ON a quiet weekend for competition, a number of Bury AC members took part in the parkrun at Heaton Park last Saturday morning.

Runners tested the revised course, starting and finishing at the Pavilion Café, and the prospect of trying the new route must have appealed to many as a total of 766 runners completed the 5k course.

At the sharp end of the field Dave Cullen demonstrated he is returning to fine form in readiness for the road and cross-country season, taking third place in 17mins 16secs.

Hot on his heels was Josh Birmingham in sixth, dipping under 18 minutes for the first time with 17:56.

In seventh was Brandon Quinton, recording 18:00, and the next Bury runner home was Paul Johnston in 18th in 19:35. Eleven seconds later, Giles Bennett crossed the line in 26th place and first V50-54 finisher.

Sophie Whittaker was the next home for Bury, finishing second woman in 20:16.

Katie Geelan was fourth woman finisher in 20:46 and there was a gap then to Mark Granby, crossing the line in 21:35.

Young Jack Brown was next finisher, recording a new best of 22:16.

The other Bury finishers included: Nicola Harland (23.13), Ed Hitchin (24.36), Pam Hitchin (25.03), Lizzie Howard (25.47), Colin Smith (27.06), Dave Flood (27.59), Brianne Turner (29.06) and Peter Henderson (29.27).

Earlier in the month Ben Coop and Byron Edwards competed in the Rammy Mile, organised by Ramsbottom Running Club.

Coop was the comfortable winner in 4:42 and Edwards took seventh in 5:08.

Sunday, September 2 sees the last track and field fixture of the season, with the final Cheshire League meeting taking place at the Salford Met track at Winton, Eccles.

This then heralds the start of the road-running and cross-country seasons.