RADCLIFFE AC's latest club championship run was to have been a pleasantly flat 10-mile race around Southport but safety considerations unfortunately reduced the distance to five miles -- over a tight little three-lap course at that.

The fast conditions, as usual, suited Adrian Harris who sped round to gain 9th place, 1st o/45, in 29.06.

Race times generally suggested that the runners might have actually done a little more than five miles.

Sean McMyler plugged away to take 16th in 28.58 -- a great effort.

Alec Steele, newly turned 50 and struggling against injury all summer long, was an unaccustomed 74th in 33.10.

Any thoughts David Bartlett might have harboured as to the chances of catching his less-than-fit clubmate, were swiftly dispelled once the gun went and he finally came in 97th in 34.21. Now in the over-55s, Alan Sumner continues to plug away and here he took 103rd after 34.46 minutes of trying to run this shortened race flat out.

Maria Lowe popped up with a good run, her 145th (36.12) seeing off clubmates Eileen Royle (204th, 39.38), Linda McDonagh (241st, 42.02) and over-55 athlete Brenda Greer.

Brenda does really well and is a great example to everyone, of a runner who thoroughly enjoys her sport. She wound up 280th here in 48.30.

Marathon preparations do slow a runner down in the shorter events, as Tony Meakin found when he came in 203rd, (39.38). Tony has gradually got into running over the last couple of years and it now remains to be seen how he performs in the Manchester Marathon.

THE results have only just become available for the Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon -- an event that attracted Mike Howard and Brian Booth last July.

This is a weekend comprising several different races, all of them making up about six hours running over the various fells.

Mike and Brian elected to do Harter Fell. They were out for three hours 45 minutes and 17 seconds the first day, camped over, and managed 3.35.06 the next.

Due allowance having been made for their elderly veteran status, Radcliffe's mountain men took 16th place out of 117 starting pairs, which is a pretty notable achievement.