IT may not have been Olympic gold but Maureen Laney certainly felt some connection to Kelly Holmes on Saturday.

On the same day that Holmes completed her remarkable middle distance double by winning the 1500m in Athens, Laney was winning the World Masters Mountain Running Championship at Sauze d'Oulx in the Italian Alps.

And after the race she declared: "I probably I had as much support on the mountain as Kelly had on the track."

East Lancashire's own golden girl was almost five minutes clear of her nearest rival in the uphill only race which climbed 2,500 feet in just over five miles.

The Masters is a competition exclusively for veteran competitors and the Clayton-le-Moors Harrier was competing in the Age 50-54 age class for the first time.

Last year she was England's first counter in the 45-49 class, but missed a medal chance in the over 50s by being too young by just three days!

The race started with a loop of the village followed by an uphill climb. Even before she had left the village she had established a substantial lead and spurred on by the England supporters the advantage just grew as the race progressed.

She reached the finish in 58:47 with Australia's Louise Fairfax second in 1:03:33.

Fairfax was the winner two years ago and was second last year. Maureen was also quicker than all but one of the women in the over 45 class.

"The way I was running they would have struggled to beat me," she admitted.

Laney, then Maureen Hurst, began her running career as a road runner specialising in the Marathon.

She ran for England over the distance in the late 80s and was chosen for the Marathon World Cup in Korea in 1987.

She left East Lancashire and moved to the Bath area where she raised her two children Eleanor, 15, and Jonathan, 11, but remained a member of Clayton, representing them mostly in team events.

When she returned she concentrated on fell running for the first time in her career and, incredibly, after a gap of 16 years she returned to the England team at the 2003 Snowdon International.

Now she lives in Houghton and works as a supply teacher, recently completing a contract teaching PE at St Wilfrid's School in Blackburn.

This season she has won the over 50 class in three English Fell Championship Races and a strong race at Shelf Moor this Sunday will win her the national title.

SEVEN Clayton Harriers made the trip to Italy, where they were rewarded for their commitment by being presented with England vests.

Wendy Dodds was England's second counter in the F50s to Laney with 10th in 1:11:47 while Colin Shuttleworth was England's fourth counter in the M45s with 27th place in 55:27.

Mark Aspinall was the fourth England over 40 man with 31st in 53:16, while other over 40 men were Garry Wilkinson 56th in 55:50, Ian Greenwood 61st in 56:29 and Colin Urmston 66th in 57:01. Bowland fell runner Steve Sweeney was 59th in 56:22.

Hope springs eternal for fell runner

AS a youngster, Danny Hope used to run the junior race at the Pendleton Fell Race, and even managed to win it.

But on Saturday he took the senior race for the first time in his career after finishing second last year.

The Pudsey and Bramley athlete, who works for Hyndburn Council, is on the top of his game at the moment and it was his second title in three days after success at Harrock Hill near Parbold on Wednesday.

Hope clocked 36:02 for the five miler up Pendle Hill to finish just over a minute before Mark Horrocks, who clocked 37:13.

Sean Bolland of Bowland Fell Runners was third, nine seconds behind Horrocks, while Horwich Harrier Graham Schofield from Darwen and Shaun Livesey of Bowland were second and third veterans.

Schofield was fifth outright in 38:20 with Livesey sixth in 38:53. Steve Hoyle was Rossendal's first counter with eighth in 39:31, but Derek Schofield was Dale's athlete of the day as he won the over 50s with tenth in 40:09.

The over 60 winner was Clayton's John Nuttall with Darwen Dasher Don Ashton in third. The women's title was hotly disputed with Clayton's Anna Kelly shading Lisa Lacon of Holmfirth by 16 seconds.

Their respective times were 46:39 and 46:55 while Clayton Harrier Jackie Commons was third in 47:40. The Clayton pair were first and second veterans.

Peacock struts

VANESSA Peacock was the winning woman of the Rossendale Midweek Fell Series after winning the opener at Whittle Pike.

Clayton women won all three rounds with Maureen Laney taking the Pilgrim's Cross race and Candice Leah the Golf Ball.

Darren Kay of Horwich was the men's winner with two firsts and a second and the only man to beat him was Danny Hope at the Golf Ball.

Class winners in the series were M50 Derek Schofield and M60 George Corbishley, both of Rossendale, and M65 Don Ashton representing Darwen Dashers.

Personal bests for Harriers

BLACKBURN Harriers Curtis Pearce and Matt Wood have set new personal best times for 800m at the BMC Meeting at Trafford with under 15 Pearce clocking 2:02 and under 20 Wood registering 1:53.8.

With the final race in the Horwich Jubilee night race series being cancelled, the final standings were determined by the first three results.

Ken Chapman of Salford Harriers was the champion with Blackburn Harrier Paul Guinan equal fourth and Gareth Booth of Chorley Harriers 10th.

Dave Shorrock of Darwen Dashers was second M50. Salford made it a double with Maria Lowe winning the women,s title. Kate Broome of Chorley Harriers was third F40 while former Blackburn Harrier Candy Hamilton was the leading junior.

Six of the best

SIX Chorley Harriers completed the Haigh Hall night race series.

Gareth Booth and Dave Wall were sixth and eighth respectively while Dianne Ridd was third woman.

Belgave's Paul Freary won all four races to win the series although in the last round Chorley's Keith Johnson had a superb race to finish second. Keith didn,t classify in the series as he didn't run in every round, the other Harriers classifying were Paul Swindells 16th, Michael Murray 17th and Steve Thomas 19th.

Couple are Elgin marvels

THERE were personal bests for Darwen Dasher husband and wife team Russ and Sue Corsini at the Moray Marathon at Elgin in Scotland.

Over 45 veteran Russ improved by nine minutes to finish 16th in 3:04:02 while over 35 Sue in 42nd was fifth woman in 3:26:56, knocking four minutes off her best.

Chorley Harrier Eddie Pugh built on his success in the Isle of Man Marathon to finish third over 60 at Elgin in 3:50:57.