RADCLIFFE AC’s Sheila Jones was named the female runner of the decade at Heaton parkrun’s 10th anniversary event.

The Vet-60 said she was “overwhelmed” after receiving a trophy at Saturday’s event.

Jones has run 398 of the free weekly 5ks which take place around the country on Saturday mornings – 351 of them at Heaton Park – notching up a total of 1,990km.

She regularly finishes among the top 10 women and has also volunteered at more than 80 events.

On the racing front, there was more success for Jones who was part of Radcliffe AC’s winning women’s team at the Crazy Cow 10k in Preston.

She also finished first in her age group in 50mins 43secs, where Jenny Yates was first Vet- 50 in 44:59. Also running were Kathryn Davies, who clocked 53:47, Deborah Barrington (54:10), Caroline Malone (55:06) and Tracy Wroe (1:04:43).

There were fantastic results for Radcliffe’s Neal Emmerson and Chris Whittaker when they took part in Race the Train.

The aim of the tough 11-mile event was to beat the steam engine from Bolton Road Station in Bury to Rawtenstall.

And the pair did just that, with Emmerson finishing third in 1:07:22, while Whittaker was eighth in 1:13:22.

Emmerson also led home a 25-strong contingent from Radcliffe AC at the midweek Horwich 5-Mile Race, the fifth fixture in the Central Lancashire Grand Prix in which 10 local clubs compete.

He finished fifth in 28:25 and was part of the winning men’s team along with Whittaker, who was ninth in 29:30, Robert Short, who was four seconds behind in 10th, and Chris Paxton, who ran 30:47 to claim 18th place.

Radcliffe’s women’s team finished sixth on the picturesque course around Rivington.

Other results: Craig Norman 33:17, Kris Booth 37:25, Mark Garner 37:28, Paul Barrington 37:56, Peter Cook (third Vet-60) 38:09, Paula Abernethy (third Vet-50) 38:20, Steve Hamer 39:01, Michael Kontowtt 40:15, Sheila Jones (second Vet-60) 40:24, David Bartlett 43:22, Caroline Malone 45:42, Deborah Barrington 46:21, Chris Fletcher 47:03, Elaine Bailey 47:20, Andrew Wheeler 47:41, Sarah Oxley 48:25, Karen Doherty 49:26, Sarah Rushton 51:25, Iain Harris (third Vet-70) 51:55, Tracy Wroe 53:29, Natalie Hitchen 57:00.

On the same night, six took to the hills for the Brown Wardle fell race at Whitworth, part of the Run the Moors Championship.

Paul Swyers was first home for the club in 35:26, a second ahead of Katie Percival who was fourth woman. Lee Turner completed the 3.3 miles with 1,181 feet of climbing in 36:06.

Lisa Carter was second Vet-45 in 42:30, Mark Wolfenden finished in 42:49 and Kathryn Davies claimed first Vet-55 in 43:53.

The club fielded 19 junior and senior runners at the Tor Mile in Helmshore.

One of the oldest fell races in the country, its organisation was taken over in 2017 by Chris Paxton, who lives near the start line.

This year a fantastic 171 people took part in the 1.6-mile senior race, a lung-busting climb up the 551 feet of Musbury Tor.

Junior Lachlan Burke led home the Radcliffe contingent in 14:33.

Other results: John Wrigley 14:46, Andy Haines 15:30, Kristian Lee 16:49, Lee Cooper 17:15, Noah Barrington (under -13) 17:50, Steve Hamer (third Vet-60) 18:44; Ben Derbyshire (u13) 20:03, Kathryn Davies (second Vet-55) 20:46, Peter Warr 23:56, Karen Doherty 24:37, Grace Williams (junior) 26:10, Susanne Andrew 26:50, Amanda Darbyshire 28:04, Andy Wheeler 28:47.

Four joined the 22-strong field in the shorter junior race with Lacey Burke finishing first u13 girl in 7:44.

She was followed by Finlay Percival in 8:29, Niamh Warr, who ran 8:56, and Lily Darbyshire in 8:57.