AT last Neil Tattersall can add a victory in the Europrint Blackburn10K Road Race to his impressive list of credits.

Neil was second last year when the race incorporated the Lancashire Championships, but after Sunday's race his first recollection was the 1996 race when he was caught in the final run in by Blackburn Harrier Paul Wilson.

Neil's aggressive front running style meant that he could be vulnerable late in a race, but he is a much better athlete now than he was six years ago and his rivals stood little chance this year.

Only Welsh International Richard Thomas tried to match Tattersall in the early stages and, by the time they left Witton Park for the climb of Buncer Lane, the Pendle man was forcing the pace.

After that he simply ran away from the field to win by two minutes in 33:37. With the course substantially changed - apparently to the approval of the athletes - Neil's mark becomes a course record.

Darwen Marine Brian Cole improved on his best of fourth set in 1995 to grab the runners-up spot after catching Thomas with half a mile to go.

Leading veteran was the impressive Evan Cook of Blackburn Harriers, the 51-year-old finished ahead of the M40 and M45 winners to take sixth overall.

Darwen Dashers had chosen the race as part of their Club Championship and they took both team prizes.

The men packed impressively with five in the first 13 as Richard Thomas in third led them home.

Andy Smith was eighth, M45 winner Eric Wilson took 11th and Gary Taylor in 12th took the M40 title.

In the battle of the supervets, M60 Don Ashton was second in age group behind Clayton Harriers' Ted Orrell.

Ted was 30th overall in an excellent time of 41:54 and even had the energy for a sprint finish.

Linda Clarkson was second in the women's race behind Leigh Harrier Anne Powell to head the Dashers team.

Zoe Haslam in fourth and Yvonne Boocock sixth were the other scorers, and they won two age groups with F35 Zoe and F60 Pat Ashton. Former Dasher Bernice Greenhalgh won the F45 title for Chorley Harriers.

It was a points race for Accrington Road Runners and their athletes responded with two in the top ten.

John Wieczorek was fifth in 36:09 with Brent Hoggan tenth. Club President Brian Scully notched another M65 title while Alison Hope was the leading F50.

Next points race for the club is the Lancaster Half Marathon on 8 September.

CHRIS Hart broke the four minute barrier for 1500m recording 3.57.14mins in the BMC race at Trafford.

This beat the the 16-year-old Burnley AC athlete's previous best of 4.03.11mins. He is now fifth in the UK rankings for this distance.