INJURIES and holiday commitments prevented Bury AC’s men’s and women’s teams competing last Saturday at the National Road Relay Championships.

Team captain Byron Edwards, himself recuperating from an ankle injury, is determined both teams will qualify next year and that Bury will participate in the 2023 championships.

As a consequence of the nationals, there were limited opportunities for competition and members looked to local parkrun competitions to test themselves.

Brothers Luke and Jordan Harreld travelled to Moss Side to compete in the Alexandra Park parkrun.

Luke dominated the race and despite being led off course he crossed the line in first place in 17mins 8secs, while Jordan produced a solid race and was pleased to take third place in 17:23.

Lewis Whittaker chose the Stretford parkrun to test himself and he was rewarded with a new personal-best time of 17:29, taking fifth place, while Giles Bennett picked up 24th place with a time of 19:05.

Several members of the club competed at Heaton Park with Conor Wilkinson setting a new PB of 17:25 to take second and Paul Johnston finished third in 18:20.

Katie Geelan notched up another victory (her 36th) with a time of 19:32 with Sarah Thomas finishing second with 20:28. Jenny Yates celebrated her transfer to Bury by finishing first in the V55-59 in 22:30 to ease the Manchester Marathon out of her legs.

The previous weekend, two of Bury’s younger athletes competed with distinction at the Blackpool open meeting.

In the under-13 age category, Lois Wormald won the 100m race in a new PB of 13.9, a time that currently ranks her ninth in the UK.

She had to settle for second in the 200m but again recorded a new lifetime best of 29.7 before taking fifth in the shot with another PB of 5.06.

In the u15 age category, Jemima Miles set a new PB of 12.3 in winning the 75m hurdles. Miles set another PB of 4.33 to take fourth in the long jump and then won the shot with a putt of 8.12.