Black Combe Runner Karl Fursey took part in the British Athletics Cross Challenge race at Sefton Park in Wavertree, Liverpool, which was also a European selection race for the U23 category.

Out of a field of 625 men, he finished in 66mins 52secs. Ben Connor won the 10km event in 30:22, which was very muddy in places over the three long laps for the senior men. Just 23 seconds separated the leading five women, with Jessica Judd the victor at 28:22.

Also recently was the Tour of Pendle long fell race in East Lancashire in which BCR’s Steve Wathall flew the flag for the Green & Blacks by clocking 3:55.04 in an event that attracted 340 participants.

It was won by Chris Holdsworth (Ribble Valley Harriers) in 2:20.02, as Katie Sijpesteijn (Keswick AC) won the ladies’ section in a good 2:53.03.

Staying in East Lancashire, the latest mid-Lancs cross-country series race took place over the challenging and hilly Hyndburn course near Accrington, consisting of lots of woods, mud and tree roots, making it very technical and quite slippy over the 9km long senior men’s course, and this was reflected in Fursey’s time of 71:16.

BCR’s final Club Champs road counter event is the Barrow-in-Furness or Ford Park (Ulverston) 5km Parkrun on Saturday, at 9am. Only the best result counts if more than one Park Run at each location is ran during the year.