ROSSENDALE Harriers will be celebrating its 40th Anniversary next year. But while the club is one of the longest established in the area, it remains one of the most progressive.

Nine years ago, when Anthony Gotts was 14 years old, he was the only junior on their books.

Now there is an all-time record of 93 and Gotts is anticipating breaking through 100 this season.

Senior club members such as Derek Schofield, Graham Wright, Rod Graham, Nigel Gotts and Paul Hannah have all made a significant contribution over the last decade, but to reach the next level, putting the necessary infrastucture into place has become essential.

For the last nine months the officials have been working towards achieving the Club Mark, a standard which all clubs will probably be required to reach in the near future if they want to work with junior athletes. It covers areas such as coaching, child welfare policy and first aid.

With the help of Lancashire's Athletics Development Officer David Croxall, the Harriers have just become only the second athletic club in Lancashire to reach the level after Preston Harriers.

They received the award from AAAs of England Chairman George Bunner at a special ceremony at Manchester during the recent AAAs and Commonwealth Games Trials meeting.

Now with the hard work of many including Melanie Briggs and Anthony Gotts, the club is consolidating the progress having trained 12 young Level One coaches who assist the Level Two coaches on a rota basis.

The success has received official recognition already with the club winning the title of Rossendale's Sports Club of the Year. They were presented with a fantastic trophy at Bacup Leisure Hall a couple of weeks ago.

In addition, Melanie was named as Rossendale's Volunteer of the Year while 13-year old Tom Maiden was chosen for the Performance of the Year.

Maiden won his award after stepping into the Lancashire Youth Games Team at short notice and reducing his time from 17 minutes to 12 minutes in the triathlon (run and swim).

Maiden, Briggs and Rossendale Harriers will now all progress to the Lancashire finals to be judged against the best from our other local towns and regions.

l ROSSENDALE Harriers' main training nights are Tuesdays and Thursdays with all age groups all meeting from 6.50pm until 8pm at Marl Pits Leisure Centre at Rawtenstall.

Juniors can call Anthony Gotts on 01706-222607 while the senior contact is Nigel Gotts on 01706-219678. Clubs interested in the Club Mark Scheme should contact David Croxall on 01995-642235.