PENDLE Athletic Club opened their Seedhill facilities to their neighbouring clubs on Sunday in their annual show of hospitality which marks the start of the summer season.

Until now there have been lean pickings for the track and field athletes, mostly just indoor events and a few floodlit meetings, but within a few weeks the local leagues will be in full swing.

No points were at stake here, but it was a great opportunity to blow the cobwebs away and test the success of the winter training.

There were several vests on display from distant clubs like North Devon and Oxford City and John Barron made his regular trip from Leeds City to compete in the 300m hurdles, returning a creditable time of 54.3 seconds at the age of 65.

East Lancashire clubs made up the bulk of the athletes though, with the home club, not surprisingly, having the largest entry.

The Pendle club were also the most successful notching up 23 wins.

Two of their under 15's returned the perfect record of three wins out of three, coincidentally in exactly the same events. For the girls, Nikala Smith logged 13.2 seconds for the 100m, 28.0 secs for the 200m and jumped a distance of 4.37m, and that was matched by Robert Brown who timed 13.7secs and 29.2 secs for the sprints and leapt 4.92m.

Two of their nationally ranked athletes also struck form early despite moving up the age groups. Sam Crabtree was the winning under 13 boy in both the 100m and long jump, while Laura Finucane, now an under 17, didn't run in her favoured 800m distance, but was still too good for her opponents in the 200m and 1500m.

It is a landmark season for Burnley's Colin Bailey who can now compete in the decathlon as he has reached the senior ranks. Colin won the high jump with a clearance of 1.65 and also took two second places.

Sprinter Danny Whittaker has already shown good form this season, and that continued as he took the 100m and 200m double at under 17 level. Chris Hart, Marc Hartley and Danielle Walker all demonstrated the value of a good cross country season with victories in the middle distances. Danielle returned a Grade 1 standard and a PB of 5:08.4 in the 1500m. Under 15 throwers Stewart MacGregor and Martin Wall tasted success with respective wins in the shot and javelin, and former Burnley star Simon Bissell, now an under 17, won the hammer, shot and javelin.

The star turn for Hyndburn was Beth Highton who won the under 11's 75m and long jump, and the club could celebrate four other wins shared by Joe McGuinness, Callum Fitzpatrick, Benjamin White and Vicky McNeill. Mark Birchall was the senior winner in the long jump and javelin -- an unusual double, and there was further success for Blackburn Harriers when Alastair Crooks won the under 10's long jump.