BLACKBURN Harriers' hopes of a place next year in the North of England Men's League Premier Division foundered at Cudworth despite Herculean efforts by a virtually full-strength team.

There were heroes galore in the Blackburn ranks and none more courageous than Phil Hall and Mark Brown.

Phil led the steeplechase field for much of the seven and a half laps and only slipped reluctantly into second place in the latter part of a tremendous struggle. Mark battled all the way to the line to win the B race.

As if that were not enough, they then took on the 5,000m where they reversed their roles. It was Mark who led the way to finish third of the A strings and Phil who shadowed him to take the same place in the B race.

A total of 20 laps each against determined opposition was a splendid contribution to the cause.

So was that made by Jason Lobo who took a break from international commitments to turn out for his club.

Showing all his class, he won the 800 and 1500m with consummate ease, then showed his basic speed with a leg in the 4 X 100 metres relay and an anchor lap in the 4 X 400 where he picked off a couple of opponents on the way.

The Odudu brothers excelled over the hurdles. Oke placed second in the 110m A race with 16.3 seconds and Agogo went one better, winning the B race in a time of 16.7.

In the field the long jumpers fared best with Mark Birchall second of the A strings and Jonathan Bridge back in competition and winner of the B section. Mark went on to take second place in the A javelin and Mike Hazelwood made this another good event for the club with second B string place.

Mike was second also in the B discus with John Gibson three metres ahead and second in the A group.

John was in the hunt with third in the B shot, Mike filling the A string role and the two scored usefully with the hammer.

Two young newcomers, David Mason and Bren Clemence, placed fourth in the A and third in the B sections of the high jump and also from the junior ranks the two Jonathans, O'Dea and Collins, ran good second string races in the 800m and 1500m respectively.

Jonathan Bridge was back in the triple jump A competition, placed fourth with partner Jon Wiggans 10 cm behind but second B string.

Another younger member, Matthew Hollows, was near to his personal best in the pole vault where he was fourth of the A's and Mark Birchall, always busy despite a heavy cold, fifth of the B's.

It was learned afterwards that two Premier Division clubs had earned promotion to the British Athletics League, so there was an extra place for someone to get into the Northern top flight.

This still left the Blackburn lads one away from promotion, but they had certainly done all they could to get there.

Match result: 1 Mandale 397 points, 2 Blackpool and Fylde 396, 3 Cleethorpes 388, 4 Blackburn H 333, 5 Bolton 282, 6 Hull 270, 7 Middlesbrough 240, 8 Chester 201.

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