THIRTY-ONE members defied the conditions to battle their way to the finish line in the Northern Cross Country Championships.

Driving rain, sleet and hailstones made the tough hilly course even more demanding and it was a baptism of fire for some members experiencing cross country for the first time.

The event, at Witton Park in Blackburn, attracted a huge quality field.

There were over 700 finishers in the senior men’s race and more than 350 in the senior women’s.

It provided a stern test for all competitors with ‘soft underfoot’ something of an understatement.

Andy Staveley led the club’s men home, completing the course in under an hour with a time of 56mins 30secs.

Marcus Taylor, Rob Short and Colin Rigby all finished within a minute of each other for the next three club places, posting times of 1:04:13, 1:04:37 and 1:04:53 respectively.

There were mixed fortunes in the women’s race with Paula Pilling the first Burnden runner to finish in just under 41 minutes.

But she failed to register an official time because of a timing chip mix-up.

Kirsty White took the honours instead and was closely followed home by Pilling in 41:07. Lesley Fisher (41:23) and Gwen Kinloch (42:01) finished within a minute of each other to clinch second and third for the club.

It was third time lucky as the twice-postponed Flood Relief Half Marathon finally took place in Lancaster with Mel Walker putting in a tremendous run to finish 42nd overall and first V70 out of 199 finishers in a time of 1:35:33.

Emma Donaldson also tackled the event which raised funds for victims of the recent Cumbrian floods, coming home in 2:28:45.

Results

Men’s: Ed Ashton (1:07:21), Christophe Menand (1:09:58), Tony Wall (1:10:26), Matt Barker (1:11:45), Laurence Keighley (1:13:19), Colm O’Brien (1:21:52), Andy Warburton (1:22:56), Trevor Fishwick (1:23:52), Don Nichol (1:24:27), Jeff Pendlebury (1:31:03), Dave Pearson (1:38:30).

Women’s: Katy Thompson (43:54), Anne Ferguson (44:27), Shirley Staveley (44:45), Carolyn Barker (46:26), Maria Parkinson (53:49), Fiona Ashton (55:26), Brenda Sedgwick (57:36), Sally Cottrill (59:11), Diane Morrison (1:02:41), Julie Bower (1:04:23), Joanne Darby (1:16:24), Gillian McGowan (1:16:34).