PHIL Eccleston was first home for Burnden Roadrunners in the Central Lancs 5K at Leverhulme Park, finishing 18th in 17mins 46secs.

He was followed home by young Robert Short in 18:38 and super Vet 55 Steve Nolan in 18:50, who was 33rd overall and first V55 in a race that doubled up as a Northern Vets meeting.

Mel Walker comfortably took first place in the V70 age group after clocking an impressive 22:25 amongst a large field of 11 in the category.

The men's team placed sixth overall.

Paula Pilling headed up the ladies team with another Personal Best time of 21:16 to claim 5th Lady and 2nd F40.

Pilling was closely followed in by Gwen Kinloch (6th and 2nd F55) in 21:25 and Lyndsay Darbyshire 21:57.

The trio clinched the Ladies Team top spot with a comfortable margin of 5 points.

Other men's results: Colin Rigby 18:58, Andy Staveley 20:24, George Butler 21:18, Tony Wall 21:12, Ian Pudge 21:21, John McMyler 21:32, Paul Christie 21:40, Craig Philpot 22:09, Stewart Jones 22:25, Matt Barker 22:21, Mark Butler 22:55, Chris Greenall 23:28, Don Nichol 23:50, Jeff Pendlebury 25:36, Alec Cottrill 30:49, Peter Whiteside 32:33.

Other women's results: Holly Craggs 22:14, Shirley Staveley 22:31, Katy Thompson 23:32, Lorraine Halwood 23:57, Elaine Roper 25:18, Carolyn Barker 26:27, Sheila Christie 26:40, Julie Newton 26:53, Diane Morrison 26:53, Clair Marland 27:03, Ann Butler 27:55, Joanne Darby 28:45, Louise Wall 29:06, Karen Taylor 30:05, Sally Cottrill 30:49, Judy Povey 31:09, Rita Ledwards 31:49, Louise Geoghegan 32:13, Julie Bower 32:42, Sue Blackman 32:49, Lauren Swallow 32:41, Christine Pendlebury 33:35, Melissa Eccleston 34:53, Amanda Ogden 35:54, Rebecca Martin 36:39, Jessica Sammon 37:13, Gillian McGowan 38:28, Anne Larkin 38:23.

Elsewhere, in the 45th running of the Parbold Hill Race, Tim Taylor clocked 1:03:46 and Maria Parkinson 1:21:55 on the testing 6.75 mile multi-terrain route.

And Lesley Fisher completed the 11-mile off-road Muddy Shoes race at Caldervale in 1:55:58 to claim first L55. Dave Pearson competed on the five-mile course in a highly respectable 58:28.