BURY athlete Byron Edwards smashed his personal best by more than a minute as he crossed the line first for the club at the Salford 10k road race on Good Friday.

Recording a time of 34mins 40secs in finishing 10th in his V40 age category, he is in the form of his life and the performance sets him up well for this month’s London Marathon.

Edwards was one of 17 athletes from Bury AC competing and the flat course and good conditions resulted in a number of new PBs being set.

Next home for the club was Ben Jones, taking nearly 30 seconds off his previous best in a time of 35:37.

Josh Birmingham was another Bury runner to set a new lifetime best, taking over a minute and a half off his previous best in a time of 37:08.

Paul Johnston was hot on Birmingham’s heels and his finishing time of 37:43 took over a minute off his previous best time for the distance.

Next came Chris Mackay, crossing the line in 38:32 – again a new personal best from a Bury athlete.

Giles Bennett was the next Bury finisher and while his time of 39:22 was not a new best, it was good enough to secure him eighth place in the V50 age category.

Anthony Hallahan, in his first outing over 10k, ran well to record a time of 40:14.

Katie Geelan was Bury’s first female finisher in 40:16 – a run that gave her second in the F45 category.

Colin Smith was the next Bury finisher in 45:35, followed by Bev McAuley, recording 46:30 on her debut over the distance.

Steve Parker was the next Bury athlete home in 48:48 followed by the evergreen Ed Hitchin who was fourth V70 finisher in a time of 49:10.

The other Bury finishers were Susan Wheeldon (50:59), Pam Hitchin (52:40), Alison Dale (52:56), Nicola Brown (55:54) and Dave Carroll (56:49).

Elsewhere, Sophie Whittaker took on the Howgill Fell race at Sedbergh on the same day.

A monster of a course of over 14 miles with nearly 7,000 feet of climbing, it is truly a leg sapper but she completed the course in just over four hours and described the experience as "horrendous".

Thirteen-year-old Freya Potts was the first finisher in Saturday’s parkrun at Heaton Park in an impressive new personal best for the course of 20:43 in cold and windy conditions.

Other Bury finishers included Patrick Babb (17:44), Paul Johnston (18:50), Katie Geelan (21:15), Steven Tobias (21:56), Lizzi Cheshire (22:29), Nicola Harland (22:45), Lauren Booth (23:23), Ed Hitchin (24:54), Pam Hitchin (26:42), young Lola Potts (28:20), Brianne Turner (29:27) and Alison Dale (30:01).