BURY AC members celebrated the partial re-opening of the Market Street track by competing in Radcliffe AC’s virtual Terry Nortley Memorial Relay.

Adhering to the strict England Athletics guidelines and observing social distancing rules, members completed each two-mile leg of the relay in groups of five or less.

Men’s team captain, Byron Edwards, planned the club’s response working with club facility manager Roger Morley. Each group met in 30 minute blocks and each runner set off five seconds before the next in their group to maintain appropriate distance.

Runners were later combined randomly into five teams with the collective time for each team being submitted to Radcliffe AC.

The fastest team was team E with a collective time of 46.49 for the eight miles. The team comprised of Oliver Donnelly (11.21) who was carrying a hip injury; Josh Birmingham (9.59); Anthony Hallahan (12.50) and Rick Anderson (12.39). Next was team A with 47.11, led off by Harriet Griffiths (13.41) and followed by Nicola Ryan (12.22); Ian Warrington (11.23) and Ben Coop who was fastest on the night (9.45).

Team D was third fastest with 47.53 with individual performances from Ben Thompson (11.27), Byron Edwards (10.31), Andy Mellor (11.00) and Susan Wheeldon (14.55).

Fourth fastest was team C in 49.15 with Hannah Price running an impressive 11.05 followed by Luke Harreld (10.12), Steven Tobias (13.36) and Roger Morley (14.22).

The final team posted 51.04 with Jon Evans (11.46) followed by Mark Granby (13.16), Matt Garside (11.47) and Lizzi Cheshire (14.15).

Members of the club can access the track on a limited and pre-booked basis with details of how to book a session on the club’s website www.buryac.co.uk.