Big Weekend For Russell

1 MAR2011

Wigan exile Russell Whittington was planning a weekend at home in Lancashire and decided to take in a couple of races. He finished fourth in the Lostock 6 mile race on Sunday (2 minutes behind winner Marc Tillotson of Bolton United Harriers - 32:07) following a parkrun first at Bolton on Saturday.

Russell told northernrunningguide.com: "I really enjoyed running the Bolton Parkrun. The course was well marked and marshalled and the officials were very supportive and encouraging when the runners went by. The 5k run starts at the running track at Leverhulme Park with one and three quarter laps. This is followed by a fairly steep downhill section which should make the first kilometre the quickest of the run.

"At the bottom of the hill it levels out onto an off road wooden section of the course. At the end of that section there is a tricky uphill muddy section of about 10 metres followed by an uphill section. The course goes past the running track again before a flat out and back section with a 180 degree turn when you get to a cone and a metal gate.

"After this the loop that includes the downhill section and the uphill section is repeated before returning to the track for a quarter of a lap. The course is very runnable in road shoes, with the one small exception being the short muddy section. This will obviously become less of an issue when the weather improves, but even during the bad weather it isn't much of a concern."

Russell, who now runs with Bellahouston Road Runners in Glasgow, set a new course record of 17:31. Trafford AC's Victoria O'Donnell (20:22) was fastest woman on her first Bolton run and another Bolton first-timer 70 something Brian Platt, taking part in his 119th parkrun, clocked 31:54.

If you are interested in finding out more about Bolton Parkrun go to the event website. More news of parkrun developments in the north of England later this week on northernrunningguide.com

Check out Paul Freary's Lostock 6 photos at flickr.