ONE of the great servants of athletics in the north west is planning his last and maybe his greatest challenge yet.

Ron McAndrew will be taking part in the Two Oceans 56km Challenge in Cape Town, South Africa on April 10.

The 56-year-old serves on the Lancashire and North of England Committees and is a life member of Chorley Harriers, having been one of six founder members in 1985.

Although originally from Wales, he lived in the Chorley area for a quarter of a century and was also responsible for setting up the now defunct South Ribble Harriers in 1995 before moving to Blackpool two years ago.

For many years he has organised road races in our area including Britain's first marathon of the millennium which was in Leyland.

Now he has taken his expertise to Blackpool where his Blackpool Marathon and Half Marathon races in June are already well established.

This year's races will be launched by Ron Hill on Friday. The Great North West Half Marathon, previously at Leyland has also switched to Blackpool this year and will be on Leap Year Day, February 29.

The greatest moment of McAndrew's athletics career came in 1971 when he broke the indoor world record for the 2,000 metres steeplechase at RAF Cosford. He knocked half a second off the old mark and his time of 5:31stood for seven years.

In all he competed in eight internationals, representing Wales in the Commonwealth Games at Edinburgh in 1970 and Great Britain in the European Championships at Helsinki the following year. In 1994 he completed his 100,000th mile of training and was received at Chorley Town Hall with his mentor Hill.

The inspiration for his latest challenge came last year while on holiday in South Africa. The race is called the world's most beautiful marathon and starts in Newlands against the backdrop of Table Mountain.

Runners have a view of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans for nearly half the race. Although a veteran of over 50 marathons, Ron intends to savour this one, and he won't be looking at the watch.

McAndrew has been serving his sport for over 40 years and has never sought personal sponsorship. This trip for him and wife Jenni will be entirely self-financing too, but he is asking his friends to support him with sponsorship for a Lancashire charity, the Rosemere Cancer Foundation. He can be contacted on 01253-395976.