An unseasonably mild Witton Park did nothing to make conditions easier for competitors at this year's Lancashire Cross Country Championships as the ice of the previous two years was replaced by clinging mud.

With it's undulations including the ascent of the notorious saucer it is always one of the most testing circuits around and the home club Blackburn Harriers adapted to the conditions better than most with an eight-medal haul.

Burnley's tall Daniel Westgate strode to victory in the boy's race as Rossendale Harriers missed team gold by a single point after Dominic Walton was forced out with an asthma attack.

Blackburn hit the jackpot in the under 15 girl's race with individual gold for Rachel Searson and team success by 19 points for their quartet of Searson, Holly Robinson, Melanie Taylor and Toni Aldridge.

The boy's race in the same age group yielded Hyndburn's only individual medal of the day as Robbie Schofield finished second to Matthew Lloyd from Preston Harriers.

Rossendale's Joseph Kelly missed the bronze by a single second.

The comeback of the day was from Curtis Pearce of Blackburn Harriers.

The former Reebok Cross Challenge Champion recovered from a recent bout of meningitis to win the individual bronze medal in the under 17 men's race, and with Tom Melody fourth and Adam Hurley fifth they took team gold by a wide margin.

Richard Stones added another medal to the Harriers' tally with bronze in the under 20s as Pendle's England Fell International Ben Lindsay won the silver.

There was some confusion over the selection policy for the Lancashire Team for the Inter Counties Championships with the entry form incorrectly stating that the first six would be chosen automatically when it was only the first five.

In the under 17 women's race Park High School's Rebecca Robinson missed fifth by a second after losing a shoe, but thought she had safely qualified.

Selector Brian Craig clarified the situation and is postponing naming the discretionary choices until after the Northern Championships at the same venue on January 28 to give everyone a second chance.

Anna Anderson won the individual bronze in the under 17s while her Pendle club mate Laura Finucane won the under 20 race by over a minute. Blackburn's Emma Graham took the bronze.

The exceptional Maureen Laney qualified for the Lancashire team at the age of 52 after her fifth place in the senior woman's race, and helped by seventh placed Anna Kelly and Tracy Mitchell in 15th, Clayton Harriers won team gold.

Blackburn Harriers were the men's team winners with Ben Fish in fourth and eighth placed Tom Cornthwaite leading the way despite the latter suffering from a chest infection.

English Fell Champion Rob Hope from Wheelton won the bronze medal while M45 Mark Aspinall of Clayton and F55 Jan Atkins representing Chorley Harriers were age group winners.