RADCLIFFE Athletic Club's latest trail race took place last Thursday and was as successful as ever.

On a fine evening, both the men's and women's records were broken. Salford Harrier Ken Chapman won the race in 25 minutes 23 seconds, trimming seven seconds off Paul Muller's previous best, set two years ago.

Ann Powell, of Leigh RMI Harriers was first lady, smashing the previous record by nearly a minute.

Radcliffe's Michael Aspinall mixed it with the front runners, losing ground to Muller and his fellow Horwich runner Rob Jackson only in the last mile, Chapman having already made the race his own.

Muller's performance was all the more remarkable because he managed a fine fifth place the night before at the Haigh Hall 5 and demonstrated a phenomenal power of recovery to perform at the same high level the next day.

Sixteen year old Matthew Aspinall continued to show his promise with a good run, but was outshone by dad Manny, who won the over-60s prize.

Bury AC runner Donna Allen had a good run to come in second among the ladies, and Burnden's Lesley Fisher, in third, was first over-40.

This Haigh Hall Five was part of Radcliffe ACs road championship, and the club had 11 members running.

Adrian Harris put in his usual quality effort to wind up 20th in a high standard race, his time of 27.44 being a little slow, a reflection on the severity of this hilly course.

David Bartlett got Alec Steele in his sights but to no avail as the club's over-50 put the boot in to see off his young challenger.

Alec was 74th in 31.18 with David 81st in 31.42. Bill Armstrong put in his best run for a while, 118th in 34.13 being a least a consistent effort all through the race.

Tom West may be over 60 but he is enjoying a spell of good form, and he finished 132nd and second over-60 in 35.20 -- an excellent effort.

Jayne Platt put in her usual good run to take 140th with Iain Harris having a decent effort at catching Jayne, ending up 143rd in 36.16.