RADCLIFFE AC's John Scarlett notched up a personal best time when he took on the Greater Manchester Marathon in Trafford on Sunday.

Twenty-one-year-old Scarlett finished in 3hrs 17mins 54secs, seven minutes quicker than his last marathon in Manchester. In his fifth marathon he was one of two club members joining the thousands running the event in cool but good conditions on a course billed as the flatest and fastest in the North of England. Dave Bartlett clocked 4:02:26, despite battling with a cold bug. He was disappointed with his time after many months of training.

In the Cheshire 10k at Arley Hall, Warrington the day before there was more disappointment. Chemane Brier had to cope with a sore hip during the run but in sunny but cool conditions she still managed to run a respectable 46mins 43secs, the fastest among the Radcliffe runners.

Vince Ashton ran a fine race in 47.04 with Amanda Hey just four seconds behind. Heys' time of 47:08 was a new personal best and she was pleased with a top 300 finish out of the 1,040 runners. Neal Emmerson ran 36:36 and Adrian Harris (V60) 43:46.

In the popular 5k parkruns Mark Williams (V45) was 14th out of a big field at Bolton when he ran 20:35, Paul Swyers (V45) ran 22:57, Mark Wolfenden (V45) 23:09, Eileen Royle (V65) 27:06, Mark Williams' daughter, Junior Grace clocked 27:43 and Dawn Evans (V45) ran 35:12.

At Heaton Park there was a record entry of more than 600 runners with Sheila Jones (V55) coming home in 22:54, finishing in 85th position and Rachael Molloy running 29:26.

This weekend several members will be taking part in the London Marathon.