PAUL Duke led the way for Burnden at the tough Rivington Pike Fell race.

Duke was the first of the club’s runners over the finish line in 23mins 14secs, ahead of Andy Staveley who was fourth V55 in 23:15.

There were several members who came in under 30 minutes – Richard Pollitt (24:30), Pete Hopley (24:56), Christophe Menand (25:26), Tony Wall (26:34), Andrew Duffy (27:13), Kathryn Hopley (28:39) and Chris Greenall (29:39).

Jane Forrest was third L55 in 31:00.

Other results: Mark Butler 30:23, Colm O’Brien 30:30, Steven Bate 31:13, Liz Hopley 32:31, Emma Walker 33:13, Louise Wall 33:38, Julie Morrison 42:00, David Morrison 42:00.

The combined positions of Duke, Staveley and Pollitt plus the aggregate places of Forrest, McLellan and Walker earned both the men and ladies third place in their respective vets team standings

Earlier in the week, the club secured four age-group victories in the last of the three-race Curley’s 5k series.

Sarah Watton was first F Senior and fourth in the women’s race in 22:47, while Liz McLellan was first F45 and sixth female finisher in 23:34.

Anne Ferguson was first F60 in 24:07 and Gwen Kinloch first F55 in 24:47.

Gareth Doherty was the first Burndener to cross the line on the night, fourth V40 in 20:56.

Andy Staveley was second V55 in 21:10, Lyndsay Darbyshire second F50 in 24:54, Linda O’Byrne fourth F45 in 26:39 and Philip Glassbrook second V70 in 31:22.

Other results: Steven Bate 24:33, Andy Warburton 27:03, Elaine Roper 27:59, David Morrison 34:30, Julie Morrison 34:32, Diane Wylie 37:11, Cheryl Dunleavy 37:18, Andy Dunleavy 37:19, Jen Forkin 40:08, Shirley Robinson 40:08.

Across all three races, Gareth Doherty was sixth overall and third V40 with a combined time of 1:03:51.

Sarah Watton was 21st overall and third in the women’s series with 1:10:21, closely followed by Liz McLellan, 22nd overall and first F45 in 1:10:30.

Elaine Roper was second F55 for the series with a total of 1:25:50, while Philip Glassbrook was first V70 with 1:35:02, Jen Forkin fourth F35 with 1:59:20 and Shirley Robinson third F50 with 1:59:23.

Steven Bate (1:14:15), Linda O’Byrne (1:21:24), Andy Dunleavy (1:22:06) and Diane Wylie (1:50:17) were the other members to run all three races.

Martyn Pollitt covered the Salford 10k course on Good Friday in 41:02 with Gayle Gerrard the only other Burnden runner, posting 50:27.

Sarah Woodiwiss continued her ultra-running exploits by covering the 50-Mile Manchester to Liverpool race in 10 hours 49 minutes.