Horwich becomes runners' heaven for a week every June and with ten races taking place in just six days there really is something to appeal to every taste.

The Festival has two distinct strands with five races over six days making up the Countryside Tour of Horwich and Rivington, and this is supplemented by a junior tour of three races.

The climax is the Horwich Carnival on Sunday where not only does the Tour reach its conclusion, but there are elite races with the AAAs of England, North of England, and British Masters Championships at stake.

To add to the atmosphere, the six-hour long carnival sees cycle racing interspersed with the running events.

The first four races in the Countryside Tour take part in the evenings from Tuesday to Friday with two well established events, the On the Run Jubilee Road Race and the Walsh Two Lads Fell Race plus trail and cross country races to give the series a broad appeal.

For the hardened club runner it is the nearest thing to the now defunct Tour of Tameside and Chorley Harriers especially threw themselves into the challenge.

Six of them ran in all the races, with Keith Johnson and Alan Alty finishing fourth and sixth men and Lisa Johnson placing sixth woman.

Ian Grace, Cherry Collison and Daryl Peter were the other successes with Alty first over 45, Peter third woman over 45, and Red Rose Road Runner George Fletcher taking second over 60.

Series winner Mark Russell of Bolton Metro clocked 2:05:50 for the 21 miles while Wigan's Lynn Jolley was the top woman with 2:21:01, and each of them took victory with over three minutes in hand.

In the junior series, fifteen-year-old Joshua Skinner and 12-year-old James Bretherton, both from Chorley Harriers, were first and second in all three rounds to dominate proceedings.

Megan Searson was fourth girl for Blackburn Harriers, but at 12-years-old was younger than all the girls ahead of her.

The five-mile Jubilee Road Race on Wednesday was easily the best attended race in the whole tour with over 230 finishers, and the beauty of this series is that you can dip into it without committing to every round.

Road specialist Neil Tattersall from the Pendle club is hitting top form now and won by nearly a minute in 25:25.

Mike Whyatt was fifth and first over 40 in 26:39 with Blackburn Harrier Scott Monk six seconds and one position further back.

John Chaplin, Chorley Harriers, won the over 50 class from Clayton's Peter Butterworth and there was a third place in the women's race for Carmen Anthony from host Horwich RMI Harriers.

In Sunday's elite races, there was a major win for Clayton-le-Moors Harrier Anna Kelly and a bronze medal for Vicky Gill of Chorley Harriers.

Anna was first woman in the age 40-44 classification at the British Masters 5K Championships recording 19:27 for 15th outright in a race including many of the country's leading over 35s.

Anna Marie Crabtree from Chorley Harriers was sixth in the same class while Mark Aspinall of Clayton was seventh over 45 in the men's race.

Great Britain International Vicky clocked 16:39 in a contest which incorporated both the AAAs and Northern Championships taking sixth in the AAAs and being given the same time as silver medallist Alyson Dixon in the Northerns as she took third. Jenny Blizard from Rotherham won the gold in 16:25.

Blackburn's Pauline Powell and Sarah Willimott were sixth and seventh in the Northerns both in 16:57.

But the club couldn't match last year's tally of two team medals without a third counter.