THIRTY runners from Rochdale Harriers competed in this year’s 47-mile Pennine Bridleway Relay.

The moorland course was broken into five legs, with runners competing in pairs.

Rochdale’s speediest 10, the men’s first team, finished in 25th place overall.

This was the same position as last year, and they finished within a minute of last year’s time.

Ian Roberts and John Cook joined forces for Leg 4 and finished 12th overall by posting an impressive 40 mins 43 secs.

David Bentley and Kevin Fox were the next fastest in the first team. They completed the longer Leg 1 in 68 mins 28 secs to finish 22nd overall.

The second men’s team saw some new pairings, with Andy O’Sullivan and Nick Walsh tackling Leg 1 and Mike Winstanley and Matthew Cox running Leg 5.

The surprise of the day came from Mark Widdup and John Mayall. Against the odds they finished six places ahead of their counterparts in Rochdale’s first team.

Rochdale’s ladies’ team was hit by the loss of two strong runners shortly before the event, so a mixed team was put into the field

After requesting a short leg, Eric Taylor kindly agreed to join ultradistance runner Dennis Lucas and take on the longest and hilliest section of the course.

The top performance in the composite team came from Josefa Terim and Anna Blomfield who completed Leg 1 in 65 mins 59 secs.

Rochdale results in leg order were:

Men’s Team One: David Bentley and Kevin Fox; Chris Armour and Martin O’Reilly; Kris Robinson and Ian Stainthorpe; John Cook and Ian Roberts; Mark Walker and Brian Moore. 25th place in 6 hours 14 mins 23 secs.

Men’s Team Two: Andy O’Sullivan and Nick Walsh; Paul Leary and Stephen Leak; Nigel Shaw and Michael Moran; Mike Winstanley and Matthew Cox; John Mayall and Mark Widdup. 44th in 6 hours 38 mins 13 secs.

Composite Team: Anna Bloomfield and Josefa Terim; Eric Taylor and Dennis Lucas; Jill Hutchinson and Chris Deasey; Linda Evans and Diane Winterburn; Julie Sandilands and Nicky Carey. 69th in 7 hours 47 mins 19 secs.