The event is organised by Rossendale Harriers and follows a full circuit of the 47-mile Mary Townley Loop. The distance is split into five legs which are run by a pair of different runners and with over 90 teams entered the event involved nearly 1,000 runners.

After some early morning mist the day was bathed in glorious winter sunshine and light winds throughout the day.

Starting at Waterfoot, the first leg follows the trail to Holme Chapel before a climb to the finish near Coal Clough.

The ladies' opening pairing of Rachel Skinner and Kay Leigh put in a solid leg and the club lay in third place behind Clayton Le Moors and Calder Valley.

Lauren Jeska and Sarah May then set the fastest ladies leg time of the day on the second stage and handed over at Callis Bridge in second place behind Calder Valley's Helen Fines and Jo Waites, who had taken up the overall lead with Clayton slipping to third.

Clayton then set the fastest time on leg three but Chris Preston and Sarah Warburton kept Todmorden in second place with the next best time as the race travelled across to Calderbrook.

A late personnel change on leg four saw Kerry Edwards brought in to partner Karen Gray and they worked hard to hold onto their position under a stiff challenge from Clayton on the shortest leg of the day.

At the final handover Clayton were just three seconds behind and the final tough stage over Rooley Moor and an icy descent back into Waterfoot saw them overtake the final Todmorden pair of Mel Blackhurst and Lucy Hobbs to follow Calder Valley over the line.

The mens' A team finished the day in 12th place overall, with the fourth leg pairing of Sean Carey and Andrew Wrench setting the second fastest leg time of the day.

The mens' B team set the second fastest B team performance to finish in 27th place overall while the mixed team was 68th and Allstars team 80th.