RADCLIFFE AC had superb conditions for the third running of the 13 Arches Trail Half Marathon and Bury AC’s Ben Coop repeated last year’s win, setting a new course record in 1hr 19mins 3secs.

He beat last year’s time by 41 seconds and second-place runner, the unattached Adam Gorski, also repeated his success from last year and ran 1:20:04, 50 seconds faster.

Third place among the men went to vet-50 Mark Russell, of Salford Harriers, clocking 1:20:23.

Susan Clapham (V50), unattached, was first woman in 1:38:18, with Jenny Pilling from Rochdale Harriers coming second in 1:41:59 and Claire Raho, of Holcombe Harriers, third in 1:43:07.

Rossendale Harriers were first men’s team and the first women’s team prize went to Swinton Running Club.       

The popular event was another sell-out for Radcliffe with the 500 entries filling within a matter of weeks and more than 400 finishing on Sunday.

The chip-timed course started from the track at Cams Lane, Radcliffe and ran along the local sculpture trail and into Philips Park with the listed 13 arched railway viaduct at its centre. Members marshalled and juniors played their part helping at the feed station.

Registration and the presentation were at Cams Lane Primary School and the prizes were presented by club president Tom West, along with Fiona Lynch (race director) and Iain Harris.

Regular features have been the cake stall ,with cakes provided by members, and massages given by member Paula Abernethy and the cash raised given to charity. This year £315 will go to the local children’s hospice Grace’s Place.

On the Radcliffe AC racing scene there were plenty of awards for the club at the Central Lancs Grand Prix presentation evening at Leigh Sports Village on Friday night.

Among the men, Dave McGrath took third overall and Chris Whittaker fourth after a grand prix battle between clubs throughout the season covering 10 races.

Jenny Yates was fourth woman overall and first vet-50 and Katie Percival was fifth overall.

First vet-35 was Amanda Callan and Helen Sandiford was second with Kate Holden second vet-40.

People who ran all 10 races received an award and they were: Nick Barnes, Kirsten Cook, Wayne Holden, Chris Whittaker and Jenny Yates along with those who completed nine events, Dave McGrath, Sarah Rushton and Andy Wheeler.

There was a good turnout at the Red Rose Cross Country League event from Marl Pits, Rossendale on Saturday.

Donna Cartwright was 11th out of 139 and second vet-40 among the women and Neal Emmerson 22nd out of 184.

Dave McGrath was 51st, Chris Whittaker 55th, Chris Paxton 61st, Ian Warrington 67th and John Wrigley 77th making up the men’s team which was fifth out of 13 teams.

Among  the women, Katie Percival (26th) and Kate Holden (74th) formed the team which was seventh out of 17.

Caroline Malone, Amanda Darbyshire, Sharon Peterkin and Victoria Glossop also ran.

Craig Norman and Mark Wolfenden also ran among the men.

Juniors who took part were Sam Howard, who was 21st in the u11s, and his brother Arthur and Ben Darbyshire and in the u17s, Lachlan Burke. Among the girls Fleur Carter and Niamh Warr took part.

Mike Cooke ran his toughest race yet when he competed in the Hell of A Hill Marathon at Rivington on Saturday.

He clocked 4:30:16 and was 10th and third vet-45.

Two members took on the challenging 16.8-mile Tour of Pendle on Saturday, Fiona Lynch covering the tough 4,833 feet of climbing in 3:24:00 and Lisa Carter, despite suffering cramp, finishing in 4:27:00.