Today the team was very pleased to have been associated once again with the second annual Bolton Hill Marathon event, this year spread over two days, with a marathons held on Saturday and another one, following the same route, this Sunday.

Organised by Phil Eccleston from Bolton, this event took in a course from Moss Bank Park in Bolton, north across the moors to White Coppice, and a return along the Rivington reservoir chain back to Moss Bank Park.

This event aims to raise money for charities, with the beneficiaries of this year’s event being The National Autistic Society.

On Saturday, a cold and windy day (albeit dry!) greeted the circa 250 runners who took part in the 26.2 mile event – with much happy comment from the runners and marshals alike, who compared this year’s relatively calm conditions to last year’s bitterly cold temperatures.

The start/finish point at Moss Bank Park, taken as the runners began the marathon on Sunday 9th March

On Sunday, a much milder and in fact relatively warm day greeted the 150 runners again, with many of today’s runners having also competed in the previous day’s marathon!

Besides the National Autistic Society, a great many of the runners taking part were also doing so for their personal charities.

The Stansfield Sports Injury Clinic was kindly on hand to assist all runners at the start and finish, with all monies raised by their treatments on offer being kindly donated to the National Autistic Society.

A checkpoint near to Wilderswood, George’s Lane, Horwich (picture taken during Sunday’s event)

The team was on hand to provide first aid and rescue cover, with demands for such thankfully minimal.

In total we had twelve team members present on Saturday, in three of our Team Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulance vehicles. Sunday saw ten team members dispersed across four of our Land Rover ambulances. Team members first met at our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ for a 09.00hrs departure on both days, with all involved finishing back at our Base / HQ by 17.00hrs.