PRESIDENT Chris Paxton dedicated Radcliffe Athletic Club's nomination in this year's Bury Sports Awards to former head coach Eileen Royle, who died earlier this year.

Radcliffe made the final 10 in the community club category, which was won by Streetshakers Dance and Fitness.

The winners were revealed at a ceremony at Bury Town Hall last week, when each nominated club was presented with a framed certificate.

Paxton said: "I am extremely proud of reaching the final. The club has made great strides this year through hard work and dedication of our wonderful volunteers and members.

"However, none of our recent success would have been possible without the solid footing that our previous committee put us on, particular the work of former head coach Eileen Royle." 

Neal Emmerson once again led the way as first finisher of 16 Radcliffe runners who took part in the 34th Through The Villages Race at Wheelton, Chorley, on Sunday.

He was third overall after completing the undulating 8.4-mile course, which included 850 feet of ascent, in 49mins 41secs.

Strong finishes for Ian Warrington (19th, 54:35) and Paxton (41st, 57:51) clinched the men's team prize for Radcliffe.

Other finishers: Dave McGrath 59:54, Mike Kontowtt (V50) 1:00:01, Mauro Rotondi (V45) 1:02:13, Dave Rushton (V50) 1:03:01, Kris Lee (V40) 1:07:00 Amanda Hey (third V50) 1:11:37, Sheila Jones (second V60) 1:13:14, Kath Davies (V50) 1:17:24, Lisa Carter (V45) 1:17:37, Kirsten Cook (V55) 1:18:42, Karen Doherty (V40) 1:28:03, Lucy Dewhurst 1:38:13, Andy Wheeler (V60) 1:38:47.

Sarah Oxley and Bev McGrath faced 4,000 feet of climbing and lots of mud when they ran the 30-mile White Rose Ultra on Saturday.

Billed as the perfect introduction to ultra distance running, the course set off from Marsden, near Huddersfield, and took in tracks and trails on parts of the Kirklees Way and Pennine Way.

Oxley and McGrath made it to the finish before the cut-off time of eight hours.

Three took to the hills around Todmorden when they ran the Shepherds Skyline Fell Race from Lumbutts on Saturday.

Covering 6.2 miles and 1,148 feet of climbing, Mauro Rotondi (V45) clocked 1:05:43, just ahead of John Barton in 1:05:44 and Scott Baxter in 1:09:02.

Chris Fletcher ran the Cheshire 10k, billed as one of the fastest 10,000m events in the country, around flat rural roads in Antrobus.

But he was disappointed with his finish time of 48:26, well outside his intended target of 46:00, which earned him 351st place out of 1,234 runners.

Zena Knowles was not far behind in 56:40.