ROSSENDALE Harriers plugged a gap in the fell running calendar with the inaugural Pennine Bridleway Relay, held last Sunday.

The Rossendale Way Relay has traditionally been held at this time of year and it became the Valley's largest sporting event with over 600 runners regularly taking part until organisational difficulties led to its demise three years ago.

Since then, race organiser Graham Wright has been looking for an opportunity to replace it and his chance came when the Mary Towneley Loop was opened.

It is the South Pennines part of the Pennine Bridleway National Trail which will eventually run 350 miles from Middleton Top in Derbyshire to Byreness in Northumberland.

Thirty nine teams of ten entered the inaugural race around a 47 mile circuit, which was broken into five stages each run in pairs. Clayton le Moors Harriers alone entered ten teams and their hopes were high, especially as Bingley, who had pipped the men and women's teams in the final Rossendale Way Relay, were notable absentees.

The Harriers couldn't have made a better start either as Andy Stubbs and Garry Wilkinson gave the 'A' Team a four second lead after the 8.5 mile stretch from Waterfoot to the wind farm above Cliviger, while Tina Lewis and Alison Athroll handed over a minute clear for the women.

That was as good as it got for either squad who both succumbed to strength of Horwich RMI Harriers, although for the women Maureen Laney and Anna Kelly set fastest time of the day on the short 5.5 mile fourth stage from Summit to Whitworth.

For the men, there was a sting in the tail as they were overhauled by their own veteran team on the last stage. John Roche and Phil Hall set up the grandstand finish with second fastest of the day on stage four closing the gap to 42 seconds at the final changeover despite a spirited third place by under 40s Sean Clare and Andrew Hartley.

In-form duo Mark Brown and Mark Aspinall finished the job, and were quickest pair in the race over the final 11 miles.

At the end, the top six teams were covered by less than six minutes with Horwich A and Horwich Vets the first two home. The veterans were subsequently penalised 90 seconds for straying off course which promoted Pudsey and Bramley to second, but they still had over a minute to spare over the second veteran team Clayton.

Clayton A took fifth with Bowland Fell Runners a creditable sixth. For them Shaun Livesey and Steve Sweeney on the long second stage of 12.5 miles were fourth as were Chris Reade and Mark Chippendale stage three, while Rob Wynne and John Houghton made their highest placing, third on the closing leg.

Hosts Rossendale Harriers claimed eighth with four of their pairings earning top ten placings. Their premier duo Steve Duxbury and Steve Clawson were handed the longest stage and responded with seventh on leg two.

Todmorden Harriers in ninth were indebted to Andrew Wrench and Andrew Horsfall who reached the first changeover in fourth. Third in the veteran stakes were the second Clayton team who took 11th outright while the women from Clayton and Rossendale were second and third in their race.

Accrington Road Runners and Todmorden Harriers won second and third places for the mixed teams behind a formidable Pudsey outfit who were able to call on the services of Sarah Rowell.

Pennine Bridleway Relay results

1 Horwich A 5:10:36, 2 Pudsey and Bramley 5:12:36, 3 (1st Vets) Horwich Vets 5:13:06, 4 (2nd Vets) Clayton Vets A 5:14:20, 5 Clayton A 5:15:32, 6 Bowland A 5:15:58, 8 Rossendale A 5:40:23, 9 Todmorden A 5:42:39, 10 Clayton B 5:44:32, 11 Clayton Vets B (3rd Vets) 5:45:28, 13 Bowland B 5:57:59, 15 Clayton C 6:05:35, 17 (1st Mixed) Pudsey Mixed 6:21:17, 19 Rossendale B 6:28:18, 20 (1st Ladies) Horwich Ladies 6:28:47, 21 Clayton Z Vets 6:32:07, 23 Darwen Dashers 6:36:13, 25 (2nd Ladies) Clayton Ladies 6:48:51, 27 (2nd Mixed) Accrington Road Runners A Mixed 6:54:05, 28 (3rd Mixed) Todmorden Mixed 6:57:44, 30 Clayton Mixed 6:59:47, 31 Blackburn Road Runners 7:07:14, 33 Darwen Dashers Mixed 7:20:05, 34 (3rd Ladies) Rossendale Ladies 7:36:35, 35 Burnley Police 7:42:15, 36 Clayton X Veterans 7:42:58, 37 Accrington Road Runners B Mixed 7:43:42, 38 Clayton Y Vets 7:51:49, 39 Blackburn Road Runners Ladies 8:27:49