THIS year millions of visitors to the Millennium Dome Exhibition will see the work of Lancashire Evening Telegraph freelance sports photographer Peter Hartley.

Peter's picture of Andy Beaty from Cumberland Fell Runners, competing in the 1996 Ben Nevis Race was selected for the section of the exhibition which deals with National Identity.

Race director George MacFarlane wrote to the organisers explaining that the Ben Nevis Race embodies his Scottish identity and Peter's picture, which was first published in the Fellrunner magazine, was chosen.

Originally a 35mm slide, the photograph has been enlarged to 2.3 metres x 1.3 metres and is being displayed in a double sided light box.

Fifty one year old Peter, from Worsthorne, is a familiar figure in the fell running community. He came to running in the early Seventies from a background of rock-climbing, potholing and fell walking. He joined Rossendale Harriers and soon developed a liking for endurance events.

Partnered by Dave Waller he won the Karrimor A class in 1973 which was held in Snowdonia, and was equal first with Alan Heaton in the 1975 Fellsman during a brief spell with Clayton Harriers. After finishing fourth in the 1980 Three Peaks and winning the 33 mile Haworth Hobble partnered by John Nixon in 1981, he completed the first-ever London Marathon in 2 hours 35 minutes.

Two months later he was involved in a serious car crash and his injuries were so severe that his right knee had to be wired. Against the odds, Peter returned to competitive running and enjoyed further success in the Karrimor of 1982 where he was third in the elite class partnered by Ken Taylor, and the pair were also third in the Swiss Karrimor in the same year. Then in the late 1980's he suffered discomfort in his right leg and osteo-arthritis in the hip was diagnosed. Peter attributes this to the leg being out of alignment following its earlier repair. A hip replacement operation which followed in 1993 signalled the end of his running career.

However, there was already another string to Peter's bow. He had been interested in photography since the late 1960's, but in the 1984 Ennerdale Horseshoe he decided to run with his camera. He was delighted with the results and succeeded in getting them published in CompassSport, an orienteering magazine. From then until his retirement, running with his camera became a habit, and now he adopts the same approach to his photographs by climbing the fells to reach the heart of the action.

Over the years he has become established as one of the country's premier fell running photographers and has built an impressive list of clients including The Fellrunner, Athletics Weekly, Today's Runner and Runner's World.

For the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, Peter usually shares the duties for the athletics photographs with the talented award-winning photographer Steve Bateson, who coincidentally is also a Rossendale Harrier. Recently, the two men have become regular contributors to our Wednesday night Sport Extra supplement.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.