MY team-mates and I have just completed the second St Helens Corporate Cup.

As defending champions of Division 2, we were all looking forward to the running of this event. However, things soon turned sour from the start.

The whole field were herded into a car park which was not cleared for the race. The starter got the race underway and the field was funnelled through a very narrow passage. With the conditions being very wet underfoot, this was extremely hazardous with a large field, all at full pace and jockeying for top positions.

The course headed off down Corporation Street and around the course until Baldwin Street. At this point, the head of the field and the following competitors were sent left instead of right. This took us off course and heading back towards the town hall. At this point, we were sent around the back of the town hall and on for a second lap. Using our own initiative we got back onto Corporation Street and headed back towards the YMCA roundabout. This roundabout had now been re-opened to traffic and was extremely dangerous with buses and heavy lorries approaching from the right; from beyond this point, the course was no longer marshalled or if it was, the marshalls were too busy talking to friends or standing in doorways sheltering from the rain.

When we returned to the course, turning right at Baldwin Street and Church Street, we were still sent the wrong way; along Chalon Way, across a roundabout and down Shaw Street the wrong way. I asked a marshall whether we were going the right way, which we were not, and they still said "Yes." At the junction of Bickerstaffe Street and Hall Street, the marshall made no attempt to re-direct us left into Hall Street so we proceeded to the town hall via the bus station. I and the other runners proceeded to the finish in a jog as we were so annoyed at the organisation.

I have been running since 1983, competing in events all over the UK and Europe but May 31, 2000 shall live long in my memory as the day I ran the most poorly-organised and marshalled race on record. It was only the skill and lack of runners that prevented someone being seriously injured or worse at the race.

Our team will not be competing in the St Helens Corporate Cup again until those responsible are dealt with in the appropriate manner.

G.D. Callaghan, 'Walton Breakaways', Walton Jail, Liverpool.