NINE members of Radcliffe AC were among the 863 finishers at last Sunday's Llandudno 10-mile road race.

David Bartlett knocked a clear five minutes off his previous best with a time of 66 minutes and seven seconds for 184th place. He just failed to catch trim, fit version of Ben Herron, who was 179th in 65.53 and could also be rightly pleased with a decent effort. Adrian Harris ran 57.25 for 32nd place -- fifth among the over-45s -- while Mark Williams, demonstrating the relative nature of success in road races, was a bit disappointed to be timed at 63.46 for 127th place, being capable of a sub one-hour time when running well.

Alec Steele was 139th and 12th over-50, and still trying to regain peak fitness, in 64.22. Arthur Warren was 280th and 37th over-50 in 69.38, while Mark Emmett ended up 313th (71st over 40) in 70.50. Runners always have targets in races, and Tony Meakin's was to get under 80 minutes. In the event, when he got on to the half-mile finish along the attractive curve of Llandudno's promenade, he found he was over 78 minutes with just too much distance left to break the barrier. He wound up with 82.55 for 527th to round off a good turn-out by Radcliffe. The first three home for the club counted in the team, which finished 18th.

CROSS-COUNTRY NOTES

The 2nd South-East Lancs Cross-Country League fixture was at Lilford Park, Leigh. James Ager had the enthusiasm to turn out and run well in the under 13s race, claiming 20th place after 10 min 54 secs of battling through the mud. The going was very soft and heavy in places, as Rachel Howard discovered in gaining a good 28th place among the under-13 girls in 12.12.

The senior men's results were notable for an excellent 5th place among the veterans by Adrian Harris, and for Brian Booth and Mike Howard demonstrating that they had recovered well from their recent efforts in the Karrimor Mountain Marathon.

Results: 21st Adrian Harris o/45 (5th o/40) 35.41; 60 Mike Howard (19th o/40) 38.23; 91 Mark Williams 41.09; 94 David Bartlett 41.25; 103 Geoff Wilson 41.53; 116 Brian Booth o/45 (42nd o/40) 43.19; 117 Arthur Warren (18th o/50) 43.21; 147 Mark Emmett (59th o/40) 45.40; 150 Bill Armstrong (27th o/50) 45.49; 104 Colin McDonagh (71st o/40) 49.23; 112 Tony Meakin (74th o/40) 53.29. The veteran's team finished sixth. Eileen Sharman led Radcliffe's ladies home with 58th place (19th o/45) in 36.18.

Other results: 63 Linda McDonagh (16th o/40) 37.14; 68 Alison Curphey 38.45; 69 Barbara Allen 39.02; Glenda Garry (18th o/40) 39.22. The ladies team were seventh among the veteran teams. NINE members of Radcliffe AC were among the 863 finishers at last Sunday's Llandudno 10-mile road race.

David Bartlett knocked a clear five minutes off his previous best with a time of 66 minutes and seven seconds for 184th place.

He just failed to catch trim, fit version of Ben Herron, who was 179th in 65.53.

Adrian Harris ran 57.25 for 32nd place -- fifth among the over-45s -- while Mark Williams was a bit disappointed to be timed at 63.46 for 127th place, being capable of a sub one-hour time when running well. The team finished 18th.