METER reader Mick Lister has proved that you can mix work with pleasure after using his job as the perfect training programme for the race track.

For the man from Norweb runs between his job reading meters and it seems to be paying dividends as he won the 1500m, 5000m and steeplechase A string races at Seedhill to help Burnley Athletics Club go up as champions from Northern Men's League Division Five.

And on a day of celebration for local clubs, Pendle Athletics Club were also crowned as Division Three champions to continue their remarkable climb up the league that has seen them win promotion three years on the trot.

In the 'double header' meeting, Burnley completely destroyed their rivals in both the track and field picking up no fewer than 29 first places.

And like Lister, there was treble success elsewhere with Chris Breen winning the discus and shot in the A string event and the hammer in the B string.

David Bailey came first in the A string high jump and won the B string pole vault and high hurdles. And Colin Bailey also won three times in the high jump (B), pole vault (A) and 400m hurdles (A).

In what appeared to be a case of Burnley saving their best until last, Kevin Smith enjoyed double success winning the 800m (A) and 5000m (B) with Phil Gledhill first in the discus (B) and shot put (B). Peter Thompson won the long jump (A) and high hurdles (A) with Lee Jones winning the 800m (B) and 1500m (B).

There was also success for John Edwards in the hammer (A), Mick Fanshawe in long jump (B), John Liniker 400m (B) with Mick Liniker and Brian Wrigley winning the javelin events. And to round off a perfect day they club won the 100m and 400m relay races.

Pendle proved that consistency is the key to their success for they have continually fielded strong teams throughout the season picking up points wherever they have gone.

However they still managed to win 12 A and B string events to beat Liverpool by three points to win the league.

The club dominated the middle distance races with Lee McCash and Bryce Butterworth winning the 800m and 1500m A and B string races respectively. Other double winners were Mark Barnes who won the 100m (B) and the 400m (A) and Matthew Holden who won the long jump (A) and 400m hurdles (A).

In the B string events, Keith Kong won the long jump and Leeroy Golding won the triple jump. And like Burnley, Pendle rounded off their victory with success in both the 100m and 400m relay races.

And to complete a successful weekend for Pendle, the ladies team were promoted to Division Two after winning at Trafford on Sunday to beat the closest rivals to the championship by just one point.

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