation. 

On Thursday, five Radcliffe AC members headed for the Leo Pollard Memorial Fell Race in Rivington. Straight up to the pike, up to Two Lads, the mast at Winter Hill, a cross-country gallop back to the pike over beautiful boggy moorland, followed by a fast technical downhill back to the barn, Ian Swan was first for the club in 50:42, followed by Neil Greenhalgh (52:14), Nathan Walker (54:25), Donna Cartwright (third lady) (55:13) and Mark Garner (55:41). 

Friday evening saw two distances for the IronMan Night Run. First to finish the 10k was Mark Taylor in just 45:55, followed by Dan Hunt (47:16), John Szubert (48:57), Lucie Tighe (49:54) and Lisa Antrobus (58:43), supporting a friend on their first ever 10k.  

Mark Williams was the 1st M60-64 in the 5k (19:57), followed by Chris Mihalyi (20:09) Laura Aiken (23:29), Stephen Crowe (26:03) and Grace Williams (33:53). 

On Saturday morning thousands of children descended upon Bolton Town Centre for IronKids, with different distances for each age group. Juniors Thomas, Isla, Poppy, Calla, Grace, Lola, George, Skyler and Benjamin had a brilliant day with a lot of serious effort and even more camaraderie and team spirit.   

Ken Smith raced in the Green Man Trail 15k in the Forest of Bowland, a race with plenty of mud, varied terrain and oodles of stiles (1:53:04).  

On Sunday Mark Garner decided he hadn’t had enough of the fells that week, and took on Edenfield Fell Race, a 10.2 km race with approximately 396 meters of elevation, which he completed 1:06:55. 

Emma Woolstencroft braved Dalby’s Inferno, a Backyard style Ultra Marathon in Dalby Forest, featuring hourly 5.5K trail loops with runners building towards a 55K ultra distance, in around 8:01:56 total run time. 

Lisa Riley hit the Lakeland Trails Marathon in Coniston on Saturday, completing the circuit of Coniston Water along footpaths and bridleways in 7:54:07. 

Following wife Laura’s speedy performance on Friday and their children’s superb races at IronKids on Saturday, the club’s newest recruit, Michael Aiken, finished up a solid weekend of sport for the whole family with the IronMan 70.3 triathlon. He completed the 1.9km swim in 39:41, the 90km cycle in 2:55:45 and half marathon run in 1:51:18 for a total time of 5:22:08 including transitions. 

Radcliffe AC’s Jack Porter ran the Stockholm Marathon on Saturday, taking runners through the beautiful capital of Sweden, hurtling towards the finish in a very impressive 02:59:46.  

On Saturday, three juniors headed to the Manchester Regional Arena for the first events of the Great Manchester Run. Skyler (22:04) and Benjamin (22:10) enjoyed a chat round the 2.5k Junior race followed by Grace running the 1.6km Mini race in 9:57.  

Six senior members ran the half marathon the next morning through the streets of Manchester, with Cameron Sharples first back for the club in just 1:38:43, followed closely by Mark Garner (1:41:32), Alex Field (1:44:27), Lucie Tighe (1:54:50), Daniel Hunt (1:56:38) and John Szubert (2:17:23). 

Four then took on the 10k, with Rebecca Chambers-Nolan finishing her first race as a new member in 1:10:11, along with Bev Quinton (1:21:36), Mike Scott (1:21:36) and Iain Harris (2:38:12). Mike was also running for the charity Campaign Against Living Miserably, and raised £270 - well done Mike!