DARWEN Dashers lady captain Linda Clarkson led by example when she broke the ladies club record at the Ackworth Half Marathon at Pontfract with a time of 1:35:14. That beat the existing mark by four minutes and her PB by a staggering 17 minutes. Blackburn Harrier Eric Wilson was second M45 in 1:16:29. Elsewhere Blackburn Road Runner Sandra Snape was first lady and John Wieczorek of Clayton Harriers first man in the Witton Park four mile charity fun run.

ROGER Brewster of Clayton and Rossendale's Mervyn Keys overcame arctic conditions to finish first and second veterans in the Vera Hirst 5K road race at Littleborough. Roger, now over 45 was third overall behind Salford's Ken Chapman, while Mervyn took ninth place.

THEA Smith won the 70m hurdles at the Carlisle Open Meeting. The Hyndburn under 13 also finished third in the long jump. At a windy and cold Trafford last Tuesday, Louise Dickinson of Park High School AC still managed a PB of 19.2 seconds in the 150m, and ran a competitive 8.2 seconds for the 60m. Louise was the only under 15 in her events and had to cope with mixed age group races.

RED Rose Road Runners held their Presentation Evening on Saturday. Although it is a Preston based club they draw their support from across the county. East Lancashire athletes in the prizes included Fell Champion Fred Lynch and Road Champion Will Garner both from Blackburn, Richard Packer from Padiham who is the over 60 Champion, and Clitheroe's Jennifer Adams who is the club's leading lady marathon runner.

THE Bunny Run series of fell races has beaten the countryside ban and will go ahead -- but with different dates and a new location. They move, from Tuesdays to Thursdays, now the fifth, 12, 19 and 26 April with the Relay on May 3. New venue is Cliffe Castle, off Skipton Road, Keighley. Registration is at St Annes Social Club, about 100 yards from Cliffe Castle. Race distance is still 3M and start times are as shown in FRA Calendar.

THE FRA has now cancelled all FRA registered races until further notice. Where races have the facility to switch to an urban or non livestocked venue permission may be granted for the race to continue. Other races off include: Sat March 31: Coniston 14M (now 13 October), Carnforth 10K, Hyndburn and District Primary School Cross Country, Schools International Cross Country (Northop) Sunday April 1: Bolton Blast, Lancaster and Morecambe Golden Ball 5K (now November 25) Sat April 7: Tulketh Trundle, Sun April 8: Medicine and Chernobyl 10K Fri April 13 (Good Friday): Caldervale 10M Sun April 15: Moonraker 5M (Middleton) Sun April 29: Garstang Gallop