ORGANISERS of the Hyndburn Open Cross Country meeting were well rewarded for their efforts when a total of 531 athletes completed the courses used for the 11 races staged at Wilson Playing Fields.

They got plenty of satisfaction from putting on a well organised promotion; they also saw their own club teams carrying off a fair share of the honours.

In the first race, for eight year old girls, they placed their three counters in the first 17 home in a field of 42 finishers. The scoring trio were Anna Griffiths in seventh spot, Nicola Barnes 12th and Bethany Azmir 17th. There was back-up strength too, with L Bridge 24th, J Plumbley 25th, N Houghton 28th, S Haworth 33rd, L Plumbley 36th, C Greenwood 37th and L Chappell 39th.

Hyndburn's Under 13 girls were second team. Rachel Jackson was edged into the runner-up place by only a second and Hayley Bullen was only seven seconds behind in third spot. With Charlene Halliday 13th the scorers were home.

Their points tally was just one too many to notch a win which went to Bury. Supporters here were N Biddle 17th, Clare Mullen 33rd and Clare Lonsdale 38th. The Under 15 boys also took second team place. They were admirably led by Mark Emmett who was individual winner of the race by a five seconds margin. Excellent packing, with Jonathan Holt 10th, Michael Hammer 13th and Aaron Wilson 18th placed only five points behind the winning Lancaster and Morecambe team and a full 28 points too good for the rest of the challengers.

The Under 11 girls were third in their section which attracted 89 entries. Pack leader was Rachel Holt in fifth place. Amanda Lowe 15th and Samantha Bullen 17th filled the rest of the scoring places and there was additional support from A Brooks 18th, C Sanderson 56th, R Mellin 57th and J Todd 59th.

Fourth-placed Under 15 girls team had Karen Brooks fourth, Casey Dean 20th and Emma Richardson 21st.

In unplaced Hyndburn teams Mark Long was sixth of the eight-year-old boys, David Lowe seventh of the under 11s, Andrew Gabriel 10th and David Jaggs 18th of the under 13s and in the senior race Scott Monk was seventh, Damion Beech 12th and Neil Tattersall 17th of the senior men.

Park High School did themselves proud by turning out the winning team in the under 15 girls section, beating the redoubtable Liverpool Harriers and Preston Harriers teams in doing so. Catherine Riley brought her track form to the country and was first counter, finishing fifth in a good field of 37.

Natalie Edworthy was next to count, again running well to place seventh and Hannah Barrett, 10th, completed the winning trio. Sarah Walker was in strong support, 19th.

Scott Riley placed ninth for Park in the Under 17 race; Kirk Lee 19th and Tim Blackburn 24th with the top half of the under 13 field and Jennifer Tunstill was 25th of the 69 who finished the under 13 girls race.

Clayton-le-Moors Harriers senior men showed their strength in winning their section. They had a quarter of the first 50 home but, of course, only six of these were required to make up the scoring team. They couldn't have had a better start, with Mark Aspinall a runaway individual winner, 46 seconds clear of the next man home. Then came a tight pack, with Steve Taylor 11th, Paul Targett 15th, Jim Hickey 16th, Peter Butterworth 19th and Simon Clarke 20th.

Six in the first 20 is virtually unassailable and swept the Clayton lads well clear of the rest.

Once again the Pendle performance could almost be labelled the Rusius story. Youngest of the family, Ben, was second of the eight year olds. James headed the Pendle Under 11 boys pack by finishing 10th. Victoria also led a Pendle effort, taking sixth spot in the under 15 girls race. I here that father of the family, John Rusius, is now turning out as a veteran for Pendle. What Mrs Rusius thinks of washing so much running kit is not recorded!

There were other prominent Pendle placings, best being an excellent second place in the senior mens race by Aaron Hargreaves. The club also had Chris Monks 15th of the under 11 boys, Thomas Bennett of the under 13s and Shane McCash 16th of the under 15 section.

Burnley had a small group at the meeting, best placed being Andrew Whitehead eighth and Jonathan Hunter 20th in the under 13 race.

Blackburn's best in another small group was Paul Thompson, eighth of the senior men, and Rossendale's Declan Callan was 14th in the same race.

This was a mammoth promotion, I am sure sponsors, Slingers Meats, will be well pleased with the response to their backing.

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