Beginning in Bolton

Hi all,

I'm just coming back to running after having on and off injuries for almost the last two years. I've done quite a bit of road and trail running up to marathon distance but over the last few weeks I've begun running on the moors around Bolton and have loved it so I'm just after a bit of friendly advice for a beginner!

I'd like to know if anybody knows anything about the club's in the area, I've heard good things about a couple but does anyone know if any clubs are particularly geared up for fell running?

And are there any areas nearby that are particularly worth a visit? I've done a few loops around Winter Hill/Two Lads/Rivington Pike starting at the Belmont Road side, a bit up on Darwen moor out to the tower and then up on the moor north of Winter Hill with Spitlers Edge and Great Hill (I think it's called that). I'm enjoying the exploring but any pointers on places to run would be much appreciated!

Cheers for reading and thanks for any help!

We had a decent group of fell runners at the Dashers, sounds like you're not too far from Darwen too. We usually train on Darwen moors and over towards Great Hill as well on club training nights.

Horwich have a lot of good fell runners too, I guess it's just personal preference

There should be quite a lot of clubs in your area. Go to the 'links' dropdown menu on the homepage and see if you recognise any names; Horwich, Rossendale and Clayton-le-Moors are in that area. The whole area NE of you towards Bacup is peppered with races and should be great for exploring. Pick up some race routes off the websites of local clubs (most display maps of the races they organise) and have a run round the courses if you're short of route ideas.

Horwich and Lostock are in your immediate area. I used to run with Lostock and can recommend them to you. They run on a Wednesday night from Horwich Leisure Centre leaving at 7pm, (they're quite prompt about it too) they have a group that run on the fells every week, headtorches in winter and groups that run on the road as well.
Cracking club to run with, message Hopey on the forum for further details, he'll be able to put you in touch with the relevant people.

Cheers for the help guys, I'll have a look at those clubs and drop Hopey a message!

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Originally Posted by Jack93w

Cheers for the help guys, I'll have a look at those clubs and drop Hopey a message!

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Another club well worth considering Jack, would be Burnden Road Runners ,don't be put off by the RR bit they have some really good fell runners are very friendly and train from Smithills School they also compete in cross - country...
Some very good short steeper runs can be done from Belmont village ..all kinds of loops can be devised :)