LEVERHULME Park athletics track may get a multi-thousand pound revamp, if a bid for National Lottery cash is successful. The plans to upgrade the track and facilities follow the success of the new five-a-side football centre at the Breightmet park - Premier Fives. The £1m soccer complex, financed, built and run by private company JJ Boyle Leisure Ltd of Edinburgh, is sited close to the running track and has proved a big hit with locals.

Leisure chiefs - who are still waiting to hear whether a Lottery bid for new sports facilties at the Middlebrook centre is successful - are now formulating a bid to upgrade the Leverhulme Park track.

If the plans get the go ahead, the improved stadium will be unveiled next year and named after former Bolton Harrier and European and Commonwealth marathon champion Ron Hill. After consultation with the Harriers - the main users of the track - work would be carried out to improve the clubhouse and grandstand as well as the all-weather track.

The nearby Premier Fives complex has been open for about seven months and hosted its first competition last year in conjunction with the BEN and Bass Breweries.

The pitch is floodlit and has changing rooms and a lounge bar area which provides a spectacular view over the playing area.

Ron Hill, who now lives in Hyde, was thrilled at plans to name the track after him.

However, the globe-trotting veteran athlete said he would not be available to officially name the track until next year.

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