Hoad Hill Harrier Dave Fulford qualified for an England Masters vest following a strong performance in the Essar Four Villages half marathon.

Fulford, who runs in the Vet 40 category, took part in what was the 37th running of the event in Helsby, Cheshire, which counted as an England Athletics qualifier for places in the England Masters half marathon team.

A huge field of 2,023 runners took to the start line on a misty and murky morning, with Fulford starting at the front with high hopes of qualification.

He finished in a time of 1 hour 13 minutes 28 seconds, which placed him 19th overall and earned him hist vest and the chance to represent his country.

A team of 28 Harriers travelled to into Lancashire to the latest round of the Mid Lancs Cross Country series at Townley Hall in Burnley.

A course that can be very demanding if there has been a lot of rain was surprisingly mostly firm for most of the route.

In the senior ladies' race, the team of Liz White, Elsie Roberts and Alison Cooke came in a very creditable 14th place of of 39 teams.

The Vet 35 team were placed seventh out of 18, the Vet 45 team placed fifth out of 12 and the Vet 55 team of Cooke, Sally Barton and Penny Moreton achieved an excellent third place.

In the senior men's race, Matt Elkington stormed home to a brilliant third place out of a field of 274 to help the men's team of Andrew Dorrian, Vincent Jauk, Luke Turner, Gary Dover and Lewis Watts finish 11th out of 28 teams.

The vet 40 team came tenth out of 15, the Vet 50 team third out of nine, and the Vet 60 team of Graham Pinder, Pat Thomas and Ashley Cooke achieving second place.

Three Harriers travelled down to Garstang to take part in the Garstang Community 10km race, which was a great opportunity to get blow of those New Year cobwebs.

Heather Travis, well on the way to recovering from recent injury, was first home in a very respectable time of 46mins 26secs, claiming 116th place, followed by Mike Lavery in 54:58 and Mike Fawcett in 58:29.

The Parkrun in Ulverston was the destination for several Hoadies and there were personal bests for Glen Boulter (20:38), White (22:38), Oscar Yearnshire (27:16) and Emily Spencer (27:17).